SM malls bag ‘Golden Mall’ awards in China

Three shopping malls of tycoon Henry Sy-led SM Prime Holdings Inc. in China bagged major awards at this year’s “Golden Mall Awards” of China Shopping Center Development Association (Mall China).

China’s Golden Mall Awards aims to promote the best malls and encourage enterprises to continue contributing to the development of the shopping mall industry.

SM Prime, now a leading property conglomerate in Southeast Asia, bagged the “2014 City Advancement Award” for its SM City Xiamen/SM Lifestyle Center.

SM City Chengdu Chenghua received the “Golden Mall Awards 2014 Community Shopping Center Award,” while the SM City Chongqing Yubei won the “Golden Mall Awards 2014 Regional Shopping Center Award.”

This was the second time SM Prime’s malls in China snagged these Golden Mall awards. Last April, the group garnered two Mall China Awards.

Mall China recognized SM Prime’s expertise in shopping mall development and operations as well as its brand competitiveness. It said that SM Prime’s shopping malls had demonstrated “beyond-standard capabilities in infrastructure optimization, brand selection and distribution, attentive customer services, and innovative culture.”

Established in 2002, Mall China is the first non-profit organization in China catering to China’s retail property sector with 700 corporate members of investors, developers, operators, retailers and relevant service agencies.

“With the dramatic growth of the business and the challenges of rising e-commerce, we will stick to the SM philosophy of consistent endeavor on the brand, culture, service and innovation,” said Allan Brosas, assistant vice president for operations at SM China.

SM Prime has five malls operating in China, two more under construction and one (SM Zibo) will open before the end of the year. It is also in talks to build more stores in two to three new locations.

The strategy of SM Prime in China is to develop one new mall in the mainland each year. The latest site identified for a future mall is Yangzhou, known at various dynasties for producing great merchant families, poets, painters, and scholars. SM Prime has acquired through long-term lease from the local government another 10-hectare property in the city of Yangzhou in central Jiangsu province.