In the latest departure from the boxed, windowless past of its early department stores, SM has literaly eleveted its North Edsa Mall’s competitive buzz with Ayala’s Trinoma by building a plant-filled and pond-dotted walkway on top of Edsa perimeter parking lot.

The 400-meter mendering covered walkway will be formally inaugurated this Friday, but mallers can actually now use the Sky Garden, as SM calls it, from North Avenue side to reach the SM Annex at the other end, and vice versa.

Designed with the help of Miami-based Arquitectonica, the SM walkway is a cross between Legaspi Village’s elevated walkway and Greenbelt’s outdoor restaurants, with an expansive view of Trinoma and Edsa and West Avenue in the background.

True to its mid-market focus, the Sky Garden is lined-up with mainly local hits like Padi’s Point and Ineng’s BBQ. The Salcedo Village carpark-based Persa Grill, which has built a cult-like following for its lamb chops, has likewise been inveigled to branch out to the other side of the city.

Mall rats will be pleased to know that Trinoma and SM North Edsa had agreed, apparently with little nudge from Bayani Fernando, to jointly build an elevated walkway that would connect the two competing malls.

Light Rail extension from Monumento, on the other hand, will have the terminus at SM North Edsa, thus completing the Edsa-Rizal Avenue loop.