SM City Tarlac : a Supermall on the Countryside

Shoemart, popularly known as SM, malls are probably the best malls in the country at the time of writing. Among its best features are the wide range of shops, supermarkets, department stores and its locations covering the 3 main islands of the Philippines. My family and I have been roaming around during our free time to visit different malls and we've practically visited almost all of the SM Supermalls within Metro Manila (in addition to the other non-SM malls).

Recently, we had a chance to go to Tarlac City in Tarlac Province in the northern part of Luzon, Philippines. It's actually one of our main destinations in Tarlac City apart from visiting our relatives. I remember when I was a kid. There weren't many places to go to if you want entertainment. There are parks but of course, strolling in a mall is a different experience. The town proper does have commercial establishments but there hasn't been any huge mall in the area until April 30^th 2010 when SM City Tarlac was finally opened to the public. The Luisita mall is probably the closest counterpart of SM City Tarlac within the province.

Don't really expect too much from the mall. It has 4 floors and has quite a number of really good establishments. The shopping area isn't really big but it can be compared to SM City Marikina which is in Metro Manila. However, it does seem that SM City Marikina is still a bit larger in terms of area. Nonetheless, the mall is brimmed with food outlets, a department store, specialty stores, and a supermarket. It doesn't have much to offer for fine dining though and we only had the option to settle for Max's at the time of writing.

And of course, an SM mall usually isn't complete without amusement centers and movie theaters. It also has its own Cyberzone where you can buy gadgets such as cellular phones, video game consoles and computer parts and accessories. Even though it's far away from the huge SM Supermalls in the capital, its ambience is recognizably SM's.

Let's talk about its location. It's actually located by the McArthur Highway which is one of the main thoroughfares in the northern part of Luzon. You won't have any problems with public transportation as you can ride taxis, jeepneys, tricycles, pedicabs and buses. You just have to bear with the occasional traffic jams since it is beside a major junction. Parking isn't a problem. There's a small open parking space in front of the mall and there is a spacious carpark accessible from behind the mall. We were actually on the 5^th and top carpark level when we visited the first time.

Well, this is actually the first really big mall in the provincial city of Tarlac and it's understandable that a lot of people will visit the place, especially the locals. We went there on a Sunday and it was almost chaotic. There were too many people roaming around and we had to endure long queues just to order food. Well, it just barely opened so everyone's probably excited and improvements can still be achieved. Nevertheless, it's really nice to have a new place to go to when you're in the province. And yeah, it's just 3-4 blocks away from our relatives' house so if we get to stay there, SM City Tarlac is practically walking-distance away.