Quite unique in its stance as a primary household name in the retail industry, are the many branches of SM Malls in the Philippines. As a huge tourist attaction in the Metro Manila area, SM Mall of Asia (also known as MOA) is worthy of its daily average foot traffic of about 200,000 people, for many reasons.
Located in the Bay City, Pasay area just about 15-30 minutes from the airport, MOA is the 3rd largest shopping mall in the world and the largest mall in the Philippines. It has four buildings that are interconnected by outside and inside walking passages. These buildings include the main mall, the entertainment mall, plus the north and south car park buildings.
One of the major attractions of SM MOA is the Philippines' first ever IMAX Theater, together with a Director’s Club Theater that has 30 La-Z-Boy seats, a Premiere Cinema, and the Center Stage Cinema that are for concerts and stage plays. The San Miguel–Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre is one of the world’s biggest IMAX screens in 3D including 2D screenings, according to Wikipedia.
Yes, Ice Skating in the Philippines!
And the moment you think you’re done with having fun, you then come across their Olympic–sized ice skating rink, a first in the Philippines. With an area of 1,830 square meters, it is the biggest ice skating rink in Southeast Asia. One can enjoy the benefit of learning how to figure skate and play ice hockey there, too, through the tutelage of their professional trainers.
The mall opened on March 21, 2006, is owned by none other than Henry Sy, Sr., the Philippines’ retail store mogul, and features hundreds of retailers. Not to mention that it sits right on the Manila Bay, with amazing views of the water - especially at sunset!
Truly living up to its being a one stop shop, SM Mall of Asia also houses many BPO offices and events venues, namely, One E-com Center, Two E-com Center, Esplanade, Mall of Asia Arena, SMX Convention Center; not to mention other entertainment features such as The Mall of Asia Eye, otherwise known as the Ferris Wheel with 36 air-conditioned gondolas; and the famous EXPLOREUM Science Center, that showcases a digital planetarium on top of several exhibits about science and technology.
Other fun facts:
The mall features almost four hectares of floor area. 8,000 parking slots. 5,000 square meters allotted for public utility vehicles. 100 slots for tourist buses. Almost one kilometer in length, and a perimeter of almost 2 kilometers. Close to 2 million bags of cement used to build it and 44,000 gallons of paint consumed. It also has 1.9 million floor tiles installed in it.
For more details about Mall of Asia, visit www.smmallofasia.com
