SM opens 50th mall

Property giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. has opened its 50th shopping mall in the country: the 41,481-square meter SM Center Angono in Rizal.

This will bring SM Prime’s total floor plate to 6.4 million sqms, the largest retail footprint in the country. This is the third mall opened by SM in Rizal province after SM City Masinag and SM City Taytay.

“We are committed to continue our expansion towards the provincial areas which remains our strategic direction in the Philippines. In almost 30 years, SM Malls have become an important element in every community. We will also continue to expand and improve the look and feel of our existing malls to keep them current and exciting for our customers,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said.

SM Angono, located in the “Arts Capital of the Philippines,” features the biggest supermarket in the municipality through Savemore.

SM Prime built its very first mall in 1983 on North Edsa, Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare. Back then, the lot that was purchased in 1978 was a vacant swamp remotely located from the center of the metropolis.

SM founder Henry Sy Sr. saw the area’s potential, standing at the crossroads of regional traffic coming from the northern provinces of Luzon. Today, this mall draws a foot traffic of about 400,000 per day.

Of the 50 SM malls in the country, three were among the world’s 10 largest malls: SM Megamall, SM North Edsa and SM Mall of Asia with a combined gross floor area of 1.4 million sq m.