Henry Sy

henry sy was born in Shaman in fujian china XIAMEN IN FUJIAN, CHINA, Sy’s family
was incredibly poor at that time and his father was running a shoe store in manila and
everything he earns in manila he would send it back to support his family in china keen
on helping his father out henry sy decided to travel to the Philippines what's amazing is
traveling from china to the philippines meant that he had to do so by sea and these
tripswere long and grueling to paint the pictures to how frightening this must have been
for the young henry to the philippines meant thathe had to do so by sea and these trips
were long and grueling to paint the pictures to how frightening this must have been for
the young henry, henry sy was only 12 years old and he had to travel by himself thus he
didn't speak english or tagalog and remember that this was around 1936 so it's not like
the day where you travel and you arrive at another country where you can just book an
uber and check google maps so that you don't get lost no henry sy just had a ton of
uncertainty ahead of him and for a 12 year old for him to bravesomething like
thatthat's quite impressive i mean he was 12years old when i was 12
years old my biggest struggle was how to convince my parents to
allow me to get a pethamster but i digress as if this trip couldn't get
any worse hendersi actually experienced a bit of food poisoning during
this journey so henderson only brought 10 cents with HENRY SY ONLY
BROUGHT 10 CENTS him and he used this to buy breadwhich wasn't
really in its freshest state as soon as henry c arrived in thephilippines
his next objective was to head to his father's store and since he didn't
have any money left he had to go there on foot and it was a three
kilometer walk he just kept asking around for directions but honestly
i'm not sure how he did that since he didn't speak english or tagalog
when he did find his father's store it was heartbreaking henry c just
wept because he saw the situation that his father was in he saw the
state of his father's health he saw how frail he was and he saw how
small the store was the store was just around 2 square meters big and
that's where his father would sleep as well but henry knew exactly
why he was there he was there to help his father and so he went to
work every morning he'd go with his father to the visorya that's where
he and his dad went to to get the goods they'd sell for the day during
the day henry was the one calling out the customers drawing them to
the store and as soon as his work day ended since there was no space

the stores counter where they put the

3:15

goods they were selling he would clear

3:17

this

3:18

counter and that's where he would sleep

3:19

on eventually they were able to earn

3:22

enough for him to go to school

3:23

and he enrolled at the anglo-chinese

ANGLO CHINESE SCHOOL IN QUIAPO

3:25

school in kyapo henry wanted to get

3:27

ahead and so he asked his teacher what

3:29

he needed to do to graduate faster he

3:31

told him that he needed to reach a grade

3:33

of 90.

3:34
and henry determined as always he

3:36

finished grade school in

3:37

5 years and as a valedictorian henry was

AS A VALEDICTORIAN

3:41

motivated to get ahead

3:42

eager to have a better life and he did

3:44

what he could but then

3:46

sadly some things are just out of our

3:48

control

3:49

around this time world war ii broke up

3:51

and the japanese invasion of the

3:52

philippines began

3:54

japanese occupation of the philippines

3:55

began in 1941 and ended in 1945.

