SM North

SM City North EDSA
"Close to 1000 ways to shop and dine" "Where the fun begins!" "We've got it all for you!"
Location	EDSA, North Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines
Opening date	November 29, 1985
Developer	SM Prime Holdings
Management	SM Prime Holdings
Owner	Henry Sy, Sr.
Architect	Arquitectonica
No. of stores and services	More than 1100 shops, including 400 dining establishments
No. of anchor tenants	36 (as of July 16, 2009)
Total retail floor area	460,000 m² (as of July 16, 2009)
Parking	more than 10,000 cars
No. of floors	4 floors (main mall), 5 floors (The Block), 6 floors (SM Annex)
Website	[1]

SM City North EDSA

SM City North EDSA is the first SM Supermall operated by SM Prime Holdings, which is the largest retail and mall operator in the Philippines. SM City North Edsa is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the third largest shopping mall in the world, having a gross floor area of 460,000 square meters. It is located at the intersection of North Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Quezon City, approximately a kilometer west of Quezon City Hall and 10 kilometres north of Makati City. SM North EDSA's First major tenants are Manels, Jollibee, Ricky Reyes, National Bookstore, French Baker, Sportshouse, McDonald’s, Max's of Manila, Goldilocks Bakeshop, Dimensione, Magic, Ideal Vision, Fabric Warehouse, and Multi time^[1].

Construction of SM City North EDSA started in 1983 and opened in 1985. Since then, the shopping mall has undergone several expansions and renovations. It features SM Department Store, The flagship SM Supermarket, a bowling alley, a food court, a Sky Garden, an entertainment stage for events, a 12-cinema complex, a Hypermarket, and 820 specialty shops and restaurants. In 2006, Ayala Malls constructed TriNoma, a shopping mall across North Avenue from SM City North EDSA, and created significant market competition. Currently, the SM mall is undergoing a redevelopment plan that will see the opening of the Sky Garden in 2009, which will increase the mall's floor area from 425,000 m² to 460,000 m², an IMAX theater and other amenities.

The mall attracts almost 4.4 million visitors on weekends, and 1,000,000 to 2,100,000 visitors on weekdays.

The mall has the maximum capacity of 6.6 million people.

History

Back then, the lot that was purchased in 1978 was no better than a vacant swamp remotely located from the center of the metropolis. SM Prime’s chairman, Henry Sy Sr., saw the potential of the place, standing at the crossroad for regional traffic coming to and from the northern provinces of Luzon. Sy took his inspiration to build SM North EDSA from the first few malls built in the U.S., which he thought Filipinos will want to have. Ironically, many thought his plan was ill-timed because the construction of the North EDSA mall happened when divisive political issues were prevalent in the country.

Old Facade of SM City North EDSA

The mall was opened on November 29, 1985, the first mall ever built by SM with a gross floor area of 125,000 square meters. “We had a tough time getting tenants to fill up the place. It was a risky period in our country’s history. So, we opened with only the SM Department Store and another small shop as the mall’s tenants,” said Mrs. Teresita Sy-Coson, Vice Chairperson of SM Investments Corporation. But to everyone’s surprise and those of many skeptics, crowds came and filled the mall. “It was an instant success,” noted Mrs. Sy-Coson.

The mall was then composed of just the main building and outdoor parking areas. As more tenants came in and entertainment concepts were introduced to the mall such as cinemas, SM North EDSA came to be known as one that institutionalized the “one-stop shopping concept” and was the first to introduce “malling” as a pastime in the Philippines. The 5-level carpark, also known as Annex 2 building was built soon after, with the lower ground floor of the building quickly converted into more enclosed mall space. The two-floor annex was built after, expanding the mall's floor area and providing space for a bowling alley and four more movie theaters. The Main Building and The Annex was expanded with a Lower Ground Level and the first level of The Carpark Building was converted to a Cyberzone mainly for tech and gadget shops and later on, the Main Building added a 3rd level.

The Current Facade of SM City North EDSA

Businesses and real estate thrived where SM North EDSA was built, that over a period of 20 years, it has seen four expansions including The Block which opened in 2006. In July 2006, Annex 3 now better known as The Block at SM City North EDSA was opened featuring the Hypermarket, Toy Kingdom, additional four movie theaters and several shops and restaurants. In February 8, 2007, SM closed the Annex building from the public and later on, demolished for a major renovation of The Annexes. The annex was reopened in December 12, 2008. The Cinema 1 located in The Block was converted to a Digital cinema format. According to studies of large malls in the world by Eastern Connecticut State University, SM City North EDSA was ranked the 6th largest mall in the world in terms of Total GFA (Gross Floor Area) of 331,861 m² and was ranked second largest in the country.

On September 26, 2009, the mall was not spared during the height of Typhoon Ondoy. The entire lower ground floor was flooded for the first time since the mall was built^[2].

Buildings

The buildings are interconnected by a footbridge. A footbridge is being constructed to connect "Skydome" to the sidewalk at the back of the mall. Another 200-meter long footbridge is also planned as an exclusive bridge way to SM Developments' Residential Towers called The Grass Residences.