SM's Great Malls of China

The Philippines is a genuine world power when it comes to malling, thanks mainly to the pioneering efforts, vision and guts of SM Group founder Henry Sy, Sr.

Whether one goes to North America, Western Europe or our glitzy neighbors Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan or even the oil-rich nonstop construction hub of Dubai, their malls are not as awe-inspiring in size nor half as festive with bustling crowds as those of our truly world-class shopping malls here in the Philippines.

In 2002, this writer was pleasantly surprised to have seen a familiar sight in the beautiful seaside city of Xiamen (once called “Amoy” by the British) in Fujian province of southeast China — a huge rectangular-shaped and brand-new SM mall! It was like being home in Metro Manila, especially with local branded shops like Bench and Penshoppe inside.

Some unique features of this and other SM malls across China include the presence of the world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart of the US as an anchor tenant, plus SM-Laiya, Hong Kong-owned Watsons and various local shops. Other multinationals like McDonald’s, KFC are also tenants in SM malls in China. 

First to open in December 2001, the six-level SM mall in Xiamen City has a gross floor area of 128,000 square meters and a total land area of 7.26 hectares, making it almost similar in size to SM City Sta. Mesa along Aurora Boulevard. Xiamen has a population of three million people and has been compared to bayside San Francisco City or the French Riviera with its pristine, no-pollution environment and scenic beauty by the sea. Xiamen was also once the base of Ming Dynasty hero Zheng Cheng-Gong, who led an armada to defeat and expelled the Dutch colonizers from Taiwan province.

That 2002 trip was organized by Tulay Foundation chairman Manuel O. Chua to bring descendants of Dr. Jose Rizal’s family to the national hero’s ancestral village of Zhang-Guo (also pronounced “Siong-que” in Hokkien) in nearby Jinjiang City, also in Fujian. This writer and Chua had first verified Rizal’s paternal Cua clan roots to that village by researching Philippine and south China historical records.

Part of our tour was a stopover at SM Xiamen. From Xiamen, which has an international airport, the impressive highway to Zhang-Guo Village traverses another huge SM mall on 11.5 hectares of land in Jinjiang City near Quanzhou City. Also in our group at the time were Speaker Joe de Venecia, Jr. and his wife Gina, Ilocos Norte Congressman Roquito Ablan, then National Historical Institute (NHI) Chairman Ambeth Ocampo and others.

SM Jinjiang near Jose Rizal’s ancestral village

Before that 2002 trip, I was also part of an earlier May 2000 state visit by then President Joseph Estrada with his huge political and business entourage, plus a big contingent from various branches of the Rizal clan, for the official groundbreaking rites of the massive Dr. Jose Rizal park, monument and museum complex in Zhang-Guo Village. I had arranged for the Rizal descendants to meet Domingo Chua, brother-in-law of Philippine Airlines (PAL) chairman Lucio Tan, and Tan eventually agreed to foot the airfare for all Rizal kin. On those two trips to Zhang-Guo Village, we marveled at the six-level SM mall in Jinjiang City which we had to pass by because Zhang-Guo is part of Jinjiang City.

Long before this writer, in an article for the Philippine STAR, first proposed a Rizal monument in China, long before various Philippine civic and business groups were later able to convince the government of China to do so, it’s remarkable and awe-inspiring that rags-to-riches taipan Henry Sy had already brought a very important facet of Philippine life to booming China — the trendsetting and lifestyle-changing SM malls.

By the way, before I forget to express my gratitude, during that state visit of President Estrada, after Erap and the others had already left for Manila, I decided to stay on at the Marco Polo Hotel in Xiamen so that I could rent a car to visit my paternal ancestors’ Chio-Chun Village also in Jinjiang City. The late US President John F. Kennedy had also made visits to his ancestral village in Ireland. We should never forget our roots.

Fortuitously, at breakfast in the hotel, I chanced upon Henry “Big Boy” Sy, Jr. also having breakfast, and he insisted I borrow his car and be accompanied by his mother’s brother to go to our ancestral village that day. My friend Marie France/Facial Care president George Siy and former Asiaweek magazine photographer Edwin Tuyay joined me in that trip to Chio-Chun Village, and we once again passed by SM Jinjiang.

The SM malls in China have a similar look and layout to the SM malls in the Philippines. SM Jinjiang has a gross floor area of 170,000 square meters. Jinjiang City’s population is eight million people, and it is the industrial export powerhouse of Fujian province.

SM Chengdu near hometown of world-famous pandas

A few years ago when The Podium mall had just opened near the Asian Development Bank and SM Megamall, Henry Sy invited me to a round of merienda and then dinner at two restaurants there. He then casually mentioned that he was planning to build a third SM mall in China in Chengdu City.

The five-level SM Chengdu opened in October 2006 with a gross floor area of 170,000 square meters. The population of Chengdu is 11 million, almost as large as Metro Manila.

I had been to Chengdu before the opening of SM mall there. It is the vibrant capital of Sichuan province, which has nearly 100 million people. Chengdu is famous for being near the hometown of the world’s lovable giant pandas, for its Three Kingdoms-era historic links and for the delicious yet hot and spicy Sichuanese cuisine. 

When Henry Sy early this year sold his once privately-held SM malls in China to his publicly-listed blue-chip firm SM Prime Holdings, his son Hans T. Sy said: “While SM Prime continues to expand its operations in the Philippines, its acquisition of the China malls will provide its shareholders the opportunity to tap and take advantage of the high growth prospects offered by China, being Asia’s growth leader. SM Prime takes pride in being a Filipino company, but it is also the goal of SM Prime to give pride to Filipinos by becoming an active player in the Asian region as well.”

After the success of three SM malls in China and the ongoing construction of another in Chongqing City, is it possible that we shall someday see the SM Group exporting the unique, exhilarating and festive Philippine malling lifestyle to other countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Brazil and others? 

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