The Top 10 Lists

Malls have become a permanent fixture to city living in the Philippines. It seems like everywhere you look, there will always be that grand structure that will catch every ones attention.

Malls provide escape to common Filipinos from the warm tropical weather of the country. It also provides a place where people can stroll, dine, and unwind.

The rate of lands being developed for malls are exponentially fast compared to other Asian country. Even to the countryside, malls are rising so fast that it will make your head spin. If this pace continues, it won’t be a surprise if the Philippines become the mall capital of the world.

Now, still not convinced? Here are the top 10 malls in the Philippines. After you see these grand shopping structures, ask yourself, is the Philippines really poor? Hehehe...

 

10. SM North-EDSA

SM City North EDSA is the first SM Supermall operated by SM Prime Holdings, which is the largest retail and mall operator in the Philippines. SM City North Edsa is the largest mall in the Philippines and the second largest in the world, having a gross floor area of 425,000 square meters. It is located at the intersection of North Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Quezon City, approximately a kilometer west of Quezon City Hall and 10 kilometres north of Makati City. SM North EDSA's First major tenants are Manels, Jollibee, Ricky Reyes, National Bookstore, French Baker, Sportshouse, McDonald’s, Max's of Manila, Goldilocks Bakeshop, Dimensione, Magic, Ideal Vision, Fabric Warehouse, and Multi time.

 

Construction of SM City North EDSA started in 1983 and opened in 1985. Since then, the shopping mall has undergone several expansions and renovations. It features SM Department Store, The flagship SM Supermarket, a bowling alley, a food court, a Sky Garden, an entertainment stage for events, a 12-cinema complex, a Hypermarket, and 820 specialty shops and restaurants. In 2006, Ayala Malls constructed TriNoma, a shopping mall across North Avenue from SM City North EDSA, and created significant market competition. Currently, the SM mall is undergoing a redevelopment plan that will see the opening of the Sky Garden in 2009, which will increase the mall's floor area from 425,000 m² to 460,000 m², an IMAX theater and other amenities.

 

The mall attracts almost 1.7 million visitors on weekends, and 600,000 to 1,100,000 visitors on weekdays.

 

9. Glorietta

Glorietta is a large shopping mall in the Ayala Center in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. The mall is owned by the Zobel de Ayala family and it's holding company, Ayala Corporation. The mall is divided into five sections (named Glorietta 1-5) and contains many shops and restaurants, as well as cinema screens, a gym, arcades and a large central atrium often used to stage special events. It has an activity center, located at the heart of the mall. It is also integrated between Greenbelt Mall, SM Makati, Rustan's Makati and The Landmark, a department store. Ayala Center is planning to construct Glorietta 5, which will be located in front of Hotel Intercontinental Manila and beside Rustans Department Store, as part of the Ayala Land's plan of redeveloping Glorietta. The tenants affected by the October 19, 2007 explosion will be given an option to relocate there. 

 

8. Robinsons-Midtown Manila

Robinsons Place Manila was originally built in the 1980's and was redeveloped into a 7-level world-class shopping complex with more than 330 internationally known and popular local shops, dining outlets, entertainment facilities and service centers. The Padre Faura Wing was opened in June 2000, which connected the twin residential high-rise condominium -- Robinsons Place Residences and future Adriatico Residences.

 

7. Robinsons Galleria

Robinsons Galleria is a large shopping mall located at EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City just near SM Megamall. It is Robinsons' flagship mall. The mall is owned by John Gokongwei, founder of JG Summit Holdings and Robinsons Land Co. It was built in 1990 with a total gross floor area of approximately 216,000 m2 (2,330,000 sq ft). Currently, The entire mall is undergoing major renovations and redevelopment as the West Wing is halfway completed. Robinsons Galleria will become an even modern, more tech, more exciting shopping experience.

 

6. SM Megamall

SM Megamall is a large shopping mall located in the Ortigas business district of Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the third SM Supermall developed and operated by SM Prime Holdings, the largest mall operator in the Philippines owned by Henry Sy Sr,. The mall has two buildings interconnected with a bridge. The mall is measured with a land area of approximately 18-hectares and has a total floor area of an estimated 348,000 m², making it the third largest shopping mall in the country and seventh largest shopping mall in the world. SM Megamall is the mall that gave attention to filipinos to make way for the malling experience.The mall attracts a daily foot traffic of 500,000 people.

 

5. Gateway Mall

Gateway Mall is a shopping mall complex located at Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City. Also underway at Araneta Center is a mall expansion and construction of the Gateway Tower. Gateway Mall has won some awards in terms of its mall design and tenant mix which made the mall to become the 2006-2007 shopping mall of the year. The mall features more than 300 shops and restaurants anchored by Rustan's, Food Express, a 9 Digital Cineplex and a Globe Platinum Cinema and a games arcade.

 

4. Shangri-La Plaza

Shangri-La Plaza is an upscale shopping mall situated in the Ortigas Center, a business/commercial district in Mandaluyong City, Philippines. It is surrounded by four streets in the commercial area, namely, Internal Avenue, St. Francis Avenue, Shaw Boulevard and the major highway EDSA. Affectionately called The Shang, this seven-storey structure is also accessible through the Shaw Boulevard MRT Station in the fifth floor which connects it to the Manila Metro Rail Transit System. It is also the only retail arm of Kuok Group of Companies, the owner of the worldwide chain of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. 

 

3. TriNoma

TriNoma, or Triangle North of Manila, is a large shopping mall in Quezon City in the Philippines owned by property development firm Ayala Land Inc. Opened in 2007, the mall is located on the side of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, near the North Avenue MRT Station in Quezon City, giving significant market competition to the nearby SM City North EDSA as one of the largest malls in Manila's metropolitan area.

