Walter Mart opens in New Calamba

MANILA, Philippines - The nation’s first community mall strengthens its foothold in the “CaLaBar” area with the opening of its Makiling shopping center in Laguna.

With a population of over 10 million, the CaLaBar area is home to employees of nearby factories and their families as well as the families of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers). With this burgeoning community in mind, Walter Mart recently opened the doors of its newest hub to cater to the residents’ growing demands for more lifestyle options.

Jojo de Guzman, AVP for business development, says, “Abenson Inc., the parent company of Walter Mart, has been in Laguna for over 15 years now. In fact, we already have a total of seven Abenson stores in the key areas of Laguna, as well as two Walter Mart malls within the area.”

In addition to the existing Walter Mart malls in Calamba and Sta. Rosa, Walter Mart Makiling will cater to the needs of the developing communities of the area now known as “New Calamba.”

Makiling is now dubbed the region’s “New Calamba,” because of the shift of the central economic district from Canlubang to Makiling. This, along with its strategic location, is why Walter Mart chose the area for its new shopping center.

“The main economic district of CaLaBar was previously in the Canlubang area, where most of the big industrial companies are located. These include Asia’s first and fully integrated industrial parks: Carmelray Industrial Park and Silagan Industrial,” says de Guzman. Thus, residential and recreational subdivisions were developed nearby to serve the needs of those employed in the industrial parks.

However, there has been a gradual shift of preference in industrial areas. Since the late 1980s, the area along the stretch of the National Highway from Barangay Turbina all the way to Barangay San Rafael(near Batangas) became host to two of Calamba’s most-patronized industrial parks: First Philippine Industrial Park and Carmelray II. In addition, large manufacturing firms such as Yasaki-Torres, Yakult, and Lepanto Tiles established factories in the area.

With the new mall opening in the area, residents will enjoy the convenience of shopping at Electroworld, Homeplus, Motorpro, and Abenson without having to go far from their homes.

The Walter Mart community malls are the first community shopping center format in southern Luzon. For more information, visit www.waltermart.com.ph.