SM Mall of Asia at Bay City, Pasay
The SM Mall of Asia opened last May 21, 2006 at the Bay City just west of Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. We went there last Thursday to take some pictures and to snoop around for new shops. All we got back home were bags of groceries and two dozen pictures.
This mall is practically the largest in the Philippines, 2nd largest in Asia and 3rd largest in the world. It is composed of several interconnected building — the Main Mall, Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Parking buildings.
The North Parking building also hosts Dell Philippines Call Center which was inaugurated a couple months back while the Entertainment building holds the new IMAX theater (Superman Returns is in 3D so you can better appreciate it in IMAX). The theater, named as the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater would also have the largest screen in the Philippines at 22 x 30 meters, similar to the height of an eight-story building.
The place is really huge with lots of open spaces for mallers to roam around and relax. The parking spaces has a 5,000-car capacity and the total floor area is around 380,000 square meters which only dwarfs its sister-mall, the SM Megamall. There are also several service vehicles (like those golf carts) that carry people around the mall for free, however you’d have to wait for it to be filled up before it moves to its next stop.
Don’t miss the ice skating rink too!
There are still lots of empty shopping spaces around the top floors but the construction signs indicate most of them will open by mid to last week of June. My only gripe about the place is that the location maps are really hard to figure out. They tried color coding but the place is so huge, the 4-color scheme does not work. We had to ask security guards for directions all the time.
migo » Jun 11, 2006 at 11:30 am
Went there on a sunday. Big mistake. Traffic was so bad and there were BUSES of people coming in.
I think with a mall as big as that, and considering the prices of goods here in the Philippines we ought to have a “great Malaysian sale” of sort to attract tourists. SM, Ayala and all key malls could have a month-long sale.
My problem though, as you pointed out, the so-called “Mall of Asia” is not tourist friendly. Shops are hard to locate. There arent many “customer information booths”, the shops arent zoned by storetype, and there arent any store maps.
Just lingered there for about 2 hours and eventually left.
Mia » Jun 10, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Went to the most-talked-about-mall 2 times already. Lesson learned: Never go there on weekends. I ended up eating in a restaurant that I don’t like because most of the restos were filled. My hunger pangs were killing me and I had no choice but to eat beside the one that I really wanted to try out. It’s a nice mall alright, but, I just don’t get the point why they put home furnishing and watch stores beside restaurants? I think the colors in some areas of the mall is either too orange or too yellow. Too bright and to think that they put these colors outside the mall. It’s already bright outside. I also hope they put more new shops. The one from New Zealand is nice but it’s extememly expensive! More expensive than Zara! Oh well, I’m just a Filipino who observes a lot…
ytters_berta23 » Jun 03, 2006 at 3:00 pm
…diz is not totally ah comment…juzt wanted to suggest lng po n ms ggnda din sna kung llgyan ng prang mga bar sa likod ng mall near sa mat bay sight..atleast after ng mall hours ms ggnahan mgrelax ung mga tao n mgstay at the back of the mall..
Jaypee » Jul 10, 2006 at 10:59 am
yan ang namimiss ko sa Pinas ang pagpunta sa mga malls. dito meron nga mga mall pero hindi kagaya sa dyan satin. mas masaya pumunta sa mall at mas marami kang magagawa.
jaja » Jul 04, 2006 at 4:48 am
kakanood ko dead man’s chest in Imax
Have you guys seen the blunder from Pirates of the Caribbean? I posted a picture in my site Captain Jack wearing an Adidas bandana! Here’s the link http://gotblab.com/
charmaine go » Nov 04, 2006 at 4:15 pm
grabe! nung nagfieldtrip kami nung oct. 24,06
halos ung ground lang ang nalibot ko
220 nga na hindi mo malilibot un ng 1 araw
ang laki…………………sarap pumunta ulit
Jazzy » Nov 04, 2006 at 4:24 am
Nice article.
According to Sy. They plan it to have a sort of mini entertainment park inside mall of Asia. Cant seem to find any trace of that plans.
Jorson » Jan 02, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Watch the fireworks there Australia won. Inside it’s clean and spacious. A lot of people not many buying. I asked several people about this since I noticed this at all the mall I saw there in a 3 week stay. They told Filipinos love to go the mall to cool down from the heat not to buy. The one I really enjoyed was the mall in Greenhills they called tiange, so many things to buy and you can haggle.
Marian » Jan 02, 2007 at 2:52 pm
The first time I went to the Mall of Asia, I said I’d just take a look expecting it to be just like any other mall, only bigger. I ltold my driver I wasn’t going to stay long, maybe just an hour at the most. It turned out, I spent the whole day there, from morning till dinnertime.
Seeing Manila Bay was such a surprise for me! I knew it was along the reclaimed area but I didn’t expect them to design the mall with a breathtaking view of the Mnaila Bay. I love it! I have become a regular shopper at this mall because it’s more spacious and has everything. There’s so many things to do here. But I never go on a weekend because it’s just too filled up with shoppers.
kham civil engr » Mar 08, 2007 at 8:03 pm
unang pnta q dun nung my breast cancer walk.. mgat taga pup pmnta lht… ahm.. aun nga malaki xia.. khit 2 floors lng, hanep sa lula.. galing ng concept saludo aq sa mga engineers dun.. kya lng tanung q lng kung aus nb tlga ung mga piles n nklagay sa ilalim ng moa? db kya namuv ung opening kze mdyo my vibrations.. ask q lng po pra sa tesis nmin.. tnx
amercan eagle, aeropostale, abercrombie, hollister shopper » May 05, 2007 at 5:57 am
i am so missing philippines..!! cant wait to go home..anyways..mall of asia is not called a “so-called”! its… totally awesome lol..di me ako makakapag wait for philippines
asa » May 09, 2007 at 9:00 am
late ang mga annoucement nyo
anne » Sep 10, 2007 at 10:50 am
ganda po ng mall of asia,,sana makapunta ako jan,,hahahaha
adan of kuwait » Feb 01, 2008 at 1:33 am
ganda b talaga yun mall of asia???
shopaholic » Mar 06, 2008 at 6:55 pm
ok naman sya kaya mas ok sana kng organized ung mga stote jut like other malls ung bang may floor or area for kids, ladies, gents, appliances, restos etc etc para di maubos ung oras mo sa kakahanap ng store na pupuntahan at bibilhan mo di…..The area no question about it just the establishment should be in good places…