Malls and malling are today an undeniable part of Filipino life. If you think about it, we spend a major part of our waking lives inside or around these modern complexes attending to our needs for recreation, dining and shopping. One of the names most associated with malls is SM, a company that has redefined the retail business in the Philippines. Along the way to establishing itself as a world-class business entity, it is also reshaping our urban landscapes and lifestyles.

Malls are defined as any large, usually enclosed complex, with shops, restaurants, cinemas and other services or amenities organized around or along a pedestrian concourse or promenade. They are mainly an American invention that cropped up with the suburban explosion after the Second World War.

Before that period, most shopping was done in downtown areas where various shops faced a street and large department stores anchored city blocks at the corners. New York and Chicago had Sears and Macys while we had The Crystal Palace and Estrella del Norte on the Escolta and Aguinaldo’s Department Store on Juan Luna.

The architect most associated with modern shopping malls was Victor Gruen, an Austrian émigré to the United States. He managed to establish a practice after fleeing German-annexed Austria in 1938 and after the war designed the first suburban (but open-air) shopping facility called Northland Mall near Detroit in 1954. After the success of the first project he designed Southdale Mall, the first fully-enclosed shopping mall that opened in Edina, Minnesota.

The Philippines of the ’50s had few urban areas with needs that could not be serviced by downtown shops. Manila’s shops and department stores were already expanding, however, as the city’s population grew with recovery from the war. One of those shops was a shoe store run by a young entrepreneur named Henry Sy. It was located just off Avenida Rizal, which had by then surpassed the Escolta in prominence.

The young Henry had anticipated the need for shoes and promptly travelled to the United States not only to look for stock but also to see how shops were changing to meet new conditions and post-war prosperity.

Henry, who travelled initially around the American East coast, would have noted and visited the new-fangled “shopping malls” and the trend towards suburban expansion. This trend, he surmised, would eventually be followed in Manila.

Back home, the flight to the suburbs started to happen in the mid-’50s. Housing developments like the government projects and Philamlife Homes were examples; but the first and more sustained moves were made by the Ayalas in Makati with Forbes Park and eventually the “villages” of Bel Air, Urdaneta, San Lorenzo, Magallanes and Dasmarinas.

Henry Sy saw this and decided to make the decision most Manila shop owners were wary of — the move out of downtown. The first Shoemart opened in the ’60s in Makati as part of the Makati Commercial Center. The center was a hybrid open-air mall, which was enhanced by landscaping but lacked the air-conditioned comfort and organizing strength of an indoor pedestrian promenade. Parking was spread across several lots. Cinemas were present but were not fully integrated with the rest of the complex.

Back in the United States mall design had reached a zenith in the 1970s. The classic format was that of a single or double promenade lined with shops with “anchor” tenants, usually a large department store at the ends. This “dumbell” configuration worked extremely well to generate pedestrian traffic in front of shops. From a normally one-story affair, malls also went multi-story with cineplexes and food courts serving to “anchor” top and bottom floors.

Mr. Sy must have noted all of this and anticipated that this was to be the trend even for Manila. Shoemart had expanded its department stores in Makati, Manila and Cubao in the ’70s and ’80s but these were still just an improvement over the large downtown or commercial center shop. He knew the future lay in large integrated multi-level complexes with perimeter parking, anchor tenants, indoor promenades, cineplexes and foodcourts. Finding no partner from the established development firms willing to take the risk, Sy decided to do it himself. SM North EDSA was born.

The gamble paid off in spades as SM North set a new standard for integrated shopping malls in the country. This was soon followed by plans for Megamall in the Ortigas Center. This put SM and Philippine malls on the world map since by the late ’80s we had started to build bigger malls than the average size even in the US.

By the early 1990s, SM malls and department stores were changing shopping habits and expectations of the Filipino shopper. People started to expect — and receive — a secure, clean and pleasant environment for shopping which many other centers did not have. This was seen in the provision for clean toilets in all their malls, by the courteous security guards and spotless promenades.

Entering SM malls in the ’90s elicited a change in behavior and even in manner of dress. The three S’s were banished — sandos, slippers and singlets (undershirts) disappeared as shoppers’ behavior and decorum was upgraded along with the improved design of SM’s malls. Today, mall behavior is generally good behavior as users know all public areas are monitored and are therefore generally safe. To paraphrase Winston Churchill: “We shape our buildings and then they shape us.”

The late ’90s and early 2000s saw a boom in SM malls’ construction. Each new mall took in the lessons from the previous ones and SM’s architects and retail planners learned as they built and as they observed the shopping habits of their customers change.

