ALI MALL

Right after Muhammad Ali’s legendary “Thrilla in Manila” win over Joe Frazier at the neighboring Araneta Coliseum in 1975, Jorge Araneta approached the boxer with an idea: naming the country’s first major shopping mall after him. Ali agreed without charging a single peso in royalties, and Ali Mall opened in 1976, with the champion himself attending the ceremony, becoming the country’s first enclosed, fully air-conditioned, multi-level retail complex and one of the few Philippine structures ever named after someone still living at the time. Ali Mall also introduced Filipino shoppers to concepts that felt entirely new at the time: integrated parking, a growing multi-screen cineplex, the country’s largest indoor skating rink known as Skatetown, and the very idea of a food court. Today, with over 100 shops, cinemas, and dining spots, Ali Mall remains a living piece of Philippine retail history.