ROSALES — The long awaited SM City Rosales, the 32nd SM (Shoe Mart) supermall, will finally open its doors on Friday to the Pangasinenses and those from nearby provinces. 

The mall blessing, however, is scheduled at 1 p.m. Thursday, with SM Group of Companies top brass Hans Sy leading the activity. He will be joined by other SM bigwigs. 

Invited to grace the mass and blessing are local officials of Rosales headed by Mayor Ricardo Revita, sixth district Representative Conrado Estrella III, and other local officials from neighboring towns. Karen Nobres, SM City Baguio information officer, however, clarified that Thursday’s activity is exclusively for invited guests only.

The soft opening of Building 1 will be on Friday, and from then on SM City Rosales will be open to the public.

SM City Rosales is located along the national highway in Barangay Carmen East.

Housed at Building are SM Hypermarket and 27 mall tenants that include the regular SM mainstays and the event center. Ongoing construction is Building 2, which will house the cinemas, food court, department store, and more mall tenants.

The grand opening is scheduled in March 2009.

SM City Rosales is the first SM mall in the region and the biggest mall in the province of Pangasinan. Mayor Revita said their town is already popular because it is the gateway to Pangasinan being in the boundary of Tarlac and Pangasinan provinces. With SM City Rosales, the town will become more popular and will be a by-word to shoppers.