By Arra B. Francia, Reporter

SHOPPING MALL operators are drawing more food and entertainment tenants into their establishments as customers want more diverse offerings from brick-and-mortar stores than what is available online.

Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), which leases out about two million square meters across its shopping malls, has seen food and entertainment tenants expanding and taking up as much as 45% of space in each mall.

“You’ll see a larger share of food and entertainment component. Our malls have now become more substantial … 20% to 30%, ngayon lumalaki na [now they have expanded] to 45%. And sometimes we even have places geared just for food and entertainment,” Maria Rowena M. Tomeldan, group head at Ayala Malls, said in an interview.

Although majority of mall space is still allotted for department stores, the mix of food and entertainment tenants allows shoppers to have a “full experience” whenever they visit the establishment, the ALI executive noted.

“We are the go-to of the community, especially now that you just want to be in one place, you want to have everything in one place. You don’t want to add to the stress of the customer, in fact you want to have that sense of community for your malls, the accessibility,” Ms. Tomeldan said.

The increase of food and entertainment tenants is also true for Megaworld Corp., which operates what it calls “lifestyle malls” within its township projects.

“Food and beverage [before was at] 20%. [Now it is], 40%,” said Megaworld Senior Vice-President Jericho P. Go in a separate interview.

The rise is because Megaworld has a captive market, he said, adding that the “beauty” of this is that food is a high-market business.

Mr. Go added that these types of tenants are not susceptible to the impact of online shopping.

The change in tenant mix comes amid the so-called “retail apocalypse” currently seen in the United States and United Kingdom, where companies are shutting down brick-and-mortar stores as more people shift to online shopping.

Property firm Leechiu Property Consultants, Inc. in a report explained that this will not be the case in the Philippines since Filipinos go to malls as part of their lifestyle. Malls are more than just places where they buy goods.

Ms. Tomeldan said that with the mall closures overseas, operators would just have to be more competitive.

“I’d like to think that seamless shopping should really be provided [because] if they want the convenience, then you give them online shopping,” she said.

Megaworld’s Mr. Go meanwhile said that accepting food tenants depends on the needs of the market to ensure their longevity.

“We are very selective in our process. Napakaimportante ng branding na lifestyle [Lifestyle branding is very important]” he said, adding that certain branding would work in Eastwood but not in McKinley, and vice versa.

“So because of our large table of food and beverage tenants … we have learned through the years which kind will work in a particular lifestyle mall, and which one will not,” he said.

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