SM opens 7th mall in China

MANILA, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc. opened its seventh mall in China last week just two months after President Duterte’s historic state visit to the world’s second largest economy.

Jeffrey Lim, president of SM Prime, said the opening of SM City Tianjin reflects the group’s vote of confidence in the growing Chinese economy.  The mall has a gross floor area (GFA)  of 565,000 square meters.

“This gives SM Prime a wider perspective on China’s shopping culture, allowing us to capture bigger opportunities as an international integrated property developer,” Lim said.

He said the group would continue to expand in China as Chinese consumers continue to spend given rising levels of disposable income.

China’s consumption grew to $1.4 trillion in 2010 from around $650 billion in 2000, creating the largest consumer market in the world.

SM Tianjin will serve as the newest landmark within the Tianjin Airport Economic Area at the emerging Binhai New Area.

 The area is the largest free trade zone in Northern China and a thriving central business district which is seeing many international corporations in logistics and financial services setting up shops.

According to SM Pritime, the Binhai New Area is home to over 2,000 enterprises from 130 countries and is considered as a new economic pole along the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Pudong New Area.

In terms of accessibility, the mall is accessible through the cities of Beijing and Qinhuangdao via buses, expressways and high-speed railways. It is also adjacent to the airport.

 With its recent opening, SM City Tianjin joins SM Prime’s China malls portfolio namely SM Xiamen, SM Jinjiang, SM Chengdu, SM Suzhou, SM Chongqing and SM Zibo, all with a combined GFA of 1.5 million sqm.

Designed by international design agency ARQ, the mall has three structures that appear as a large blossoming flower from above, symbolizing growth and new opportunities.

The mall’s anchor tenants include Dadi IFree Cinema, Bravo Yonghui Supermarket, Jiawen, FTZ Korea World, Decathlon, Acasia Food Court and Watsons.

On the homefront, the group’s SM Lifestyle and Entertainment Inc. introduced its first concept cinema at the Mall of Asia over the weekend.

The brand new Cinema 7 and Cinema 8 of SM Mall of Asia or the Café Cinema features a big lounge area complete with dining seats to enable moviegoers a place where they can comfortably relax and/or grab a meal while waiting for the movie screening.

Each of the new cinemas has 153 seats and is both equipped with a top-of-the-line digital cinema projector system.

SM Prime has 60 malls in the Philippines with the recent opening of SM City East Ortigas in Pasig City last Dec. 2 with a GFA of more than 80,000 sqm, SM Cherry Congressional in Quezon City last Nov. 25 (13,000 sqm), SM City San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan last April (101,000 sqm) and SM City Trece Martires in Cavite last May (84,000 sqm).