Shop pa more!

Netnet Camomot

ILANG tulog na lang!

No, I’m not referring to the opening of SM Downtown in Cagayan de Oro. You’re the odd one out if you’re looking forward to that–traffic! Ugh.

Or it could be this: you’re the odd one out if you’re not looking forward to it. After visiting SM Aura Premier in Taguig, SM Seaside City in Cebu, and SM Lanang Premier in Davao, what will make SM CDO Downtown Premier unique from the rest of ‘em?

CDO’s Roads and Traffic Administration has already released a new scheme to lessen the chaos: buy or rent a chopper and fly over the gridlock. Not!

The new scheme is to board a military chopper–the one used during the Vietnam war–and use a parachute to land on top of SM Downtown. Not!

The more realistic scheme is to paraglide from Sierra del Oro, Barangay Indahag, and make sure you land on top of SM Downtown. It should be on top of the building and not on the street where the chaos is. The aim is to avoid traffic jams otherwise you’ll need fruit jam inside the car in case hunger strikes before reaching the new SM.

Discount cards and invites have already been distributed to those lucky enough to see the mall tomorrow, a day before its grand opening. I had that, too, for SM Seaside’s Forever 21, but I opted to go to Carcar’s fiesta instead. Priorities.

Uniqlo will also open a branch at SM Downtown. Looking forward to the day when Zara will also open here.

What does this mean for CDO? More reasons to spend money–that is, if window-shopping is not your thing. But if a kumbira is your thing, SM Downtown will have Vikings–the resto with more choices than Yakimix. O my gas. Buffet pa more! I gained five pounds at Vikings Mall of Asia branch. Now that it will be in CDO, good luck na lang to the fats and body weight. Yeah, sambong tea pa more.

Here’s unsolicited advice. If you can’t afford to rent or buy a chopper, and you don’t have the guts to paraglide from Indahag, you can park your car at Limketkai Center or at Centrio Ayala Mall and walk from there to the new SM. I gotta feeling, though, that LKK and Centrio won’t like that at all.

There was a plan to expand LKK’s overhead pedestrian walkway to connect with SM Downtown. If that plan pushes through, then, most probably LKK management is A-OK with an SM guest parking his car inside LKK’s territory.

As for the same walkway from Centrio, thereby, connecting all these three malls, plus Gaisano since there’s already that pedestrian overpass from Gaisano to Centrio across C.M. Recto Avenue, well, we can dream, can’t we? Much like the elevated walkways in Makati’s central business district. All that walking will be good exercise for the Cagayanon, provided the knees are healthy enough. Thus, the need to lose weight and avoid eat-all-you-can buffets.

Still, malls all look the same especially for one who already has her suki stores. She may notice the unique features, the ones she hasn’t seen in other local malls, but she will always go for her suki, the brands and stores where she knows the sizes and styles that fit her.

Retail stores are luckier in Pinas. Pinays may have begun to shop online but they still prefer to visit stores where they can try clothes on. In the US and even Singapore, people are buying online, forcing retail shops–and the malls where they rent space–to close. But that may never happen in Pinas where malls serve as our parks. It’s where we eat, watch movies, buy groceries, shop for clothes and accessories, buy books and school and office supplies, that’s where we bought garbage bins when CDO began to strictly implement its waste segregation system. It’s a one-stop shop.

Now, why this focus on the Pinay–the female Filipino. Well, it’s common knowledge that women shop more, even for things they don’t need. This is most evident during sales—simply put “70% Off” above a pile of clothes. Unlike men who seem to wear blinders when they shop—if they’re there to buy a flashlight, then, flashlight it is. And the batteries required. The husband or boyfriend ends up toting around the better half’s shopping bags, as the latter looks for “70%-Off” signs. That may make him the bitter half. But then, he must love her that much if he’s willing to wait as she dives into a pile of clothes on sale, which will then mean long lines to the fitting room and the cashier. There are women who don’t even have the patience to join the maddening crowd at weekend sales, so, bow to the men who can.

With more malls to choose from, the CDO uptowner may still prefer to shop, eat, and watch movies at the uptown SM. Proximity has its perks–no traffic, no landslides, no floods. Wait, not exactly no floods.

Remember Unimart, Virra Mall, the shops at Greenhills in Metro Manila? I had not been to that area for many years. Last month, though, we went there, and we had the most pleasant of surprises–Tropical Hut. Yup, the yummy burgers. And that made me vow to go back each time I’m in Manila. For that alone–the burgers. Retailers and business owners always focus on location, location, location as the three main ingredients for success. But as long as you’re offering the best of the best, people will still go to your store, no matter how far it is from the usual places they visit.

The fashionista will always drop by her suki shops, the movie fan will go to the most comfortable cinema with the best sound, and the bookworm will always look for bookstores. We’re already spending money, anyway, might as well indulge in what we can afford. So, yes, SM Downtown will have its fans, including uptowners.

The young Cagayanon, though, is the luckiest one. He will have more years–and healthy knees–to savor CDO’s progress. And he doesn’t even have to sleep while he’s at it. Wala nang tulugan!