The Real Reason and Story Why There’s no Mercury Drugstore in any SM Malls

Over the year, people are still wondering why there’s no Mercury Drug found inside SM Malls here in the Philippines.

Henry Sy Sr., was a Chinese Filipino businessman, who pioneered the establishments of SM Stores, anchored by Shoemart Department Store and Supermarket which earn him the title, the Philippines’ Retail King and the chairman of SM Prime Holdings Inc. He has been listed as no. 1 Billionaire in the Philippines by Forbes Magazine last 2011.

But despite his growing business, Henry Sy faced different challenges in his youth. He was a very ambitious man who wanted to get rich, so he tried a lot of business but most of them failed. After trying and failing from different types of business to earn money, an idea crossed his mind and he thought of having a small shoe store.

Getting customers from his store has been a struggle for him, however, an idea popped out his mind as he noticed many customers are coming in and out of Mercury Drug.

Mercury Drug was a drug store which has been in the business industry for many years. He went to the Mercury Drug and approached the owner.

He asked the owner if he can rent a small space wherein he can put his small shoe store. Unfortunately, the owner declined his request and even embarrassed him despite his polite attitude towards him/her.

With this incident, Henry promised that once he becomes rich, he would not let Mercury Drug step into his life and embarrassed him again. It became his career’s stepping stone and made his dream a reality when he established his shoe store in Quiapo Manila in 1958. The said shoe store, which is SM Quiapo now, is the first ever SM Mall in November 1972.

Looking back, you couldn’t imagine that the richest man in the Philippines suffered from this terrible incident that may be triggered him to strive more.

Henry Sy’s determination and persistence led him to gain Billions in 2010 and owned numerous malls, super malls, and supermarkets in the country and six malls in China and 1 SM Mall in Guam. Aside from his malls, he also owned China bank and operator of BDO, which you may notice in all his SM Malls.

His SM wouldn’t be complete without a drug store in it, that’s why he franchised a drug store from Hong Kong which is Watson, that became the substitute for Mercury Drug.

Life is beautiful though sometimes it is full of ups and downs, it has also faced with blessings and successes. To some people it may be is hard, cruel and merciless, but there are also who see it as a challenge, a channel of discovery and innovation, a prospect for success and a gateway to wealth.

For us to succeed in life, we must be ready to show everyone what we are made of. We must be ready to sacrifice our time and build up our mind toward success like what Henry Sy did.

The will to succeed or fail in life depends on us. We can live life to the fullest with utmost satisfaction and fulfillment if we determine with all our mind, body and soul to succeed.

On the other hand, life can be miserable to us if we take everything for granted and wait for fate to play itself out.

Life is so easy, yet many people rushed and missed what they want to achieve in life. Don’t rush in life. Take one step at a time. Each step should be planned appropriately before being launched. Steady, balance, aim and shoot. And before you know it, the sky will become the beginning of your success.