Sunday, November 11, 2007

An SM City in My Neck of the Woods


The invitation read: “Mr. Henry Sy invites you to the blessing ..."

Hmmm, yet another SM Mall . . .

But wait, this is in Dolores, Taytay. My neck of the woods! More or less 10 minutes, give or take 5 -- depending on traffic -- from where I live. A booming community -- residentially and industrially. Makes good business sense, methinks, for any store chain to locate there.

Yet I still came late for the event last November 8 -- when the mass, blessing and short program were over and the press kits have run out. Lucky, though, to catch leftover inaugural sights, sounds and scrumptiousness!

My saving grace was spotting Johnlu Koa of French Baker fame, who used to teach at UP Diliman, and who introduced me in turn to his wife Marilou and SM VPs Gigi Mabanta of Merchandising and Daisy Chua of Leasing. I was able to sound off the lady execs that I wanted to talk with someone who can talk about SM and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) for a story I had to write for a broadsheet.

French Baker is one of several establishments in the mall that served no-limits f
ood and drinks to the inaugural guests.

I met too the 15 priests -- yes, 15! -- from the Diocese of Antipolo who concelebrated mass and blessed the place -- all two buildings, six floors (two in Building A and four in B) and 38,000 square meters of it. One of them, Father Jimmy Padilla, told me the Choir of Taytay Choral Group sang during the mass.

The Miss Philippines titlists who graced the event glowed so it was hard not to spot them.

But where oh where was Henry Sy who "invited" me? And where, too, my blogging berks?

But then that's what one gets for trying too hard to be fashionably late and ending up disgracefully missing out on much of what she came for.

I
hope these pictures redeem me somewhat.


Above:
The registration/courtesy booth; smiling, glowing Ms. Philippi
nes belles


Below:
Gigi Mabanta, Marilou Koa, Daisy Chua, and Johnlu Koa; some of the priests from Antipolo diocese.




27 comments:

Anonymous said...

what, another SM Mall? hanep. bow. :)

have a good day annamanila!

Heart of Rachel said...

Wow, SM stores are mushrooming everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I guess this means you're on the short list of VIPs in SM's list of famous bloggers, huh? :-D

Sidney said...

Wow! You are part of the VIP crowd!

noemi said...

eek, SM mushrooms everywhere but they try to circumvent labor laws. tsk. tsk. I must remember never to endorse them ever again.

Besides, I 'd rather beat the deadline, remember?

Wenchie said...

Hi AM, whoa, another SM huh...I thought este I heard they're done with the malls and instead are concentrating on more real estates' development like high-rise condominiums....Oh well, there's another market....

Gina said...

I guess ,the more,the merrier =) with SM!
That's good, I guess, people who live in the area has a more 'accessible' SM, and don't have to waste time with commute /drive. All the better to have more time for shopping.

feng said...

SM just about 10 minute away from your place? so does it mean, you're from Rizal too? if my assumptions are right, then, we might just be a town or two away. am from the land of "r" for the "d", as in sanrok sa ringring. :)

we were all waiting for the Mall's opening come Nov 9. finally, we need not go far for small stuffs to shop. great job to SM, for localizing its outlets.

Anonymous said...

so anna, you don't have to drive far to shop this Christmas. can you do your grocery there, too?

Anonymous said...

What really is in a name?

There must be something in it ha. Just kidding.

ysrael said...

Who said, naghihirap ang mga Filipino? ang daming mall mushrooming all over the country not only SM, Robinson, but also Waltermart at iba pa. Hindi naman siguro pasyalan lang ito or window shopping. Well, its good for the country landscape and economy.

Anonymous said...

ang sm parang mcdo at jollibee :)

magiging mall rat kaya si AM? :)

ScroochChronicles said...

Grabe, there's no shopping Henry Sy!! I swear to God there's an SM mall within spitting distance from the nearest SM mall. Tama si Noemi, parang kabute. Dumadami pag umuulan (ng pera)..hehehe :)

PS
Wow, nasa VIP list ka!! You have arrived!! Di ka na ma-reach!! Friends tayo ha :)

Forever59er said...

Mitsuru, Noems, Rowena, Lady Cess, and Cookie!

Yes, obviously, there's not stopping Mr. Henry Sy. Growth begets growth .. is a truism in business.

This week, SM Muntinlupa will open.

Forever59er said...

Rach!

Yes, I guess you can say SM malls are mushrooming everywhere. Boom na boom yung they've got it all' store!

Forever59er said...

Singl, Sidney and Scrooch!

I think I happened to be in SM's short list because I participated in their blog-writing contest last August. That's all there is to it. :)

Forever59er said...

Feng!

Sa Teresa ka ba? Sa Morong? Sa Angono o Tanay? Ako sa may Cainta lang. Still we belong to the same neck of the woods.

Forever59er said...

Belle and Gina!

Yes, SM Taytay is very accessible to me and would be handy for Christmas shopping. Pero when I went there last Sunday for some real shopping, there was a monstrous traffic and the place was swarming with people. I think the whole of Rizal -- young, very young as in babies, old, very old -- was there.

Forever59er said...

Intsik!

I am glad there's one in Bacolod ... aba booming din ang Bacolod ah. You have very nice crafts there ha, c/o Association of Negros Producers. Galing ng showroom nila.

Will check our korean bolgogi soon. ty

Forever59er said...

Myepinoy!

What's in a name? Huh? Missent? hahaha

MrsPartyGirl said...

hi annamanila, whaddayaknow?? we live in the same forest pala, hehe. at least we will have a place for our EB when i'm home for a visit. :) the last time we were there, we saw that mall being constructed, as in a few posts sticking out of a huge hole pa lang, hehe. ang bilis, its open na! anyway, i can see you had a grand time rubbing elbows with the beautiful people. :)

Anonymous said...

Now that's what you get for being late....still, you had the chance to see some people you knew. Did you ever met up with Henry and some blog berks?

Jap said...

Another suitcase in another hall...or another SM is another mall =) at least now you won't have to drive downtown for groceries...wait, Manila doesn't really have a downtown, does it? hehehe =P

Ramon Jose said...

SM malls are sprouting everywhere. convenient for some, jobs for many but unfortunately they're killing small businesses in these areas.

feng said...

hi annamanila! sa Morong po ang parents ko. kami naman ng little family ko, sa Pasig lang po, a kilometer stretch away from Cainta/Taytay. :)

Abaniko said...

An invitation from Heny Sy! You're one of the Who's Who, ha? :D

Toe said...

Hey Gigi Mabanta is my cousin's wife.

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