Harrison Plaza: The Place To Be

Mall culture in the Philippines is not like anything in the world. Not even our neighbouring countries treat malls the way we do. It’s not the usual shop and dine space. We literally want our malls to be a one stop shop. Possibilities are endless. From groceries, to pharmacies, clinics, spas, barbershops, arcades, movie houses, gyms, parks, concert halls, galleries, and more. We even hear the mass in the mall.

But before our country has decided it will compete in creating the biggest and fanciest mall there is, Metro Manila had its first air-conditioned mall in 1976 under the name Harrison Plaza (HP). It’s the neighbourhood’s place to be. That’s what we used to call it. Actually, sometimes, we still do. Because it is. HP still has a charisma, and can offer a variety of things, big malls can’t.

A good friend of mine was participating in a fashion competition a few years back, and she was looking for a particular pair of shoes. Naturally, she visited the big branches of SM first to look for stocks, but she failed. Just when she was about to give up, she went back to HP and voila - the shoes she wanted for her show were readily available.

​Because there are fewer visitors in HP compared to the big malls, anyone looking for a good deal has a greater chance of closing it there.

Photo by Michael Weidemann on Unsplash

Obviously, HP had a big impact on me. In fact, my siblings and I even watched our first movies there. I can still remember Pretty Woman and Aladdin were big hits when we were kids. A time before Sureseats was invented, and you can end up seating on the floor with a box of popcorn on your lap.

​Our parents would take photos of us riding a race car or a horse in the arcade, and would happily have the film developed downstairs while we hear mass. The joy of finding the right notebook cover in a pile, only to put a coloured paper over the design you coveted the same afternoon. Walking from school with your pals to HP, only to secure the right Tamiya piece or check the new Gameboy offer. Hunting a VHS tape on a happy Saturday afternoon. Sitting at the corner of BookSale to scan old editions of Vogue and Vanity Fair. Celebrate your and your sibling’s birthdays at McDonald’s before watching the koi fish under the bridge. Those were the days I surely miss.

​Before SM had formally announced its interest to acquire the entirety of that place in 2016, my high school friends and I had an insider scoop way back 2003-2004. I was directing a play for a competition, and while we were discussing where to eat after one of the rehearsals, the topic came up - HP is going to close down. I never really took it to heart, considering that the year we were discussing was 2025. For all we cared, that’s too far from where we stood back then. But I was wrong. The mall had several more renovations year after year. The roads around HP got bumpier. Big shops like Rustan’s closed. Goldilocks is now just a stall in Shopwise. The go cart track on the second floor was flattened. The dental clinic we used to visit on the second floor transferred to a different city. National Bookstore is now a tiny little shop in the middle of the mall. HP offers are getting fewer by the week. The steel roll up doors and the “For Lease” signages have become a common thing. ​

© The Urban Roamer

Sadly, even though the Martels of Philippine Tatler owned the space, the lustre HP once brought to Manila faded. It didn’t quite keep up with the times. Fresh ideas got fewer, and nothing attracts mall-goers more than what’s in and what’s new. Even the residents of Manila and Pasay who lived within its vicinity chose new attractions somewhere else.

​News now say that HP will soon become one of SM Prime Holding’s condominium or hotel. I guess Century Park will soon have a tall neighbour. However, I’m still hoping that whatever changes the mall needs to go through in the next few years, it will still retain some of the uniqueness and convenience it offered the cities around it.