SM group eyes mall in General Santos City

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — SM Prime Holdings, Inc. has expressed interest to build a shopping mall in this city, posing a potential competition to two established malls and another in the pipeline. The mall giant expressed the intention to local government officials through affiliate Shopping Center Management Corp. "It’s 80 to 90% sure that SM is putting up a branch here... and this is a welcome development. Their people had discussed the project with the local government," General Santos Mayor Pedro B. Acharon said. Rival Robinsons Land has started building a P2-billion mall that is expected to open in June next year. The other two malls that have been operating here for years are the Gaisano Mall and KCC Mall. The Sy-owned mall developer has yet to give the green light for the branch, although it has posted an Internet ad searching for a lease manager for SM City-General Santos. Efforts to reach officials of the lease department of SM Super-Malls in Manila were unsuccessful. Mr. Acharon told BusinessWorld SM Supermalls and the landowner of a potential site, the Salazar family, are still in talks. Included in the discussion are the traffic problem in the narrow San Miguel St. SM reportedly plans to just lease the eight-hectare property for 50 years from the landowner. Mr. Acharon saw no problem in the viability of the business venture, but cited a concern voiced by micro- and small entrepreneurs. With the entry of big shopping malls, small businessmen fear they will get displaced, the mayor said. "But I told them that this can be an opportunity for them... That they should think big or reevaluate their strategies to keep pace with the competition brought by these big stores," he added. Mr. Acharon noted that in the case of Davao and Iloilo, small entrepreneurs there managed to adjust six months after giant malls start operations. Aside from expanding to the provinces, the SM group is also busy building malls abroad. It plans to open one or two more malls in China even as it continues to expand its mall network in the Philippines over the next five years. — Romer S. Sarmiento, BusinessWorld