The shopping centre is giving away $1000 each day until the end of the month to celebrate the milestone, with one lucky shopper to win a grand new Mazda 3.

The marketplace, built on a disused railway site, opened its doors on October 31, 1995.

The centre has undergone several major transformations, doubling in size to now include 109 businesses, employing more than 350 workers.

Bendigo Mayor Peter Cox said the former eye sore on the edge of the CBD had grown into one of the biggest contributors to the local economy.

"Retail plays such an important part in Bendigo's employment - we all love to shop," Cr Cox said.

"Retail is the second largest employment group to have the variety of shops and employment opportunities is so important for Bendigo.

"(The marketplace) doesn't just cater for people in Bendigo, we have people coming from all over the region and even Melbourne to lots of events and they like to drop in to a centre like this and do some shopping."

The Markeplace’s infancy was marked by fears the centre would have on existing CBD retailers.

But Cr Cox said the shopping centre had impacted positively on the retail sector.

“I guess no one expected that Bendigo might grow as rapidly that it has,” he said.

“What we see now is a much larger Bendigo CBD, whether it’s down in the mall, along Mitchell Street, Williamson Street, or up here at the marketplace.

Bendigo Marketplace was purchased in February 2014 by property fund management company ISPT from its former owners the Private Property Syndicate for $165 million.

About 4.5 million people visit the shopping centre each year.

Bendigo Marketplace centre manager Marc McEnallay said ISPT has spent more than $5 million refurbishing the complex in 2015, with more than $1 million in works awarded to local contractors.

“We also re-tendered some of our services, in doing that we’ve actually engaged local contractors as well rather than Melbourne contractors.

“Putting back into the community is what we are trying to do.”