The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM Prime) opened last April 29 its 57th local mall , the SM City San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, which was the third in the province after SM City Baliwag and SM City Marilao.
The new mall adds 101,000 square meters (sqm) in gross floor area (GFA) to SM’s mall floor space and made SM Prime owning the largest footprint in the Philippines with total retail space of 7.4 million square meters (sqm).
“We continue to expand in the provincial areas as we remain optimistic about their huge potential for growth.
The opening of SM City San Jose del Monte in Bulacan is a testament to this strategic direction as we remain steadfast in developing premier destinations around the country,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said.
SM City San Jose del Monte is strategically located along Quirino Highway in Bulacan, which is connected to Quezon City and North Caloocan.
San Jose del Monte is a second-tier city with predominantly middle income households, of which, 62 percent have family members that are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
The city contributes to one of the fastest growing residential and commercial hubs in the Northern Gateway of Metro Manila, covering 59 barangays and a population of almost 500,000 based on the 2010 census.
SM City San Jose del Monte opened with 70 percent of available space leased in its three floors from operators of retail stores, dining outlets, recreation and entertainment facilities, and service centers.
The prime spaces are allocated to local and international retail brands, well-loved food outlets and anchor tenants such as The SM Store, SM Supermarket, SM Appliance Center, Ace Hardware, BDO, Surplus, Watsons, and SM Cinema with four state-of- the-art cinemas giving a total of 1,026 cinema seats.
A multilevel basement parking, with 912 parking slots, is also provided for shoppers’ convenience.
By the end of 2016, SM Prime is targeting to have 61 malls in the Philippines and six in China with an estimated combined GFA of 8.6 million sqm. RIZA LOZADA