WHAT'S the BEST LOCAL MALLS FOR YOU?
my top malls in Manila in order of preference are:
- SM Megamall in Ortigas: Opened in 1991 and still Manila's best-loved mall. Its 12 cinemas have large screens, there's a good range of restaurants, and its easy to navigate. The galleries of Filipino art on the fourth floor are highly recommended.
- Robinsons Place Manila on Padre Faura, Ermita has a shiny new extension, and it's good starting-point for a walk around one of Manila's most atmospheric quarters.
- The Mall of Asia, Pasay City: Manila's newest king-sized mall overlooking Manila Bay opened in 2006. It has IMAX cinemas and Olympic-size skating rink. Easy to get lost in.
- Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center: small but very upmarket mall, focused on fashion, in pleasant surroundings.
MALL CRAZY PHILIPPINES:
THREE of the world's 10 largest shopping malls are now in the Philippines.
The great malls of China - South China Mall in Dongguan and the Golden Resources Shopping Mall in Beijing are the two biggest.
But coming in a respectable third place, thanks to a 90,000 square metre extension that opened last DEC 2008, is the SM City North Edsa in the Philippine capital.
The country's jumbo-size mall chains - SM and Robinsons - were founded by Filipino-Chinese taipans: SM by Henry Sy; Robinson's by John Gokongwei. Both are living legends here, who helped shaped this country's vibrant retailing landscape.
Manila's first malls were built back in the 1970s. Rising disposable incomes among the middle-classes spurred a mall boom in Manila (population:12 million) over the past two decades. That malls are now springing up at a rapid rate in the larger provincial towns is an encouraging sign of how the economy is faring, despite the current gloom.
It is unlikely that malls would play such an important part in the lives of ordinary Filipinos - both for shopping and killing time - had it not been for the billions of dollars sent home by the several million Filipinos living and working overseas.
This year, their remittances, despite the global financial meltdown since the fourth quarter, is expected to exceed a record US$15 billion. That's about a tenth of the country's entire gross domestic product to put in perspective.
The hard-earned dollars of Filipinos working as house helpers in Singapore, English-language teachers in Thailand and nurses and searfares in scores of countries are not, of course, being merrily blown in the malls by their loved ones.
The bulk of the money goes on household expenses and the education. All the same, a tidy sum, nobody knows for sure how much, is keeping the tills ringing in the malls and providing a powerful incentive to build new ones.
Not all of Manila's malls are large, shiny complexes like the SMs. Many of the older ones have seen better days and know it; their air conditioners and escalators are often turned off to save money. The tattiest ones often sell bootleg items.
