Want to buy your loved one a mall for Christmas? With Centro in the mire, you could be in luck (well, unless your super is tied up in the whole mess).

If the properties group is forced into a fire sale, some of its hundreds of retail centres could be on the market.

Centro’s properties under management are located in Australia, the United States and New Zealand and were valued at a total of $25.5 billion at June 2007. You can check out the myriad options at Centro’s Shopping Centre Directory.

In Australia alone, Centro has 124 shopping centres with in excess of 7,000 stores.

A classy option could be David Jones Perth, a CBD retail property with the “new format David Jones Department Store and the adjoining heritage listed Savoy Hotel building”. Or for a more modest buy, there’s Deniliquin Plaza in NSW, a single level neighbourhood shopping centre with a Coles supermarket, a Go Lo mini major store and parking for 174 cars.

Going on holiday? Centro Surfers Paradise, which is dependent on tourists for business, offers a “unique mix of entertainment and cafes combined with 121 specialty stores that complement the Gold Coast lifestyle”.

Meanwhile, across the seas, Centro’s US portfolio is stretched to bursting following the takeover of New Plan last April.

As Malcolm Maiden notes in The Age, New Plan “owned, partly owned and managed no less that 467 neighbourhood shopping centres across the US, and the deal vaulted Centro’s assets under management by 48% to $23.1 billion.” All up, Centro now has over 650 American properties encompassing nearly 108 million square feet of leasable space in 40 states, making it the fifth-largest owner of shopping centres in the US.

There’s the Desperate Housewives -inspired Wisteria Village in Georgia which houses Hobby Lobby and K mart. We like the look of Apple Glen Crossing in Indiana which has major retailers Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, PETsMART and Shoe Carnival.

Martin’s Bittersweet Plaza in Indiana doesn’t strike the right note but Connecticut’s Christmas Tree Plaza is yuletide perfection.