Parkmall keeps optimism for 2009

As consumer spending have been dampened by the looming global recession which caused many retail outlets abroad to close operations, Parkmall, Cebu’s newest mall development at the Mandaue Reclamation continues to hold on to a positive stance that this year will be promising.

“It will be a challenging year. Overseas, a lot of businesses are hit by crisis and people are worried that they might lose their jobs especially our overseas Filipino workers which might have a deep impact on everyone in the country but for our business, we are so much dependent on our local economy so we tend to do business as usual,” said Parkmall president Carlos Co in an interview.

Co said that the crisis is only a “temporary” condition and will not last forever so businesses should be able to adapt to it in order to survive.

He said that Filipinos should be even more optimistic considering that we are not yet in recession compared to other countries.

“Here in Cebu, things are still going so well and most businesses especially restaurants are always full and people still go out to spend,” he added.

Co stressed that export-oriented businesses are expected to go down as they are influenced by the international market which is deep under recession so focus on the local market at this point is important.

“Amidst crisis, there are still three gaining grounds for the Philippine economy because tourists are still coming, business process outsourcing employment are still going up and OFW placement are still improving,” he said.

Meanwhile, Charles Kenneth Co, Parkmall managing director said that although they are currently experiencing a slowdown of new tenants, their projection remain positive taking into consideration that they are a new player in the retail industry.

“We are just starting out and it is always hard for a new company to establish itself but being a new player works at our advantage too because we can easily maneuver our way to improve the business while older players will likely remain steady as they will be more affected with crisis and be hesitant to expand,” he said.

He added that consumers at this point will also likely be more conscious with their purchases and will buy and look for value of what they paid for.

“Our distinct advantage is that we encourage home-grown concepts and brands to upgrade themselves. We enjoin young entrepreneurs to build their own name here and we provide our shoppers with a downtown price at an uptown ambiance,” said Co.

Meanwhile, in dealing with competition, Parkmall tends to be different from existing players in Cebu’s retail industry.

“We will strive to differentiate ourselves from the rest. We cannot just be the same because they can offer more as older and bigger players. We are picky with our tenants so that we can give our shoppers variety and more reasons to come to the mall. These are challenging times but there are opportunities in every crisis so the challenge is to maximize these opportunities,” said Parkmall general manager Neal Co.

He said that after four months of operations, they have noted that in terms of traffic count, they have been increasing more than ten percent per month since they started their operations last October.

Currently, the management is working closely with the local government units and aligned agencies to establish accessible transportation route going to and from the mall to provide more ease and convenience to shoppers from Cebu City and other towns in the South and North.

Recently, the mall opened their micro retail bazaar in the second floor which houses more than 140 tenants offering various products such as food and non-food items. — Rhia de Pablo