As Glorietta

Glorietta Building complex in 2008

The new Glorietta mall opened in 1992 with a gross leasable area of 250,000 m² (2,700,000 sq ft), envisioned as one of the largest malls in the Philippines. The mall was divided into four sections:

• Quad 1 - which retained the original four Quad cinemas until 2009;
• Quad 2 - which had an indoor theme park named Glico's Great Adventure, a shopping arcade named Goldcrest,^[10] and was soon to become the main setting for a deadly explosion in 2007;
• Quad 3 - which would soon be the home of international restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe and TGI Friday's;
• Glorietta 4 - a new hub for entertainment with a Timezone branch and seven additional cinemas, and also the home of Oakwood Premier (later, Ascott Makati), a premier hotel that stood on top of the mall and became the setting for the Oakwood mutiny, an infamous political siege led by the Magdalo Group which occurred in 2003.

All four components were home to a variety of shops and restaurants. While Quad 1 and 2 opened in 1991, Quad 3 opened in 1992, Glorietta 4 opened in 1998, just six years later, as a result of the construction of Oakwood Premier. Quad 1, 2 and 3 would later be renamed Glorietta 1, 2 and 3, respectively.^[7] Those were divided by walkways radiating from the activity center to their namesake major roads (clockwise from north): Ayala Mall, EDSA Mall, Pasay Mall, and Makati Mall.^[11]

Tenants that set up shop in Ayala Center prior to Glorietta's development, most notably Mercury Drug, Automatic Centre, Jollibee, Max's, and McDonald's, also found a home in Glorietta. The department stores surrounding the mall – SM Makati, The Landmark, and Rustan's – were utilized by Glorietta as its anchor tenants for its supermarkets and department stores.

A shot of the activity center during an electronics event in 2007

By the mid- and late 1990s, Glorietta gained popularity as a premier mall. It has an air-conditioned atrium with water features, an indoor children's playground, and an activity center that hosts concerts and shows.

The mall was known as Quad until 1997, when it adopted Glorietta as its present name, though the Glorietta name was used as a secondary branding since 1992. Glorietta is a Spanish word used to describe the public meeting place in Spanish colonial-era designed towns throughout the Philippines.

Other new buildings were also constructed between 1999 and 2005, making Glorietta larger than its original construction plan. Glorietta 5, an additional wing detached from Glorietta 1 to 4, was opened in the fourth quarter of 2008.^[12] Later in 2010, Glorietta 1 and 2 underwent reconstruction and redevelopment with new buildings; they were reopened on November 5 and December 7 in 2012, respectively. On November 29, 2012, Move to the Vibe of Glorietta, a fashion show, was held at the mall's new Palm Drive Activity Center and broke the Guinness World Record for the “Most People Modeling on a Catwalk” with 2,255 participants, beating Istanbul's 1,967.^[13]

A Chuck E. Cheese's was meant to open here in 2013, but the plans were cancelled due to the mall layout.^[14]

The flagship Uniqlo store opened on October 5, 2018 in Glorietta 5, occupying the ground and second levels of the mall; it is Uniqlo's largest store in Southeast Asia.^[15] A year later, a new roofdeck named "Top of the Glo" was opened, located on the roofdeck of Glorietta 1 and 2. Under Mitsubishi's partnership, a Japan-inspired retail area called "Japan Town" opened in June 2019 at the roof deck.^[16] The roofdeck retail area has a GLA of 2,500 square meters (27,000 sq ft).^[17][18] The roofdeck is connected to the 4th level of Holiday Inn & Suites Makati, with access to Glorietta 4 Cinemas at the same level.

In 2019, a remodeled Food Choices area in Glorietta 4 was opened.^[19] The section opened with more food shops, and the area was extended into the location formerly occupied by Automatic Centre and BLIMS Fine Furniture. Consequently, both these stores were moved to the former location of National Book Store's third floor in Glorietta 1 as part of the remodeling project. BLIMS re-opened at its new location in April, while Automatic Centre opened their relocated store in June. The main atrium at the center of the mall was closed for a major renovation in early 2019 and reopened on November in the same year.^[20]

2000 bombing

On May 17, 2000, thirteen (13) people were injured in an explosion at Glorietta 2. Police said the blast (by a homemade explosive) originated from a restroom of a restaurant and affected a nearby branch of Timezone, a game arcade center, as well as the ceiling of the bridge connecting Glorietta 2 to the then Park Square 2. Two rival gangs were seen fighting near the restaurant shortly before the blast occurred.^[21]

Oakwood mutiny (July 27, 2003)

Magdalo soldiers led by Lt. Sr. Grade Antonio Trillanes IV took control of the Oakwood Premier. Glorietta, where the hotel stood, was also closed during the siege.

2007 explosion (October 19, 2007)

An explosion in Glorietta 2 killed eleven people and injured a hundred others. Initially, authorities termed it a liquefied petroleum gas explosion in a restaurant, but later began investigating the possibility that the explosion may have been a C-4 bomb.^[22][23] The explosion destroyed much of Glorietta 2's main lobby and vehicles parked outside. Several days later, October 23, 2007, senior government officials expressed "a high level of certainty" that the explosion was an accident,^[24] but the bomb theory has not been totally ruled out. This was brought on by the inability of experts to find bomb components after four days of rigorous investigation. It is believed that the explosion was caused by underground structures in the mall that might have triggered the blast, pending further investigation.

Fire incidents

• October 21, 2007: A fire broke out at noon PHT (GMT+8) in the kitchen of one of the restaurants in Glorietta 4, not affected by the 2007 Glorietta blast two days earlier. It was put out by firemen an hour later.^[25]
• November 20, 2016: At around 8 in the evening PHT, a fire struck a restaurant in Glorietta 3 right above the Gold's Gym branch, without injuries or casualties.^[26]
• April 10, 2017: A minor fire broke out at the Glorietta 2 roof deck past 6 in the evening PST. A fire out was declared less than 25 minutes later.^[27] There were no reported injuries.^[28]
• May 19, 2019: A minor fire incident occurred at a milk tea shop being renovated at Glorietta 2 at between 5:59pm and 6:20pm PST. Bureau of Fire Protection declared a fire out at 6:31pm. The incident left one injured.^[29][30]