They noticed more OFWs were coming in so money-changing stations became de rigueur. They noticed cinema-goers wanted more selections in smaller cinemas so this was built in. SM noticed the rise of FXs and taxi queues so these were incorporated or older malls retrofitted to accommodate these modes of transportation. They noted the need to integrate with the light rail transits so this was also done. It was noted that Filipinos would get attracted to unique activities and amenities like skating and art galleries so these are now part and parcel of larger SM malls. They also noted a trend toward outdoor cafes and dining ; so we saw these, too, and benefited from it.

In the middle of this decade the Mall of Asia (MOA) was opened. The facility (the third largest in the world) is the latest evolutionary reflection of SM (and Henry Sy’s) forward thinking. MOA is not a solid box as was the standard design in the ’80s and ’90s. It has broken out of the box and incorporates a lot of open spaces and generous areas for al fresco dining. The interiors are provided with generous natural lighting with skylights and glazing. Landscape is an important element, both indoors and out.

MOA is big but because it is broken up in segments, has views outward (especially to the sea), is serviced by trams, and is heavily landscaped and brightly lit inside day and night, it is warm and friendly. No wonder it draws millions every week.

The MOA is an example of the “build it and they will come” approach to new city districts. It will, say reports, be the central core of an integrated mixed-use waterfront district that will include hotels, offices and residential towers, and a cruise terminal (for links to SM’s Hamilo Coast project). Already the MOA is linked to SMX, a convention center, SM by the Bay, two office blocks and One Esplanade, an event facility.

Today, the Philippines is an urban nation. More than half of the country is urbanized. This urbanization has, to a large extent, been uncontrolled and haphazard with little infrastructure or thought given to urban design, architecture or landscape architecture. SM malls have redefined urbanization to include those areas serviced by an SM facility. SM retains the services of the country’s best architects, landscape architects and interior designers, pointing to another contribution to the local service economy.

Most SMs are visible from the air so if there’s no SM yet, that city, some say, is not completely “civilized.” Malls have been criticized for their size and impact on communities. The fact that they are there is testimony to people’s need for convenience, comfort and security not far from where they live. This is more important today, given the rising price of fuel.

The shortcomings are mostly from a larger context of the district or region they are located in. It is a sad fact that public infrastructure and social services fall short of providing adequately for citizen’s needs. That is why we are a nation guarded by private security companies; why private schools provide most of our upper-level education; why medical services are by private clinics and why public markets are not establishments of choice for those who have the choice. Of course it’s a chicken-or-the-egg situation and increased sales tax revenue from SMs do boost a local city government’s profit, giving hope for improved public services.

Service has always been part of SM’s culture. It has responded to public needs in ways other than providing access to goods or movies. SM malls now allow public services into their malls. NBI clearances, BIR remittances and driver’s licences can be processed a short distance from your favorite bookstore or café. Good things seem to be brewing at your local SM.

Malls are here to stay but mall developers and operators, notably SM, are changing the way they are built and are built into the urban fabric. SM’s projects like the MOA are themselves large enough to organize the fabric themselves. In less-expansive sites they drive future development mainly towards increased vibrancy and business engagement.

SM is fulfilling Victor Gruen’s original intent to make shopping malls key elements in the building of communities. He was for giving them an integrating function much like the city plazas, squares and commons of old. He had envisioned the large districts around them to include civic structures, churches, hospitals, hotels, post offices, gymnasiums and parks.

MOA has a church (in fact it was the first structure built on the site). Megamall has a chapel and in most others Mass is celebrated along with the Angelus (inside the SM Department Stores). SM malls have private clinics and health clubs. Parcel and messenger services are available in most SM Malls. Soon, hotels will be integrated at the MOA.

The future of Philippine urbanism lies in finding more ways to integrate, rationalize, and connect needed facilities such as SM’s malls in the necessary context of public transport, housing, environmental sustainability and the conservation or evolution of a sense of place. With greater thought given to urban design, architecture and landscape architecture, SM’s developments will increase the value not only of the spaces within its premises but of the larger urban sites they occupy.

Malling fills a big portion of our contemporary lives. It is part of our modern Filipino culture. “Megamalling” is a verb, or people say “magSM tayo.” Most urban Filipinos cannot imagine a life without SM while rural folk travel great distances for the quarterly or semi-annual SM shopping spree. (Boholanos cross over by fast ferry to SM Cebu).

SM is as Pinoy as kare-kare and crispy pata, long Christmas seasons, family reunions, and texting. Balikbayans put it on their “must-do” lists. It is a barkada, date and gimmick place, a park and playground, a cultural center, festival ground, concert hall and, of course, market place. It is a lot of things to a lot of people and the good thing is that it is evolving.

I have to end this long piece now because… I’ve got to get to the mall.