JAPANESE INVASION 1941-1945

3:58

manila was the second most damaged city

4:01

in the world

4:01

and when the americans were bombing the

4:03

ayala bridge henry was injured by

4:05

shrapnel but he'd make a quick recovery

4:07

however the war did deal a crushing blow

4:10

to their stores which were completely

4:11

destroyed

4:12

but now the war was over and despite the

4:15

crushing blow to his morale harry said

4:17
you that this was his chance to rebuild

4:19

so he gathered all his savings which

4:20

were a couple hundred pesos and started

4:22

buying packs of cigarettes from american

4:24

soldiers

4:25

he would then sell these around plaza

4:27

miranda and make a profit of 1 peso per

4:30

pack

4:30

aside from this he was also selling

4:32

scrap metal and just about anything he

4:34

could get his hands on

4:35

this racket did well enough for him to

4:37
rent a small space in cali carrierdo the

4:40

store was bigger but it was pretty much

4:41

the same setup where he'd sleep on the

4:43

counters after store hours

4:45

so you know what they say about hard

4:46

work and luck if you work hard

4:48

luck meets you halfway well hard work

4:51

brought henry c to this point where he

4:52

now owns this small store

4:54

and luck was about to meet them halfway

4:56

a man approached henry c

4:58

this man was importing shoes from the us

5:01
he was a wholesale supplier of shoes

5:03

a lot of these shoes were shoes worn by

5:05

american soldiers

5:06

oh and these are combat boots but

5:08

they're not the combat boots you have in

5:10

mind now that look like they can break a

5:11

skull

5:12

no world war ii combat boots actually

5:14

look very classy and fashionable

5:16

so now henry c got excited about this

5:19

opportunity but he didn't have enough

5:20

capital so he teams up with a guy named

5:23
lao kang his grade school classmate

5:25

together they pulled all their money and

5:27

got their first creative shoes

5:29

and so they start selling these shoes

5:31

from their small store and so far

5:33

this becomes henderson's biggest payday

5:35

because sales were just exploding

5:37

and he actually earns enough to afford

5:39

to buy his first car

5:40

the business started growing and so they

5:42

leased some more space this store became

5:44

the plaza shoe store

PLAZA SHOE STORE

5:45

no this isn't shoe mart just yet but

5:48

we're getting there

5:49

in 1949 an important figure comes along

5:52

his name is

5:52

senen mendiola mendiola was brought in

5:55

as henry's accountant

5:56

cenan mandiola would go along with henry

5:58

c during his walks

6:00

they'd go around the shops at escalator

6:01

street and these walks weren't just to

6:03

unwind

6:04

they were doing this to learn about the

6:05

competition they were basically scouting

6:08

other stores that were popping up around

6:10

the city

6:10

and learning from them both henry c and

6:12

sin and menyola would talk to shoppers

6:14

about what they liked and what they

6:16

didn't like about these stores

6:17

and they'd also try to get insider

6:19

stories from the sales ladies

6:21

they then opened up their second store

6:23

the park avenue store

PARK AVENUE STORE

6:25
this one was bigger than their first

6:26

store and it was actually around this

6:28

time when henry c got his first loan

6:30

it was a million peso loan from china

MILLION LOAN FROM CHINA BANK

6:32

bank which is of cool because sm would

6:34

later on

6:34

own china bank so i guess it goes full

6:36

circle things weren't only doing well in

6:39

business

6:39

hennessey's dating life was reaching new

6:41

heights as well on march 30

6:43

1950 henry c married felicidad at the

6:46

san miguel church

6:48

henry met felicidad when she was 16 and

6:50

she was a shoelace vendor and her dad

6:52

was actually also running his own shoe

6:54

store

6:54

but then that story would end up closing

6:56

because of shoe mort's dominance later

6:58

on

6:59

when henry was around 28 years old he

7:01

started studying commerce in the far

7:03

eastern university

7:04

but then he only ended up finishing two

