Philippine shopping mall giant to build nation’s first IKEA store

SM Prime Holdings, the largest Philippine shopping mall developer, will build IKEA’s first store in the country within its retail complex, with plans for similar arrangement with the Swedish furniture company at its other properties.

The store will be built within SM Prime’s Mall of Asia complex in Manila, located between its convention center and sports arena, Alex Pomento, vice president at the Philippine mall builder, said by phone. IKEA will lease the property for the long-term, he said.

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“While we don’t have exclusivity, there are talks to have similar arrangements for our properties in other parts of the Philippines," Pomento said. “IKEA is a unique retailer and it’s the kind of global brands we want to locate in our properties."

IKEA will be a big crowd drawer for Mall of Asia, which has a foot traffic of at least 200,000 per day, according to Mia Respicio, analyst at AP Securities. SM Prime’s malls nationwide attracts 3.5 million customers per day, she said.