With three of the world’s 10 largest malls – SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, and SM City North EDSA – punctuating its skyline, it’s easy to imagine the country’s capital soon joining the ranks of Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore as Asia’s shopping hot spots.

According to Reader’s Digest, Metro Manila – with its numerous shopping districts, bazaars and flea markets – attracts serious shoppers today because of the variety and the bargains it offers, noting that the mega city is ‘threatening to take over the title of Asia’s shopping capital.’

The sector’s upspring began with one man: Henry Sy from having a buy-and sell venture at the time of the Second World War, he opened the country’s first air-conditioned shoe shop, which later grew into a chain of department stores. Business was brisk, and when he could no longer find enough space to sell his wares, Mr. Sy decided to build his own shopping center.

Today, the enterprising Chinese-Filipino is chairman of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the holding firm of mall developer SM Prime Holdings, and SM Retail, Inc., which operates SM Department Stores, SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and SaveMore.

To date, SM Retail has 40 department stores, 30 supermarkets, 38 SaveMore outlets and 23 hypermarkets across the country. SM Prime alone inaugurated a total of four new malls this year, bringing its nationwide count to 40, in addition to four shopping centers in China – one in Mr. Sy’s hometown Jianjing, another one in Chengdu, and two in Xiamen – with an estimated gross floor area of 5.4 million square meters.

‘It’s difficult to imagine Philippine retail without SM,’ Bernie Liu, CEO of Golden ABC, Inc. and president of the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), told BusinessWorld in an e-mail.

Many industry players, he said, owe their success to SM’s nationwide presence. ‘Because of Henry Sy’s efforts to create opportunities for growth among countless entrepreneurs, retailers did not just become clients of SM. We became business partners,’ said Mr. Liu, whose Penshoppe, Memo, ForMe and Regatta outlets figure in almost every SM mall.

And the octogenarian – who reportedly checks on his malls through regular visits – shows no signs of stopping. SMIC expects to open four more SaveMore branches and two hypermarkets by yearend, and at least 20 new retail stores are in the pipeline for 2011. More shopping centers are also set for unveiling in mainland China: SM Suzhou is reportedly opening this month, SM Chongqing in 2011, and SM Shandong in 2013.

‘That is what makes Mr. Sy stand out – he’s a visionary who dreams big; but he never lets anything sit too long on the drawing board … After achieving one dream, he’d go on to achieve other dreams,’ observed Mr. Liu.

But more than the megastructures the mall tycoon built, it’s what he put inside those buildings that set the pace for other retail developers in the country.

Mr. Sy designed his malls to be convenient, comfortable one-stop environments that could well be the center of activity in a whole town. As Reader’s Digest noted, Manila’s malls – most of which are Mr. Sy’s – are like mini -cities complete with department stores, ice skating rinks, cinemas, supermarkets, and even churches.

SM Mall of Asia, which at 407,000 sqm is one of the tycoon’s most ambitious projects to date, has at least 700 stalls spread over four buildings and attracts around 200,000 shoppers daily. SM City North EDSA, the first shopping structure Mr. Sy built in 1985, was recently named PRA ‘Shopping Center of the Year,’ for ‘epitomizing success in terms of growth and ethical practice.’

Earlier this month, SM’s retail group also received the Gold Award as the country’s top retailer for the seventh year in a row. It also won, for the third consecutive time, the ‘Best of the Best’ trophy in the 2010 Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500, presented by Singapore-based magazine Retail Asia.

Bing Limjoco, vice-chairman of the Philippine Franchise Association, credits Mr. Sy for prodding the local retail industry to proceed with its bid to host the 6th Asian Retailers Conference and Expo in 1993 despite then being one of the region’s underdogs.

‘At the time, the Philippines was behind most of its neighbors when it came to shopping centers, but we still won [the bid] despite the odds. The expo’s welcome dinner was even held at the SM Megamall, which was still new then,’ said Ms. Limjoco.

Today, SM unveils an average of three malls a year, opening doors for more retailers and service providers. Mr. Sy had so raised the level of retailing in the Philippines that in 2005, his contemporaries in erstwhile industry leader Japan flew him into their country and held their ears out to what he had to say. ‘Our neighbors now benchmark on the Philippines,’ Ms. Limjoco noted.

Retail leadership aside, Mr. Sy has diversified into banking, real estate, and hotel and leisure- becoming the country’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $5 billion along the way – but the man of means still has his feet on the ground, a trait that Mr. Liu says is part and parcel of the mogul’s equation for success.

‘Stay humble in spite of your achievements, be grounded in your business, take hard work seriously, and most importantly, be progressive in your vision,’ said Mr. Liu. ‘These are Mr. Sy’s values that could very well be applied outside the retail industry.’