Asia's finest

I am not a mall person. I only go to the mall when I have something to buy, sometimes I am even too lazy to do that. I am not easily enticed by sales or tiangges. When going to the mall, I look forward to the eating part more than the shopping part. I hate going to Megamall especially on Sundays number one because it’s impossible to find a decent parking space and number two there’s just too many people. Of course when I was still studying, I always go to Robinson’s Place for lunch and meetings because I see it more as a school annex than a mall. Most of the time, I and my sisters find everything we need at Glorietta so there’s really no use going some place else. My mom mall-hops more than we do. She knows when the one thing she wants is available at Rustan's Shang or Rustan's Harrison. She also makes it a point to visit Megatrade and Greenhills regularly for things she doesn't really need.

I went to SM Makati last Saturday for the first time after its renovation. Boy was I impressed. I felt bad that I finished my Christmas shopping at Glorietta two weeks earlier because there was really a lot of good cheap stuff at SM. I was able to buy my purse for my cousin’s wedding for P200..what a steal.

SM Makati is now one of the cool SM’s next to SM Baguio. Not to be outdone by the Ayalas, It was good the Sy’s decided to upgrade the mall and match it to cosmopolitan Makati. Even the products, I believe, are better than before. I tried really hard not to spend on a new pair of slides or another bag. The brand Parisian, which my sisters and I make fun of after gay comics used it in their spiels in one of the stand-up comedy bars in Malate, also displayed really nice shoes. However, my sister said, the service is still bad. Some things never change.

SM Baguio also sits well in its location. It is not your typical SM shoebox mall. Thanks to the Baguio climate, there is no need for aircondition, making it possible to have large verandas surrounding the stores. Just imagine strolling and shopping in your favorite stores or eating at Teriyaki Boy or at Yellow Cab then enjoy a good smoke while having coffee at Seattle’s Best with the cool breeze of Baguio and smell of pine trees throwing at your face. Real treat..

The construction of SM Baguio was not without opposition. Just to stop its construction, people began a petition for the promotion of Baguio as a national heritage. Of course it didn’t work. Now, there is an SM in just about every corner of the Philippines. Believe it or not, there will be an SM at San Lazaro and even the Mall of Asia, I believe, belongs to the Sy’s. Filipinos certainly are a bunch of mallrats. Economic slump or not, poor or poorer, snake in the fitting room or AIDS scare, nothing can keep pinoys off the malls.