History
The roots of SM date back to the 1950s when entrepreneur Henry Sy, Sr. established a shoe store in Carriedo, the then-central business district of Manila. His aggressive and adamant strategy helped him gain large profits within a few years and he later expanded his business in Quiapo to become a fully functioning department store named "Shoemart", specialising in the sale of shoes, the sector of which the store originally was. Shoemart was later abbreviated to SM and became commonly known as "SM" or "Shoemart" by the locals. The SM in Carriedo was later abandoned and moved in the present site in Quiapo near the Manila LRT Yellow Line. The old site was demolished in 1982.
The first SM Supermall, SM City North EDSA, was opened in 1985 and started the Philippine "malling" phenomenon. Sy observed the malling hobby of Filipinos and opted to make every SM Supermall like an amusement park. All SM Supermalls contain at least one or more amusement facilities, such as cinemas, bowling alleys, convention centres and game arcades.
Located in several cities and areas in Metro Manila, as well as major provincial cities, each SM is easily accessible and situated by places of public interest (churches, schools, major roads and highways, etc.). SM opened its first department store outside Metro Manila (SM Delgado) in Iloilo City in 1979 and was relaunched in 2004.
The first ice skating rink in the Philippines was opened in SM Megamall in 1991. With this first, SM introduced Filipinos to an art-sport otherwise unpopular in tropical countries. The SM Supermalls also house 146 cinemas (with over 103,708 total seating capacity), making SM Prime Holdings the largest cinema operator in the country.
As of 2006, SM Prime Holdings is embarking on an aggressive expansion program within the next five years. In preparation for this expansion, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. has amassed a total landbank of 96.6 hectares in 10 strategic locations. Included are attractive properties in provinces where urbanization is steadily underway, such as Cabanatuan, Pangasinan and Bulacan.
In 2006, SM opened the SM Mall of Asia. This is SM Prime Holdings' most expensive project to date.
The SM Group has engaged in other retail endeavors through other SM related companies such as, among others: Watsons Personal Care Stores, Inc., a joint-venture with Hutchison-Whampoa Ltd. of Hong Kong; International Toy World (Toy Kingdom); Ace Hardware Philippines, a joint-venture with Ace Hardware Corporation USA; Star Appliance Center; Surplus Shop; Sports Central; Baby and Co.; Home World; and Our Home. The amusement center is SM Storyland.
Read more about this topic: SM Prime Holdings
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