The Block might seem like the inappropriate name for the newly opened annex at SM City North EDSA because it is so unlike older SM Malls. From the outside, it looks like its siblings but don’t let the boxy structure fool you.

The Block now occupies what used to be part of the open parking lot. Its five levels add over 76,000 sq.m. of gross floor area to the mall’s main complex.

Inside, there are wide, empty spaces. Instead of walking from one end of the mall to the other, taking the escalator to go up or down, and doing the same thing over again, the flow follows a more circular path.

To get from one point to another, customers pass by the different stores, many of which were still unopened during our visit last week. Before the end of the year, however, most of them are expected to open.

Mall-affiliated stores like SM Appliance Center, Surplus Shop and Watsons were some of the stores open during the launch held the other Saturday. A branch of the toy store Toy Kingdom is also expected to open in the next few days.

The mall’s other levels will house more shops, food outlets and four cinemas.

For added accessibility, direct footbridge connections to the car park building are located at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels.

Millie Dizon, Vice-President for Marketing Communications, said that many of the tenants were chosen by the mall’s leasing department since they appealed to a younger market.

‘After the success of the Podium Mall in Ortigas, we thought of doing something similar at SM North,’ she said. ‘Moreover, we needed space for our affiliates like Toy Kingdom that did not have a branch at the main mall.’

The Podium Mall is the upscale SM mall located just behind the SM Megamall.

‘We also wanted to service members of the upscale market who live or work nearby with stores we felt certain would appeal to them,’ Ms. Dizon said.

Still, she was quick to add that despite this move to a higher end look for the new annex, they didn’t want to alienate the broader market. They accomplished this with SM Hypermarket that is located at the first level.

Unlike the mall’s defunct Super Sale Club that followed the wholesale club concept where most of the items were sold by bulk, the hypermarket is a European concept that combines supermarket, general merchandise and discount retailers under one ceiling.

‘The mix here is 50% dry goods and 50% food. SM Hypermarket is the anchor store at The Block as well as at the Mall of Asia,’ Ms. Dizon said. ‘A third Hypermarket at SM Pasig in Frontera Verde is scheduled to open before the end of the month.’

Asked whether The Block was constructed because Ayala Land, Inc. is constructing a mall just across the street, she replied, ‘We are aware of the construction and we’d like to be prepared.’

As the first shopping mall of the SM group, SM North opened to mixed reviews in the mid-1980s.

‘Business leaders said it wouldn’t work, that Filipinos wouldn’t appreciate it but it is now one of our most profitable malls,’ Ms. Dizon said.

She then compared SM North to ‘a city that keeps on growing’ and that like any other city needs ‘rezoning and restructuring in order to decongest it.’

Before the end of the year, two more malls will open in the cities of Lipa and Bacolod bringing the total number of SM malls to 28.