 

TriNoma is located at the EDSA corner North Avenue in Quezon City. Strategically located in "North Triangle", the mall is bound by three major thoroughfares, namely, North Avenue, EDSA and Mindanao Avenue. Located on a 20 hectare parcel of land, TriNoma has a gross leasable area of 195,000 square meters, which includes the mall's major anchor, The Landmark Supermarket and Department Store.

It is directly connected to the MRT's North Avenue station as the mall itself sits atop the MRT Depot. It will be almost connected to the Yellow Line's proposed North Avenue LRT Station. A pedestrian overpass has also been constructed to connect TriNoma with SM City North EDSA.

 

For better accessibility by car, it is best to take the mall's lobby drop off along Mindanao Ave. Landmark for this area is Conti's and UCC. A driveway allows for quick drop off and an elevator conveniently takes you to the mall's other floors. The TriNoma Park at the 3rd and 4th levels may be easily accessed too thru this lobby.

 

2. Greenbelt

Greenbelt is a large shopping mall located at Ayala Center, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines which is just near Glorietta and SM Makati. It's owned by Ayala Malls, a real-estate subsidiary of Ayala Land, which is an affiliate of Ayala Corporation. It opened in the 1980s and it is one of Ayala Corporation's flagship projects. The mall offers a mix of high-quality retail shops, restaurants, world-class amenities, leisure and entertainment in the Philippines. Currently, the mall has 5 sections, 2 are indoor buildings and the other 2 buildings are open-air shopping. The most recent addition, Greenbelt 5, opened in 2007.

 

Greenbelt is the country's first Premier Lifestyle Center that offers to the cosmopolitan consumer high quality, specialty shopping, dining and entertainment. Indoor and outdoor elements mingle with fluid harmony in this multi-awarded lifestyle center. Built around a 1.3-million-square-foot retail complex, Greenbelt's roster of prominent, world-class retailers, restaurateurs, and entertainment operators makes it an unparalleled shopping and entertainment destination. It was renovated in 2001 and re-opened as Greenbelt 1, 2 and 3 in 2002, with 4 and 5 opening in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

 

Greenbelt 1 features mostly appliance stores like ACE Hardware, Greenbelt 3 features mid-market brands such as Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Lacoste, Marks & Spencer, and Topshop, among others. Greenbelts 4 & 5, however, feature higher-end boutiques such as Burberry, Bulgari, Gucci, Hermès (opening 2009), Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo (opening 2009), Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Tod's in Greenbelt 4 while Filipino designers, high-end department store Adora, and boutiques of Balenciaga (opening 2009), Bally, Bang & Olufsen, Chopard, DKNY, Escada, Massimo Dutti (opening 2009) Marc by Marc Jacobs, Patek Philippe, Paul Smith and Zara, among others, can be found in Greenbelt 5.

 

1. SM Mall of Asia

The SM Mall of Asia (also known as MOA or MoA) is a shopping mall owned by the SM Group of SM Prime Holdings, the largest mall developer and owner in the Philippines. SM Mall of Asia is the 2nd largest shopping mall in the Philippines after SM City North EDSA. It has a land area of 42 hectares and has a gross floor area of an approximate 410,000 m². The mall is located at Bay City, Pasay City, Philippines just near the SM Central Business Park and the Manila Bay. The mall attracts a daily foot traffic of 200,000 people.

 

The Mall of Asia was constructed within the reclamation area, west of . It is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land and has a gross floor area of 386,224 square meters. The mall is located at the southmost tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. A roundabout was constructed in the front of the mall with a huge bronze globe similar to that of the Universal Studios Theme Parks and the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park in New York City.

 

The SM Mall of Asia mall grounds consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways; the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Carpark Buildings.

 

The Main Mall includes shopping and dining establishments and the food court. The Entertainment Mall is a two-story complex, a majority of which is open-air, facing Manila Bay.

 

The mall's 5,000 parking spaces are divided across two, six-story parking buildings conveniently designated the North and South parking buildings. The South Parking building houses the mall's official SM Department Store, while the mall's supermarket, the SM Hypermarket is located within the North Parking building.

 

One of the mall's somewhat-unique features is a 20-seater tram traveling around the mall grounds to ferry shoppers around.

 

Concierge desks are located in the Main Mall and the Entertainment Mall.

 

The mall includes branches of all of the standard anchor stores found in most of the SM Supermalls. The first-ever branch of Taste Asia, one of the SM Supermalls' food court brands, is located right outside the mall's supermarket, the sprawling SM Hypermarket.

 

One of the mall’s main attractions is the first ever IMAX theater in the country, along with a Director's Club Theater for intimate screenings (30 La-Z-Boy seats), a Premiere Cinema, and the CenterStage Cinema which can used for live musical concerts and theatrical performances. The San Miguel-Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre is one of the world's biggest IMAX screens in 3D.

 

In addition to the mall's special theaters, it also has six regular two-tiered movie theaters similar to the ones found in almost every SM Supermall.

 

The mall features the Philippines's first Olympic-sized ice skating rink. At 61 by 30 meters, the rink is described as the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia. It can accommodate both recreational and competitive figure skating, as well as ice hockey. Along with plain access and skate rentals, the rink's operators also offer training progams in both figure skating and ice hockey. Several ice skating competitions have been held at the mall's ice skating rink, the most prestigious yet having been Skate Asia 2007. It was also the first time that the Philippines had hosted any international ice skating event.

The mall's open-air Music Hall directly facing the sea has also held several events, contests and concerts.

 

The mall also provides office space. Dell International Services, a subsidiary of Dell, Inc. occupies a 13,470.5-square meter area at the second floor of the north parking building of the mall.

Sources: Wiki