The SM group has gained a foothold in the northern tip of the metropolis by setting up shop at a strategic intersection in Sangandaan, Caloocan City.

Scheduled to open later this year is the four-level SM Center Sangandaan, which will have 20,000 square meters in gross floor area, a footprint that’s much more modest compared to its usual shopping malls.

Nevertheless, this upcoming community mall—which is being built on a former market along the busy Sangandaan intersection—will bring SM Prime Holdings closer to the Malabon-Navotas-Caloocan market.

Note that rival Robinsons Land Corp. entered the market earlier with the opening of Robinsons Town Mall Malabon in 2013, while there are at least two other independently owned community malls long operating in the Malabon area.

SM Sangandaan is among the four new malls the Sy group will open this year, and the only one that is located within Metro Manila. The three other SM malls to open this year are SM City San Mateo in Rizal, SM City Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, and SM Seaside City Cebu.

As SM Prime is also expanding two existing malls—SM City Lipa in Batangas and SM City Iloilo—these new and expanded malls will add almost 800,000 square meters of gross floor area to the group this year.–Doris Dumlao-Abadilla