Thank God for SM

Thank God for SM!” That’s how my five-year old niece expressed her happiness when she finally got the Barbie doll she’d been “dreaming of her whole life.”

It was Chanel Anne’s last birthday party and everyone in the family was trying to get her vote: Who had given her the best gift that day? It was quite amusing because, looking at the mountain of presents, gift wrappers with SM logos dominated the landscape. This is understandable because SM Cubao is just a jeepney ride away from our house.

The winner was Papa Lohel who bought the Barbie Mariposa for her one and only apo. We were thinking of filing a protest because we found out that he secretly asked Chanel what she wanted for her birthday when they visited SM a week before the occasion. But we decided not to after he promised to treat us to dinner the following week. As usual, it was at the SM Food Court.

Speaking of Papa Lohel, another funny incident happened on his birthday recently. Knowing that he likes Sahara brand polo shirts, it was a no-brainer that this would be a gift he would surely appreciate. So when he opened his presents, he was amused to find three almost identical shirts — one from his wife Inday, one from daughter Hazel and one from daughter-in-law Minnie. Blame it on SM, they said. Good thing they all had different tastes in color. 

Basically, SM has been a part of our family’s everyday life since it opened. From the food we eat, the plates, forks and spoons we buy, our frying pans and stoves, to the clothes we wear — even my boxers come from SM. I am a bargain bin scavenger and I’m not shy to say it: yup, one of my pairs of boxer shorts came from there.

No important family occasion passes without a touch of SM. The mall is true to its motto: “We’ve got it all for you.” It’s like a one-stop candy store and we’re like kids excited to buy our stuff, going to one escalator to another. Where is the best place to buy Christmas gifts? Look for new appliances? Pick up home improvement tools and materials? Clothes to impress our partners?  You can do all these things in one place, at the most reasonable prices, only at SM. And I still haven’t mentioned that we also do our groceries, bill payments and even banking at SM. (I must sound like a hard-sell TV commercial, but I’m sure I am not the only one.)

I am so grateful to my favorite mall simply because I have had a lot of great experiences and memories formed there. My first date as a high school geek was inside SM Megamall. The first thing I bought with my very first paycheck was at the SM Record Bar (it was a cassette tape of the Eraserheads’ “Sticker Happy” album). I bought my first cellphone (a Nokia 5110) at SM City, Sta. Mesa. I could write a book on my life’s firsts and SM would be mentioned in many, many chapters.

For sure, everyone has a story to tell about his or her SM experiences — unless, of course, that person happens to live under a rock. SM malls are everywhere and have become landmarks and favorite meeting places. Well, I can attest to that. Cubao is a big area and it would be impossible for my wife Leah and I to find one another after leaving our respective offices without setting a meeting place. In our case, the ladies bag section at the second floor of the SM Department Store in Cubao was chosen by my wife as our pit stop for an obvious reason. We need not text each other asking things like “D2 na me, wer na U?” because I always see to it that I am first to arrive. On the few occasions when Leah does arrive first, we always meet up at the cashier counter — she, smiling from ear to ear with a new Sylvia Santos shoulder bag. To date, Leah has seven leather bags with that brand on top of dozens of others with different tags. She’s a true “blue lady bag” (that’s what I call her) and makes a beeline for SM — especially during sales.

Leah and I both love to watch movies and always see to it that the newest films are marked on our calendar. For us, SM Megamall is the best place to watch movies, especially now that we have moved in to our new home in Pasig City. After the romance and action inside the cinema (I’m talking about on the screen), we have a lot of fine restaurants and fast-food shops to choose from. We often end our date buying groceries and other household items.

Speaking of groceries, have you been to the SM Hypermarket branches? Well, you should. Take it from a man who does the laundries, shopping and housecleaning every week (with the help and guidance of my wife, of course). We just love doing things together and it has been our arrangement even before we got married (you can lower your eyebrows now, ladies and gentlemen).

And besides, when we’re together we can withstand stressful things like dirty clothes and kitchen utensils and pushing the shopping cart (yes, shopping can stress you out, especially when you see the prices of the commodities today). I don’t consider any household chore to be a hassle; instead, I think of it as a privilege. For example, I get to decide what brands we’ll have at home. Being the Ilocano that I am, price over quality is my motto. I can choose to my liking. I can be the king of our grocery list… the CEO of our weekly budget. And our boardroom is SM Hypermarket in SM Supercenter, Pasig City.

What we like about this place is its location. Only a jeepney ride away from home (the same benefit we enjoyed in SM Cubao when we still lived in Project 4) and just a couple of kilometers from my office, I can go there traffic-free and still smell the cologne that I wore when I left the house. And if we were to compare prices, name an item from your favorite store and SM Hypermarket will surely win a new customer after our conversation.

SM Supercenter opened in Pasig City in August 2006 but I only got to visit it last year. I was with some friends playing badminton in a sports center in Libis. After the game, I asked a friend to take me somewhere so that I could buy a snack and a bottle of Gatorade. He dropped me at the Supercenter and before I knew it, I was already doing my weekly groceries — not just grabbing an energy drink.

My first visit to SM Hypermarket left a very good impression, just as I have enjoyed my experience in other SM malls, so I was eager to tell my relatives and friends about the new place for superb dining and great buys that I’d discovered. We even had our Christmas party there last year. It is definitely a new tambayan and meeting place where new wonderful experiences and memories can unfold.

Just as my niece once said, “Thank God for SM!”