7:06

years because there was just too much

7:07

work to be done running his stores

7:09

around 1954 henry c and his first

7:12

business partner lao kang

7:13

decided to dissolve their partnership

7:15

i'm not sure why they did that but they

7:17

both split up the branches their

7:18

enterprise owned

7:20

henry wasn't satisfied with what his

7:21

shoe store was able to achieve

7:23

he wanted to learn more about how to

7:25

take things to the next level

7:27

and so in 1955 he took a trip to the us

7:30

initially the goal of this trip was just

7:32

to get more suppliers in america

7:34

but while he was there he started taking

7:36

notes on how the customer shopping

7:38

experience was in the u.s

7:40

because over there malls were on the

7:42

rise so he would go to these malls

7:44

and he would start studying chains like

7:46

macy's sears and jcpenney

7:48

these three were department stores that

7:50

were doing really well in the u.s

7:52

after america henry traveled to europe

7:54

to learn about the latest fashion trends

7:56

during this whole trip he was taking

7:58

photos of how the stories were set

8:00

up how their ad posers looked like how

8:02

their staff were dressed noting down

8:04

what they had that the shops in manila

8:05

have yet to have

8:07

it was at this point when his vision

8:08

became clear and clear

8:10

going back to the philippines his goal

8:12

was set to set up a chain

8:14

of 50 or more shoe stores and so in 1958

8:18

he partnered up with francisco chong and

FRANCISCO CHONG

8:20

ran a store called the tiger bazaar

8:22

which they would later rebrand into

8:24

shumart

8:25

completely wiped out competitors henry c

8:28

applied everything he learned from his

8:30

trips in the u.s and europe

8:31

schumart was one of the first stores to

8:33

be air-conditioned and the primary

8:35

reason was so that customers would feel

8:37
like they are in america

8:38

plus cooler rooms meant that people

8:40

could shop longer enjoy being at the

8:42

store

8:42

and feel comfortable as they went around

8:45

henry c

8:46

also noticed that in the u.s the sales

8:48

ladies were generally attractive

8:49

and drew similarities to the beautiful

8:51

airline stewardesses

8:53

and so he hired and trade women that did

8:55

the same and another thing that was

8:56
considered as innovative at that time

8:58

was that at schumart there was fixed

FIXED PRICING

9:00

pricing

9:01

normally at that time you could haggle

9:03

down prices and negotiate for a better

9:05

price and if you're not good at

9:06

negotiating you could end up feeling bad

9:08

about not getting a better deal

9:10

but at schumart the prices were fixed

9:12

and so he didn't have to worry about

9:13

haggling

9:14

basically all these tactics resulted in

9:17

a superior customer shopping experience

9:19

and happy customers bring in more sales

9:21

and not long after

9:23

henderson opened a second shoemart

9:25

branch despite the success of the two

9:27

shoemart branches henry c

9:29

was already on the lookout for new

9:30

opportunities and there's this one

9:32

particular area that he was feeling

9:34

really good about

9:35

the city of nagatpi the makati area used

9:37

to be where the nielsen airport was

9:39

but plants were already set to convert

9:41

the runways into roads and deter it into

9:43

a major business district

9:45

manila was getting congested and

9:46

henderson knew this he knew that at some

9:48

point

9:49

new centers will start to develop and

9:51

makati was one of them

9:53

he tried to convince his partner

9:54

francisco chong to open a store in

9:56

makati but chong didn't want to

9:58

and so they decided to dissolve their

9:59

partnerships splitting their own

10:01

properties

10:02

chong got the shoe mart in rizal avenue

10:04

and he would later rename it to shoe

10:06

world since as part of the deal henry c

STRIKE SHOE WORLD

10:08

retained the rights to the shoe mart

10:09

name

10:10

as well as the branch in cardo confident

10:12

about his bet on nakati's growth

10:14

hennessy opened shumart makati in 1963.

