The paper addresses the relation between shopping centers and urban spatial structure. It analyses the impacts of those equipments on spatial structuring of the urban space. The study assumes that those changes take place in different spatial scales: global and local, and in different time frames: short and long term. Iguatemi Shopping Center, in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, is presented as empirical case. The paper initially focuses on its neighborhood's immediate transformations, considering land prices, levels of personal wealth, accessibility, land use and real estate. After that, it is focused the long term changes, such as local real estate and changes occurred on the shopping center business itself. Finally, this process is discussed in terms of global spatial structuring of Porto Alegre, addressing the impacts on retail polarization and urban growth.