I got the chance to visit the recently-opened TriNoma yesterday and was musing at how insane the entire North Triangle area is going to be over the next few months. Right now, the mall is not really much to look at: nearly half of the stores are still under construction and there are safety hazards everywhere. The much-lauded 8,000-slot carpark isn’t really complete so parking was a bit of a bitch as well. But it’s definitely getting there, and when it does we’re going to be witness to one of the largest supermall prize fights in the history of this country.
Consider the strategy behind TriNoma: it’s got 550 shops to SM City’s approx. 600 (not counting the currently-being-renovated Annex), all of which will be undoubtedly peddling the same brands and same products. It has none of Greenbelt’s ultra-designed aloofness, instead going for a more familiar, low-key Glorietta-style architecture. To say that this going after a chunk of SM City’s demographic would be understating the situation. TriNoma is meant to very openly challenge SM for what is generally considered to be Henry Sy’s territory, i.e., everyone below B.
Why does Ayala even think they have a chance in this area? Well, because of 2004’s rather successful joint venture with Metro Gaisano, of course (the bustling Market! Market!). What they weren’t making in price-per-unit, they were making up for in sheer volume, I think. The other big reason is that TriNoma’s geographical location couldn’t be better: you have to walk through half the mall on your way out of the train station. By the time you reach SM City (via the soon-to-be-constructed overpass), you’ve already spent most of your money and you just want to catch a bus home. In other words, TriNoma’s differentiation has nothing to do with being classier or having better quality — it simply needs to be exactly like SM City, but slightly closer to the train station. (Having a bigger activity center also helps; it attracts foot traffic like moths to a flame.)
What SM does in answer to this is going to be very interesting. The Annex renovation is going to be the first step, then I believe we’re going to see some major changes to the way SM City presents itself over the next few months. Either that, or they’ll find a way to transplant that damned train.