Running a mall business entails innovation – Co

CEBU, Philippines - “The investment in retail real estate is a slow burn. The gains are not immediately achieved. Mall business is different – it really takes time. You have to make sure you’re aligned to what you have envisioned.”

So said Neal Carlson Co, general manager of homegrown shopping center Parkmall, when asked on what he has realized from a business perspective in his years of experience in the mall industry.

 It was a big risk for the Co family to build a shopping mall on a six-hectare space at the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City eight years ago.

 The place was underutilized years back because most businesses felt hesitant to operate in the area because of its presumed infeasibility for business growth.

 But as always believed by business experts, risk-taking, thinking out of the box and taking the challenge to be innovative could definitely reward great success.

 “The idea was something out of nowhere but that should be compelling enough to pursue,” shared Co in an interview with The FREEMAN. “As a business, you really have to be innovative and give something new to the customers.”

Early years

In its early years of operations, the Cos’ mall development had experienced hesitation from both national and local retail brands to become tenants in the area.

Co said that when the mall opened six years ago, it only achieved 20 percent tenant occupancy with only one operator in every five units.

“The company was really subsidizing the operations in the first few years just to keep it afloat,” said the businessman who is also a mechanical engineer by profession.

Today, the mall firm has recorded a 98 percent growth rate in terms of occupancy and 500 percent growth in its customer traffic. It has currently around 200 mall tenants.

Untapped opportunity

 As years went by, the NRA slowly attracted other companies to build shops after the Cos’ Parkmall proved that the untapped opportunity offered by the reclaimed area should never be neglected.

Co also credited the City of Mandaue which also made effort to develop the place into a business area.

Co stated that it could be a same story with Cebu City decades ago when trade was mainly centered in the downtown area particularly in Colon.

But due to the increasing urbanization, commerce eventually reached the uptown area and nearby districts. 

“You give something new that the industry has not yet provided. As a business, you also have to believe and have trust in the product and put in the effort to make sure the vision you put for the company is achieved,” the manager said of the ideals in running a company.  (FREEMAN)