A New Mall Rises (TriNoma)
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Only half of the stores were operational at the soft opening last week but the newest development of Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) in Quezon City shows much promise. For one thing, TriNoma (or Triangle North of Manila) is located in front of the SM City, one of businessman Henry Sy’s most successful malls to date. The new mall at the intersection of EDSA and North Ave. is still not accessible via the MRT station but when this writer dropped by on Wednesday afternoon, the place was swarming with mall-goers eager to see what the fuss was all about. Most of the stores that were open were concentrated around or above the activity center. Restaurants and fastfood chains have the best views since they’re located at the perimeter but all the stores that opened last week were guaranteed 25% off their monthly rent for the first four months. Emelda Teng, owner of the Maldita and Diego apparel brands, said that the discount was incentive enough. “Actually the mall opening was delayed. We were told to be ready since the mall was supposed to open earlier this month.” She claimed that the delay was caused by several factors, the most basic being the air conditioning. “The mall itself may be air-conditioned but some of the stores don’t have it yet and have resorted to bringing in electric fans,” Ms. Teng said. “The air conditioners in both our stores aren’t running yet. Customers who might want to fit the clothes end up backing out because it’s just too warm.” She was optimistic, however, that the air-con would be up and running by the weekend. There was no problem of the sort at The Face Shop, the Korean brand of toiletries that was brought into the country last year by businessman Ben Chan. Bryan Lim, who manages the franchise and was present at the mall that afternoon, said that the TriNoma store was their 10th branch. “We were only required to open a minimum three branches last year but we surpassed that. In fact, we plan to open nine more stores before the end of the year.” Mr. Lim said that they didn’t have a hard time convincing Filipinas to try the brand because of the reasonable prices. A bottle of nail polish from The Face Shop costs P95 compared to P400 for one from Sally Hansen. “We’ve noticed that customers who aren’t familiar with the brand are willing to try topical products like nail polish or lip gloss. If they like it, they come back to try the skincare.” Once the rest of the stores at TriNoma are open, expect one of Quezon City ’s busiest commercial areas to become even busier. |