10:17

henry c spears were quite skeptical on

10:19
heresy's plans in makati they just

10:21

didn't see it turning out well

10:23

and they were indeed right in the

10:25

beginning because marathi didn't

10:27

necessarily become the country's hot

10:29

spot overnight

10:30

development takes years so all schumer

10:32

had to do was to make it through

10:34

and that's why when shumart marcati was

10:36

opened the whole family was now involved

10:38

in running the business

10:39

henry c and felicidad had six children

10:42
teresita

10:43

elizabeth henry jr hans herbert and

10:46

harley

10:47

the two girls would man the counters and

10:49

the guys would help manage the stocks at

10:50

the back at the warehouse area

10:52

it's also cool to know that the family

10:54

only owned one car

10:55

and so they had to cram themselves in

10:57

one car together as they drove back home

10:59

at the end of a tiring

11:00

workday other schumart branches were

11:02
opening as they were growing shumar at

11:03

makhati

11:04

shumar kobao opened in 1967 at the

SHOE MART CUBAO OPENED IN 1967

11:06

manila royal hotel shoe mart in 1969

11:09

but with shumar nakati hennessy decided

11:12

to switch things up a bit

11:13

instead of selling only shoes he added

11:15

more products

11:16

this essentially turned it into a

11:18

department store the same model

11:19

as the macy's and jcpenney brands in the

11:22

us because of the switch from a shoe

11:24

store to an everything store in 1975

11:26

schumart rebranded to sm switching from

11:30

shoes to selling everything was a big

11:31

move for henry c

11:33

but he made a couple more major moves in

11:35

this period

11:36

it was around 1975 when henry c acquired

11:39

acme

ACME BANK

11:40

a small bank with two branches for 5

11:42

million pesos

11:43

the small bank would later on become bdo

11:46
the biggest bank of the philippines in

11:47

terms of assets

11:49

he also doubled down on his bet on

11:50

nakati when he started putting up

11:52

buildings on the lands he leased out in

11:54

the makati area

11:55

he turned these buildings into rental

11:57

properties and with that

11:58

henry c has positioned himself for

12:00

growth and boy did growth come

12:02

all these properties were in the present

12:04

day makati central business district the

12:06
presently financial capital of the

12:08

philippines

12:08

sm hati was the company's flagship store

12:11

too many this would have been it

12:13

this would have been the peak of henry

12:15

c's career but to henry c

12:16

this was just a testing round and his

12:18

experiment proved that filipinos were

12:20

hungry for more places like s and makati

12:23

the country didn't have the balls that

12:25

america had yet and americans were going

12:27

crazy about their balls there

12:29
and the success of esa mercadi proved

12:30

that us filipinos we wanted the same

12:33

thing

12:33

and now henry c could just imagine what

12:35

would happen if he built the first super

12:37

malls here

12:38

this is when he first comes up with

12:40

plans to build a super mall

12:42

a multi-level wall with hundreds of

12:43

stores with all the brands from around

12:45

the world where you could get

12:46

everything you needed all in one place

12:49
and so he saw the potential of this area

12:51

at the junction between edsa and north

12:53

avenue

12:54

he saw that if a mall was put up there

12:56

it would be the place where commuters

12:58

would go for the last stop

12:59

shopping before they headed home but

13:01

henry c was faced with a daunting mix of

13:03

challenges

13:04

this area was a swampland and it'll be

13:06

difficult to build on

13:07

plus this was around the last few years

13:09
of dictator former president

13:11

ferdinand marcos just right before the

13:13

height of the edsa revolution so

13:15

investors were fleeing the country

13:16

because of the economic stagnation of

13:18

the philippines

13:19

and the uncertainty of the business

13:20

landscape where interest rates were as

INTEREST RATES WERE AS HIGH AS 45%

13:22

high as 45 percent

13:24

i remember one time tessie c henry c's

13:26

daughter talked about how her father

13:28

takes advantage of challenging time so

13:30

that they can ride the upswing when

13:32

things get better

13:33

and this was perhaps the perfect example

13:35

of when henry c did just that

13:37

other businessmen labeled henry's

13:39

ambitions to build a small as the gamble

13:41

that causes his downfall

13:43

but he didn't really give any attention

13:44

to any of that and in 1985

13:46

sm city north edsa opened with the gross

SM CITY NORTH EDSA

13:49

floor area of 120 000 square meters this

13:52
was the biggest mall in the philippines

13:53

and one of the biggest in

13:55

asia it had a food court it had cinemas

13:57

an appliance center

13:58

everything this kick started the rise of

14:01

sm as becoming the one-stop shopping

14:03

center and this is also the time when

14:05

they introduced the we've got it all

14:06

jingle but

14:07

fyi it's not until 1991 when they would

14:10

switch from we've got it all

14:12

to we've got it all for you after sm

14:14
city north edsa

14:16

sm was unstoppable sm went public

14:19

in 1984 which started its golden age sm

14:22

built more malls in the heart of the

14:24

country's capital

14:24

expanded to other provinces and began

14:26

overseas expansion in china

14:28

by 1991 as a mega mall was put up in the

14:32

1990s

14:32

sm started building malls in china and

14:34

in 2006 sm built what would become the

14:37

biggest mall in asia at that time

14:39
sm mod of asia sm's current biggest mall

14:42

is smt tianjin

14:43

opened in 2016 and has an area of over

14:46

320 000 square meters and of the seven

14:49

biggest malls in

14:50

asia sm owns four of them today sm has

14:53

taken every major industry you can think

14:55

of

14:55

as of 2019 they have over 72 malls in

14:58

the philippines and seven in china

15:00

and they own china bank and bdo unibank

CHINA BANK AND BDO UNIBANK

15:02

the biggest bank in the philippines

15:05

on january 19 2019 henry c passed away

15:08

peacefully in his sleep

15:09

knowing that he was the richest man in

15:11

the philippines for most of his life

15:13

it's easy to forget the struggles he had

15:14

to go through to get to that point

15:17

henry has always said that everything he

15:18

has achieved did not happen

15:20

overnight never forget that the man who

15:22

was worth 19 billion dollars

15:24

was once a hungry kid with 10 cents with

15:27

him
15:27

alone in a ship afraid but determined to

15:30

work hard

15:31

in the face of uncertainty

15:39

[Applause]

15:41

and so that's about it guys now you know

BRAND ORIGINS

15:43

about the brand origin story of henry c

15:46

and sm if you liked this episode you

15:48

might also enjoy our episode about the

15:50

ayala corporation and about the history

15:52

of mercury drop