Rockwell Land goes bigger on retail, better on experience

Rockwell Land Corp. has doubled its retail footprint, giving its loyal patrons more spaces to shop and more reasons to stay.

Following its acquisition of Alabang Town Center late last year, the property developer now has close to 200,000 sqm of gross leasable area (GLA), doubling a retail portfolio that began with the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell Center Makati. That growing presence stretches to Santolan Town Plaza, retail strips at The Grove and The Arton, a retail pavilion in Nara Residences, and soon, two more malls in Pampanga and Bacolod City.

But as its retail footprint gets bigger, so does the challenge of giving shoppers something beyond additional stores and dining options. This means understanding what draws people to its malls and, more importantly, what keeps them coming back.

Rockwell Land vice president for Retail Development Tin Coqueiro believes the answer lies in understanding the communities each development serves and responding to their changing needs and expectations.

More than shopping

“We always try to stick to our formula, which is content and experience,” Coqueiro explained. “Content [refers] to the kind of stores and restaurants that we put in a mall or in a [retail] strip. We make sure [these] are focused on who we’re trying to cater to. When it comes to experience, this starts from the parking to when they enter our [retail] strips, to their interactions with our security and housekeeping staff, and even to the condition of our bathrooms.”

Rockwell also makes it a point to offer brands and experiences that shoppers cannot easily find elsewhere, according to Coqueiro. At the Power Plant Mall for example, local designer pop-ups and Chef’s Table, which features different chefs each month, give customers something new to discover and more reasons to return.

But keeping shoppers interested also means knowing when their preferences have changed.

Coqueiro noted that being a smaller retail player allows Rockwell to better understand its customers and respond more quickly to their evolving needs. This is already evident in some of its existing retail spaces.

At Santolan Town Plaza, for instance, the company has replaced its cinema with spaces for pickleball and spa services, among others, reflecting growing interest in wellness and recreation.

According to Coqueiro, Rockwell continues to assess visits and business performance to ensure its offerings remain relevant. Understanding what works for each community will be just as important as the company expands into new markets, where shoppers may have different preferences and spending habits.

Taking Rockwell farther

Rockwell is now putting that understanding to work as it prepares to open its second Power Plant Mall at Rockwell at Nepo Center in Pampanga by next year. Another Power Plant Mall is also planned at Rockwell Center Bacolod, expanding the brand’s presence outside Metro Manila.

For Coqueiro, entering new markets requires more than finding promising locations. Equally important, she explained, are sufficient consumer demand and the confidence of retailers to establish a presence there.

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“The confidence of the tenants to be able to open with us is very important to us, because the last thing we want is to open a mall that’s empty or where it’s hard to put the brands that we want,” Coqueiro explained.

Keeping The Town’s character

Alabang Town Center, meanwhile, is another story. Unlike the upcoming Power Plant Mall in Pampanga, The Town is an established retail destination with a loyal customer base and a character that Rockwell intends to preserve.

“Since it’s bigger and it’s ‘live,’ we cannot just close the mall and redevelop it. We have to take into consideration its roots and why Alabang Town Center became what it is today,” she said,

Work has begun on improving access and visibility from Commerce Avenue, while plans are underway to reorganize the tenant mix. Corte de Las Palmas will have a stronger dining focus, while the main mall will emphasize shopping. Other sections will cater to more accessible retail and food concepts. Shoppers can likewise expect new concepts to become more visible in 2027, alongside the relocation of some existing tenants to more suitable spaces, she further disclosed.

Worthwhile and fulfilling

As Rockwell grows, keeping its retail destinations relevant to the communities they serve becomes just as important as expanding its presence.

Doubling its retail footprint is an achievement, but giving shoppers more reasons to visit and return is what will make that growth more worthwhile and fulfilling.