Across China’s southeastern Fujian province-the ancestral homeland of most Chinese-Filipino clans-Philippine property giant SM Prime Holdings is reshaping the landscape, from the industrial city of Jinjiang to the coastal ‘garden city’ of Xiamen.
Reminiscent of how the group founded by the late tycoon Henry Sy Sr. left its mark on key cities in the Philippines, the all-too-familiar SM logo is making its way into major areas across China.
To date, the group has built shopping malls in nine mainland locations, covering a gross floor area (GFA) of 1.8 million square meters. Beyond Fujian, the group has also entered the provinces of Sichuan, Jiangsu and Shandong as well as the municipalities of Chongqing and Tianjin.
But the group’s crown jewel here is SM City Xiamen, which has become the single biggest shopping complex in all of Fujian. With 460,000 square meters of GFA built in three phases over the last 25 years, the complex offers three retail blocks, each with a distinct market positioning to capture a diverse consumer base.
Housing more than 800 tenants, the mall complex sees foot traffic hit as many as 500,000 on weekends, while averaging 150,000 on weekdays.
SM City Xiamen was also the very first mall that the Sy family opened in China, back in 2001. Standing on a 12-hectare land straddling the adjacent districts of Huli and Siming, it has undergone several phases of expansion, evolving from a first-generation ‘big-box’ mall into a trendy, transit-oriented lifestyle destination.
Phase 1 is a family destination mall catering to a broader market. Phase 2, which opened in 2009, is a lifestyle mall highlighting urban-chic brands. Phase 3, opened in December 2022 right after pandemic lockdowns, serves as a retail hub for a young, hip crowd.
As a landlord, SM Prime has likewise diversified to offer office space and, more recently, the chic 325-room voco Xiamen SM City under global hospitality group IHG Hotels and Resorts. Three 19-story office buildings were completed last year within the mall complex, and two more office skyscrapers are scheduled to launch next year.
Change in strategy
In the past, SM Prime was opportunistic in building its presence in China, aiming to open at least one new mall every year. This drove the expansion of SM malls into Chengdu, Suzhou, Chongqing, Zibo, Tianjin and Yangzhou.
Moving forward, SM Prime’s new strategy is to focus intensely on Fujian, building a regional stronghold rather than spreading its wings too thin across the mainland.
For instance, its newest mall opened last October in Haicang, another district in Xiamen. This seven-floor shopping mall caters primarily to the mass market, reflecting the district’s mostly residential demographic. Meanwhile, a new mall is currently under construction in the provincial capital of Fuzhou, a major historic port city.
SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim explains to visiting journalists what prompted this shift toward a Fujian-centric strategy: ‘China is so big that wherever you go-whether it’s Fujian, Chengdu or Zibo-it’s like another country, actually.’
‘So at the end of day, we realized that the SM brand is actually very popular and quite well-known in the Fujian area because this is where our founder came from. That’s what made us decide. I think moving forward, we will focus on Fujian province,’ he adds.
Xiamen serves as a ‘test case’ for SM Prime, Lim notes. ‘When Mr. Sy started this, we were given a huge tract of land. The intent here has always been to build a mixed-use development, but it took us 25 years,’ he notes.
Back in the 1990s, when China called upon its most successful diaspora-at a time when the ‘sleeping giant’ was just beginning to stir-Sy didn’t think twice about bringing SM to his homeland.
Paying homage to his roots, Jinjiang in southeastern Fujian was the first city in China where Sy chose to invest. But while that land bank was secured early on, SM City Xiamen was the very first to open its doors, eventually becoming the group’s prototype for mixed-use urban lifestyle developments in China.
Asked what excites him most about their current presence in Xiamen, Lim points to the opening of voco hotel, the company’s first overseas hospitality venture. The property draws its unique character from Nanyang- and Minnan-inspired designs, while its broad mix of room types makes it equally suited for solo business travelers and families with young children.
Its sustainability features are equally thoughtful. Rooms come equipped with bedding made from recycled materials, aerated shower heads and premium plant-based bath amenities. Guest rooms also feature smart toilets, electric curtains and smart TV systems supporting instant screen-casting from personal electronic devices. For food deliveries, once an order reaches the lobby, a delivery robot coordinates with tech-enabled elevators to bring it straight to the guest’s room-an efficient, contactless system that is arguably less awkward than answering the door in a bathrobe.
Insights from China
‘I think we’re learning from China,’ Lim said. ‘Before, we used to send our people to the United States, or even to Europe and London. But over the last five years, instead of sending them there, we’ve sent them to China because there have been a lot of advanced developments here, especially in the shopping center industry.’
Consequently, SM’s Philippine malls stand to benefit from this active retail sandbox in China. The cross-border presence widens horizons for SM and its strategic partners, especially when it comes to curating fresh brands and dining concepts.
‘If you look at the Philippines, a lot of the dining and food concepts are actually franchised from Japan,’ Lim observes. ‘But if you go around the malls here, even those of competing developers, there are so many excellent Chinese concepts that we could bring to the Philippines.’
Pop Mart, the wildly popular toy company behind the Labubu phenomenon, is one such brand that SM recently ushered into the Philippines, alongside the Chagee milk tea chain.
SM also holds a front-row seat to China’s electric vehicle (EV) boom. Some of its mainland malls now act as landlords to tech giants like Xiaomi, whose retail shops double as high-tech EV showrooms.
Innovation shows up in small, lifestyle-oriented details, too. At the new Haicang mall, a dedicated ‘pet restroom’ allows owners to wash and groom their dogs or cats on their own, complete with free access to professional drying machines.
Health and wellness offerings also remain top priorities for SM’s properties. SM City Jinjiang features dedicated indoor badminton and basketball courts, while the SM City Xiamen complex hosts rooftop tennis and pickleball courts alongside a 24-hour