DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 Sept) – Five more SM malls will open in Mindanao in the next four years, Hans Sy, president of SM Prime Holdings, announced.
At the open of SM Lanang Premiere last Friday, Sy said the company is bullish on expanding in Mindanao because of the strong buying power of the island’s consumers.
Citing a survey conducted by the company, Sy said Mindanao consumers have “very strong buying power” compared with those in Metro Manila.
The additional five will make the total number of SM malls in Mindanao nine by 2016.
At present, the island has four SM malls: SM City Davao, SM City in Cagayan de Oro, SM Cit in General Santos which opened on August 8 this year and SM Lanang Premiere, which opened in Davao City last Friday.
Of the five malls to be constructed, one will be in Butuan City and the other will be in Cagayan de Oro City. It will be the second SM mall for Cagayan de Oro City.
The three other malls are still under negotiation, he said.
“We have an aggressive plan for Mindanao,” Sy said.
He said the firm’s expansion plans in Mindanao is similar to China where they planned to put up an average of one mall per year.
The company has currently four shopping centers in China since the firm started to invest there in 2001.
Mindanao’s first SM mall, the SM City Davao, opened in 2001.
(MindaNews)
