00:00inviting us to be part of this exciting milestone. Today marks more than the announcement of a
00:06partnership. It is a strong goal of confidence in Mandawi City and in the continued growth
00:13of Metro Cebu. For many years, Mandawi has been known as an industrial heart of Cebu,
00:20a center for commerce, logistics, and entrepreneurship. The arrival of IKEA's first store in the
00:27Visayas is a significant development not only for Mandawi but for the entire region. It will create jobs,
00:36stimulate economic activity, attract more visitors, and provide greater convenience and choices for
00:43families across the Visayas. We thank IKEA Philippines and Ayala Malls for choosing Mandawi as part of this
00:53important expansion. Your investment reflects confidence in our city's potential, our strategic
00:59location, and most importantly, our people. As our local government, we remain committed to creating
01:07a business-friendly environment through efficient service, ease of doing business, and strong
01:13partnership with the private sector. Through that, we can officially break the news. Yes, it's official. Yes,
01:24IKEA is opening its very first store in Visayas at Ayala Malls Gatewalk in Mandawi City, Cebu.
01:35Thank you. And you might ask, why Mandawi? Why now? I have a little bit different answer that we have
01:50shared. I think I will answer to you with what our consumers and our customers are telling us. When we
02:05look to our digital store, we know the biggest potential we have today already outside of Metro Manila
02:14in Cebu and Mandawi City. These two cities together represent by far the most successful results we have
02:27in our digital store, which means that customers in Mandawi and in Cebu are screaming and shouting
02:35in our social media in our social media and all our contacts for us to open here. So that decision
02:41was not so complicated to take
02:44when we said, let's go now for the next one. But what I think it's important that I will just
02:50try to reinforce on my previous answer is needed to be close to the home furnishing capital of Philippines. Needed
03:00to be where the competence on home furnishing is with so many factories and so many businesses related to home
03:08furnishing. Which also shows the many Cebuanos have a passion for the
03:14interior design of interior design. Have a passion for improving their life at home. And this is what IKEA is
03:20about. And I will just reinforce the second argument I used before also.
03:27AYAWA Gatewalk and AYAWA Gatewalk and AYAWA Team just made this an easy step and a natural step for us
03:36after having opened last year a small plan and order point in Quezon City in Metro Manila.
03:45I hope this actually discovers something that they didn't expect and feel that the Mao gives them more than one
03:53way to enjoy the day. I constantly refer to the importance of Mao's tapping into emotion and not just about
04:01transactions. So that's what we're building here.
04:03And we're actually building it now. I think we've stopped building while we do the speeches. So even as we
04:09meet here today, things are rolling on. And as you all entered, our guests, your customers, our visitors, they will
04:18first encounter this experience through the artrium.
04:21There it is on the screen. It's a digital art hallway that brings color, movements and a sense of arrival
04:29into your shopping experience.
04:55There it is on the screen.
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