Welcome back, you were missed :-) I look forward to seeing some photos of your new projects.
I was happy to see Ikea opening in Manila. I think that when companies like Ikea drop into your country, its a sign they have faith in a growing economy. I must ask though, did they build the store and bolt it onto the Mall of Asia or simply rejig the mall? I hope they didn't ditch the skating rink, that was the first time I'd ever seen ice skating in a mall!
I was in Manila when it opened in about 2007? I guess, around the same time that the first official Porsche dealership opened which I was lucky enough to bag an invite to. I thought boom time was about to come then, especially with all the new development going on around Makati at the time. Every visit, the whole landscape had changed. Happy days!
Anyway, best wishes and don't leave it so long next time :-)
Hi @nathen007 thank you 😁 I was itching to head straight there from the airport haha. It is indeed a good sign and how the stocks diminished and are replenished daily is unbelievable. I had to convince my neighbor who claimed the pillow case and bed sheets he wanted were available online in the morning and it was out of stock in the store mid-afternoon.
That's how fast the merchandise moves. Even on a working weekday, the store was busy. It's also available online so they deliver from every part of the Philippines. They have future plans of expanding to other regions.
Ooh, so cool you got to visit the mall when it opened in 2007! Your prediction proved to be true, boom time followed that. IKEA was built on the extension of the existing Mall of Asia (Mall of Asia) - Block 4 of MOA Complex so they didn't touch the existing mall but they built access that links it to the existing SM department store and a bridge to the MOA Arena Annex. The skating rink is still there untouched 😁
The last time I visited Manila was last year and I was still surprised to see so many changes. So it would definitely be a big change when you re-visit. A new Ayala Mall opened next to SM Mall of Asia and a lot of interchanges opened that I was unaware of that improved the traffic and which got me lost when I borrowed my sister's car to drive one evening. 😂