SM City Cebu (also known as SM Cebu, and sometimes both known locally as SM Mabolo and SM City), is a large

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

located in Mabolo,

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is the 4th shopping mall owned and developed by

SM Prime Holdings SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPH) is a Filipino integrated property developer and a public subsidiary of SM Investments Corporation. It was incorporated on January 6, 1994, to develop, conduct, operate, and maintain the SM commercial shopping ce ...

, the country's largest shopping mall owner and developer. It is the company's first shopping mall outside

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

and the fifth largest shopping mall in the Philippines.SM Prime nets P1.5 B in Q1, up 11%

Manila Bulletin The ''Manila Bulletin'' () (also known as the ''Bulletin'' and previously known as the ''Manila Daily Bulletin'' from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the ''Bulletin Today'' from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest ...

, May 9, 2007 It has a land area of and a

gross floor area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured in square metres or square feet) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the bui ...

of SM Prime Holdings - SM City Cebu
retrieved April 13, 2008 On an average day, more than 100,000 people visit SM City Cebu, with the figure increasing to 140,000 to 150,000 on weekends.,

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded broad ...

, May 21, 2004 Due to Cebu City's position as a transshipment point for the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

, and SM City Cebu's location close to the city's port area, the mall attracts a significant number of transient shoppers.

History

Development

The mall, the first SM Supermall outside of Metro Manila, opened on November 27, 1993, with a gross floor area of . It was seen as catering to the broad low- and middle-class shoppers, in contrast to its upscale competitor, the

Ayala Corporation Ayala Corporation (, formerly ''Ayala y Compañía''; ) is the publicly listed holding company for the diversified interests of the Ayala Group. Founded in the Philippines by Domingo Róxas and Antonio de Ayala during Spanish colonial rule, ...

-owned

Ayala Center Cebu Ayala Center Cebu is a large shopping mall owned by Ayala Malls at the Cebu Business Park in Cebu City, Philippines. It is the first Ayala mall located outside of Metro Manila. It opened in November 1994, one year after their rival mall, SM Cit ...

which opened a year later. Located in Cebu City's North Reclamation Area, then a quiet and relatively remote part of the city, the mall had Manila-based movie and television stars and entertainers perform free concerts at the mall to attract shoppers. Free jeepney rides to the mall were also offered to fulfill the lack of available public transportation within the area.

Northwing

Construction on SM City Cebu's expansion building, dubbed the Northwing, began in March 2006.SM City Cebu to build 5-story annex by March
Sun.Star Cebu, February 21, 2006 The expansion, which was developed at a cost of 1.3 billion (US$30.5 million), was built on the parking lot to the north of the existing building, temporarily decreasing the number of parking spaces by more than 30%.SM opens P1.3B wing
Sun.Star Cebu, December 1, 2007 Construction of the Northwing started in April 2006, and opened on November 30, 2007. It increased the total gross floor area of SM City Cebu by , for a total of . The first 2 floors are for the mall's expansion, while the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors are for the indoor carpark including the roof deck.

Northwing Expansion

An expansion is planned for the Northwing, which will also include two 20-storey office buildings intended to cater to business process outsourcing companies, as well as a 9-storey building which will house a campus of

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

. It is set to be completed by 2025. Once completed, the GFA of SM City Cebu will be rumored to have a total of around 495,000 sqm, surpassing

SM Seaside City Cebu SM Seaside City (also known locally as SM Seaside and formerly but still officially known on exterior signage as SM Seaside City Cebu), is a large shopping mall owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings in South Road Properties, Cebu City, Phili ...

. At the same time, a major renovation of its interior is ongoing, starting with the area near

Ace Hardware Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States. Founded on October 25, 1924, as "Ace Stores", the co ...

and SM Appliance Center, and new shops are being added as well.

Design

SM City Cebu is a seven-level complex namely lower ground floor, upper ground floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, and roof deck featuring a total of eight cinemas with seven regular cinemas and one

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

theater with a total seating capacity of 5,812, a food court, a fully computerized bowling center, 8,000-square meter amusement center, and a 2,000-square meter trade hall. Prior to the addition of the Northwing, it had a car park capacity of 1,629. The Northwing expansion, opened in 2007, features two floors of retail stores, restaurants, and cafes. It houses more than 200 tenants and caters to a more upscale clientele. The expansion also added three levels of covered parking, and a one level of roof deck parking.

Transport

The

Cebu North Bus Terminal The Cebu North Bus Terminal (CNBT) is a bus station in Cebu City, Philippines operated by the Cebu Provincial Government which serves as a hub for buses servicing northern Cebu. CNBT was previously located in a lot owned by the Mandaue city gove ...

is situated inside the mall compound opposite the mall's parking area with the lot granted by SM Prime for free for a period of two years, after its lease in its former location in Subangdaku,

Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...

expired in early 2020. It was officially opened on October 12, 2020, and full operation started on October 15, 2020.

Gallery

Northwing Atrium at SM City Cebu (01-29-2023).jpg, Northwing SM Cinema at SM City Cebu (01) (2024-07-19).jpg, SM Cinema Steel Deck Parking Area at SM City Cebu (01) (12-19-2022).jpg, Steel Deck Parking Area Cyberzone (06-12-2021).jpg, Cyberzone SM Bowling at SM City Cebu (12-19-2022).jpg, SM Bowling Food Hall at SM City Cebu (01) (2024-08-18).jpg, Food Hall

References

External links

SM City CebuSM Prime Holding
{{DEFAULTSORT:SM City Cebu Shopping malls in Cebu City Shopping malls established in 1993 SM Prime 1993 establishments in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Cebu City