Manila - In the Philippines, the love for shopping malls runs deep, so deep that they coined a special term to describe this favourite national pasttime. "Let's go malling," is the standard invite for strolling along the air-conditioned walkways in the country's huge shopping malls.
Three of the world's largest shopping centres are in the Philippines, two of them in the capital Manila. The largest of them is the 3-year-old, 400,000-square-metre Mall of Asia, a shopping Mecca almost the same size as the Vatican.
Here, the global economic crisis might as well happened on another planet. "Downturn?" asked Mall of Asia chief Steven Tan, "Our sales rose by 13 per cent in April."
"Malling is pure Filipino culture," said Tan, who also tours Manila's malls on his days off. "We offer convenience to our customers - they can go shopping, see a doctor, go to the bank, and even run administrative errands, all under one roof."
The mall manager likes superlatives. In his drawer he keeps a book of world records, which, inside its glittery covers, lists his mall as one of the world's largest.
The super-mall also houses the world's largest IMAX cinema screen, which boasts a height of eight storeys, the Philippines' top-selling Starbuck's coffeeshop and the only Olympic-size ice stadium in the tropical country.
Already early in the morning a catchy tune welcomes the customers to the "magic world of SM."
SM, that is SM Prime Holdings Inc's shopping empire consisting of 34 malls all across the Philippines. "We plan to open four of five new ones per year," Tan said. SM controls 70 per cent of retail in the Philippines.
Per day, 200,000 people visit the Mall of Asia, on weekends the numbers swell to 500,000 to 1 million.
"The aircon is free," a young couple standing in front of a sportswear store pointed out.
"Clean bathrooms" were a draw for her, a tourist from Taiwan said.
"I'm here with the kids and my mother-in-law," a young man said. "While the children are at the dentist, we'll look for presents for my wife."
Not even the obligatory attendance at Sunday mass can derail mall fun in the strongly Catholic country. SM included a church, the Shrine of Jesus, in the Mall of Asia, the nearby Chowking fast-food restaurant offers "special deals for baptisms, weddings and birthdays."
A stroll through the boutiques and sports stores shows that customers have to be well-heeled for a shopping spree. A pair of jeans for 140 dollars or shoes for 100 dollars are the rule in some of the more than 500 shops, in a country where about one third of the 100-million-strong population lives on less than 80 pesos (about 1.7 dollars) per day.
"Thirty per cent of our customers come from the high-income groups (those who earn more than 50,000 pesos per month)," Tan said.
But malling is not just the prerogative of the rich. In the corner with the cheap fast-food restaurants four young mothers sit and drink iced tea. "We are not here for shopping," one said. "The children can play here and we chat." Windowshopping is all the friends can afford.
The same is probably true for most of the 15,000 employees at the Mall of Asia, most of whom earn only minimum wage of less than 10 dollars a day.
But Tan has something to offer for those clients as well, for example, cheap restaurants. Also, there are free concerts with pop stars, auctions, kickboxing fights and even occasional flea market.
For the children, the customers of tomorrow, there is a science museum with a planetarium and a very popular corner for "grossology," which provides explanations on topics like body odour and burping.
And for the well-off, luxury apartments are erected next to the Mall of Asia, directly connected to the shopping centre by bridges.
