Calling their mall the “Divisoria of Bacolod,” William Ong, president of Bacolod Capitol Hill Land Development Corp., said 888 Chinatown Square, set to open on Feb. 29, will have a different shopping atmosphere from the other major malls in the city.

“You will enjoy shopping here,” said Ong, who announced the mall’s soft opening with vice president for operations Carlson Ty and mall manager Ramel Flandes in a press conference at the Beijing Foodcourt yesterday.

“How did we have the courage and guts to put up a mall like this? I believe we have a different concept,” he said of the tiangge-type mall at the corner of Gatuslao Street and Cottage Road.

Ong describes the two-storey 888 China Town Square as a shopping center in the fashion of Manila 168 and Divisoria “set up into a mall with premium amenities.”

He said they will not only offer a wise shopping alternative for the Bacoleños and the Negrenses but also provide rare business opportunities to small and medium entrepreneurs to sell their products.

The new shopping center will have more than 300 tiangge stalls selling, among others, garments, bags, shoes, accessories, jewelries, and cellular phones.

It will also have amenities like food court and food stalls, playground for kids, supermarket, and producers’ wet market.

Flandes said 888 China Town Square already has an 80 percent occupancy rate. Rentals for nine to ten-square meter spaces range from P5,200 to P5,800 a month.

Tenants from Manila will also sell their goods at the mall but most of the occupants are locals whose prices will be comparable to the tiangge-type stalls at 168 mall and Divisoria, Flandes said.

The 888 China Town Square occupies a 1.2-hectare property which Bacolod Capitol Hill, owned by Ong and several other local Filipino-Chinese businessmen, have leased for P200,000 from the Negros Occidental provincial government, under a 35-year contract.  

Ong said his group invested more than P100 million to develop the newest mall in Bacolod.*NLG                       

back to top