29 Nov 2013 — PROPERTY developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. on Friday said it opened its 48th branch in BF Homes in Parañaque, while Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. opened its 1,000th store in Butuan.

SM City BF has a gross floor area of 120,200 square meters. The company said its new shopping mall will be the first to have four cinemas equipped with electronic recliner seats that can accommodate up to 200 moviegoers.

“Always wanting to give a unique mall experience, we have equipped SM City BF with the most number of premier digital cinemas and director’s clubs in a single mall. We are also introducing new facilities and more international brands to heighten our customers’ shopping and dining experience,” SM Prime President Hans Sy said.

It provides ample parking space for 1,419 cars and 179 slots for motorcycles located at the fourth, fifth and sixth levels.

To prevent flooding in the area, SM City BF boasts of a water-catchment basin that can store up to 5,000 cubic liters of rainwater, equivalent to one Olympic-size swimming pool. Rainwater collected in the basin will be recycled to water plants, clean the mall and flush toilets.

Over the years, SM Prime has taken the lead in making its malls both green certified and disaster resilient which, apart from protecting and conserving the environment, reduces risks for SM and its tenants from the potential effects of the intensifying weather patterns.

On the other hand, Robinsons Retail of the Gokongwei family, opened its 1,000th outlet, a two-level Robinsons Department Store in Butuan. The company now has 37 department stores all over the country.

Its new shopping mall has a gross selling area of 7,100 square meters and features key brands of the Robinsons group such as Toys R Us, South Star Drug, Robinsons Appliances and Robinsons Supermarket, among others.

“The opening of Robinsons Retail’s 1,000th store is a milestone for the company, which opened its very first retail store in 1980, also a Robinsons Department Store,” it said.

The company aims to increase its store network to 1,100 by the end of the year to 1,400 by end-2014.

At the end of last year, it had 912 stores.  VG Cabuag