The topmost floor of the Shopsville mall: What used to be a crowded area for store stalls is now an immaculate site for boutique shops selling affordable clothes. (Photo by NOEL PABALATE)

The Shopsville mall at the Greenhills Shopping Center was built long before the giant malls began sprouting up throughout Metro Manila.  Compared to these newer structures, Shopsville looks like a quaint, boutique mall. Yet when it first opened in the 1970s, it was said to be one of the most modern-looking buildings in the city.

In fact, the place was several times used as a setting for many movie productions. Its atrium, although small when measured in today’s standards, epitomized everything that was deemed modern in the 1970s. However, the building took a backseat to the newer buildings that have since opened within the same area. It didn’t take long before Shopsville evolved into a Mecca for bargain hunters looking for stylish clothes with lower price tags. Its topmost level was actually just a step above a tiangge, where garments of all types can be had for a cheap price.

Likewise, Shopsville also became a sort of “medical center” for television sets and VCRs in need of fixing as a number of TV repair shops rented space in the building.  As the years went by the building began to deteriorate.  The architecture became outdated and too many stores and stands made it harder for shoppers to move around.

Still, its concept of offering quality clothes at a bargain price remained popular. People continued to flock to Shopsville for as long as the stores sold the merchandise cheap. The management of Ortigas, which owns the Greenhills Shopping Center (GSC), decided to keep this concept when it decided to spruce up the building. “But along with refurbishing the place, we decided to establish a more clear-cut purpose for Shopsville,” says GSC general manager Cathy Ko. “The mall’s focus will now be on fashion, with boutiques selling affordable clothes.”

As a result, the building now has much fewer restaurant tenants and no more TV repair shops. New boutiques owned and operated by long-time tenants of GSC’s tiangge stores now sell clothes designed by the owners themselves. “We’ve also added more stores that sell men’s clothing. A lot of men shop for clothes here and a lot of them have been asking for more stores that cater to them,” says Ko.

The new, stylish boutiques are the essence of the new Shopsville which now sports a more contemporary look. Yet the makeover is less of a major facelift and more of an enhancement. The general look remains the same though much of the 1970s style of interiors have been discarded and replaced by architectural elements used in modern malls. Its long corridors now have higher ceilings that give an illusion of having more space. Bright, clean whites cover the walls and ceilings. Wider escalators and wider halls make shopping more pleasant.

Even the topmost level has been refurbished. There’s more space to walk around and the stores are organized in a more orderly fashion. Even the restrooms have been upgraded and are now at par with those of the upscale malls. All this refurbishing was done for the benefit of the shoppers, who can now hunt for bargains in the comfort of an elegant, stress-free environment.

Already, the public has already taken notice. Even the movie companies have started coming back to shoot their films in the building.