When a mall rises in paradise
CityMall is a welcome development in Boracay, contrary to popular belief.
There’s word going around: Boracay’s nothing like it used to be. But is this really a surprise? Last year, 1.7 million tourists visited the island. There are million-peso real estate projects currently in motion, thousands of local businesses that require a practical source of produce, and local residents craving progress. In this country, malls are a benchmark of growth, and by this benchmark, Boracay has made a significant milestone. Recently, the island got its first mall, courtesy of CityMall Commercial Centers, Inc., the community mall development arm of DoubleDragon Properties Corporation.
CityMall-Boracay sounds threatening — here in Metro Manila, we think of malls as massive symbols of society’s spiraling collapse, and yet, we survive by their hand. A mall on a beach island, as you may have already guessed, follows a much more conservative standard. CityMall-Boracay is two floors high, covering a 1.2-hectare space on land that takes up three hectares of Boracay’s 1,000. It is, for all intents and purposes, developed as a community mall: relatively smaller in scale, carrying only the essentials. That includes food products, restaurants, a full-scale supermarket, a comprehensive hardware store, and a cinema that’s been a long time coming.
If you feel like this is wrong, think of it this way: non-locals have been building commercial establishments on the island since the ‘80s; tourists, while they have kept the town’s economy alive, are mostly the ones who enjoy its development. The average local wouldn’t check in at a 5-star resort, not because he doesn’t want to — but because it’s beyond his means. For the longest time, the locals who keep the island going and who will remain here long after the last flight has left, did not have a place to hang out and just reap the rewards of the development that’s been happening before their eyes.
Ferdinand J. Sia, president of DoubleDragon Properties, says being a native of Panay Island helps him see things from a different perspective. “I am a local,” he said, and it looks like he has a pulse on what the locals need and want. On CityMall-Boracay’s opening day, the street, which simply goes by the name “Main Road” (there are no street names and house numbers in Boracay, only landmarks), was crowded with excited locals. They were there to see celebrities Darren Espanto of The Voice fame, and Arci Muñoz, who were officially opening the mall to the public. They were there to enjoy their first Jollibee branch — ever — and hang out with their families. It was pure chaos, which wasn’t a shock. It’s what humans do. We sleep on the pavements to meet rock stars, wake up at the break of dawn to get first dibs on designer-retail collaborations. We get excited. And this crowd was beyond thrilled.
During an interview with Sia, he addressed the obvious question of sustainability. According to him, the company is committed to sustainable development. “We are one of the first establishments to follow proper garbage disposal. Whatever the requirements of the island, if they require us to use only biodegradable products, we will follow,” he said. CityMall-Boracay also has the unique feature of being “greenergized.” It runs on solar energy via solar panels installed on the mall’s roof deck, while water is sourced through a rainwater harvesting system.
In support of the local economy, locally made products will be sold in CityMall-Boracay in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry, upon the discretion of LGUs. As of opening day, the mall has already generated 250 jobs for locals.
Now for the fun part. As part of DoubleDragon Properties’ partnership with Jollibee Foods Corporation, the mall carries Jollibee brands, including Mang Inasal, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon and Highlands Coffee. And as a partnership with the SM Group, it carries SM stores including a full-size SM SaveMore outlet (much to the excitement of restaurant and hotel operators who have to get their supplies all the way from Kalibo), Ace Hardware, Watsons, SM Appliance, SM Simply Shoes, BDO, LBC, Rode Drive, Fun Nation, and Universal Eye Check.
The mall will also have its first cinemas soon, which will be operated by ABS-CBN. Each theater will have a seating capacity of 100 to 110 people.
“We have received a lot of praise for this project,” said Sia. “We go to the communities, not the tourists. We’re present in Davao, Tarlac, SCTEX, Dau, Cagayan de Oro and Cebu, and we’re excited to give residents and tourists in Boracay a true mall lifestyle experience on the island. As CityMall gears to become the dominant everyday mall for Filipinos, we felt that we definitely had to open a mall in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country to serve the local community and the thousands of tourists who come here.”
Added Sia: “Our goal is to open 100 CityMalls by 2020.” CityMall-Boracay is the company’s 14th, and it was well received and full up to its third day. We suspect it will always be crowded, if for the Mang Inasal palabok alone.
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CityMall Commercial Centers Inc. is a joint venture of DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and SM Investments Corp. CityMall-Boracay is located along the Main Road of Brgy. Yapak on the northern part of Boracay Island (across Fairways and Bluewater Resort, near Station 1).
Special thanks to Sun Villa Beachfront Resort & Spa (+632 893-7293) and Sun Villa Hilltop Resort and Spa (+6336 288-5542).
