By Digna D. Banzon
Giant mall operator SM Prime Holdings, Inc. will construct two more malls in Mindanao to support the growing retail market.
Company president Hans T. Sy said it is looking at opening an
SM mall in Tagum in Davao del Norte and
another one Digos in Davao del Sur.
He, however, did not divulge the amount of investments.
The planned two malls in Davao are on top of two other malls the company eyed to construct in the cities of Butuan and Cagayan de Oro next year.
The completion of four new malls will bring to eight the total number of SM malls in Mindanao.
To date, SM Prime already operates two malls in Davao City -one in Cagayan de Oro City and another in General Santos City.
Sy said the business continues to grow despite the strong peso.
"It will affect us in the retail, the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) and the export market...I hope it (peso) don't come too strong and don't go below P40," he said in an interview during the recent re-launch of SM SouthMall in Las Pinas City.
For her part, Annie S. Garcia, president of Shopping Center Management Corporation, said that the company's expansion activities in the provinces will not kill the small players.
"We are there to bring in new businesses," she said in a separate interview.
In fact, Garcia said they are there to help the small businesses.
"It would rather be a synergy between big business and the locals and not to compete with them," she added.
Meanwhile, the SM SouthMall was relaunched after it was renovated. The 20-hectare property now boasts of over 300 prime retail choices and all-new attractions to visit.
It has leveled up into a premier mall, said Millie F. Dizon, SM vice president for marketing and communications.
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