SM Marikina: Bright! Very Bright!

The SM Mall near our place opened last September 5, which coincided with my birthday. For about a month before the opening, me and my family have been joking about going there on opening day. Unfortunately, some things happened and we ended up at Sta. Lucia on September 5.

It was a good thing we didn't go to SM Marikina on opening day as the place was supposedly packed. There were a lot of people checking out the new mall. Among other things, there were free film showings. Oh well. (And if I had known, I would have gone there too.)

So, finally, after more than a month and a half, I found myself going there because Globe Handiphone/Wireless moved from Robinson's Marcos Highway to SM City Marikina.

Even from the outside, it looked small. It looks a lot smaller than SM Centerpoint in Sta. Mesa. But it did have a better looking facade with the glass wall which was about a third of the width of the building, and from the first-floor to the top.

I didn't put much significance to the glass facade. Until I stepped into the building. And it was bright inside. It was very bright inside from all the sunlight streaming in through the glass wall. I did enter the mall before noon time, and the building faced south-west, catching the afternoon sun straight on. Walking around the building the northern side facing the river, also had an ample glass wall. As a general rule, SM Malls have always used bright lights inside. And the bright lighting plus the natural lighting coming in through the glass made the interiors very bright indeed.

As an added bonus, the place looked airy. But this was maybe because of the relatively wider hallways. At least, the hallways are wider than most of the SM Malls, like MegaMall, Centerpoint, Manila, North EDSA, Fairview, and Cebu and relatively wider than Southmall. It's almost as wide as the center area of SM Makati.

In terms of being light, and sunny, SM Marikina compares favorably with Ayala Town Center. In fact, the only place I've found about the same amount of natural light would be Ayala Center Cebu. And Ayala Center Cebu has about as airy an ambience as that of SM Marikina. (Amend that, Ayala Center Cebu is a lot more airy.)

Yes, I've been to SM Mall of Asia. Once. Or twice. And I don't really like it. It has more room. But the place stinks from Manila Bay's breeze and it has a sheen of dirtiness to it.