During a recent vacation to the Philippines, I made sure to take photos and pay closer attention to my retail experience so that I could share what it’s like to shop there.
Different But the Same
At first glance, retail in the Philippines isn’t that much different than here in the U.S., most notably if you're in a highly developed area of the country. There are a variety of grocery stores, and walking around the mall feels like walking around a typical mall here. Unless of course, you’re braving the ridiculously huge Mall of Asia or Megamall. For electronics, you won’t find a plethora of big specialty stores similar to Best Buy, just as you wouldn’t easily find stores devoted to sporting goods such as Sport Chalet. Instead, like many things in the Philippines, it’s easier to find smaller boutique-style shops in a mall or department store where there is far less merchandise and more customer service and attention.
PC Express — small electronics store within a mall.
Sw!tch — basically an unofficial Apple store.
Easy Does It
It's always "hustle and bustle" in the Philippines, so convenience is always a good thing. Check out a couple store types I found designed to save time and save money too:
Wendy's (express stand) — Cluster a bunch of foods stalls within the mall and you have an instant mini food court. 
Hack your printer and spend less money on ink! This printer ink refill station sells modification kits that uses tubes to connect your printer to much larger ink tanks. It's a popular hack, as I spoke to the owner of a Camera shop/Photo lab who uses these to keep his costs low.
Whatever’s Clever
Store naming is always a fun topic when it comes to the Philippines. Before my trip I was asked to take special note of any fun store names. “Legend” has it there are store names like Scissors Palace, Anita Bakery, Hair Force One, Summa Cum Laundry — just a few of the many very "punny" names that can be found there. Maybe I wasn’t in the right city— I didn’t have the greatest luck finding many great gems like those, but I did find a few:
Smoothie stand named Chilling Me Softly
Another drink stand, FaceBuko plays off of Facebook. “Buko” means “young coconut”.
Believe it or not, Res Toe Run is a shoe store. A playful pun derived from the word “Restaurant”, this store comes across more like a kitchen store with shoes displayed on plates and other dinnerware. It’s a nice looking store, but it’s a weird combination of concepts to say the least. Their tag line is “Your Appetite for Shoes”.
Kung Fu Kitchen - Feasts of Fury
Mini Me- No pun intended here, but a pretty cool store where you can get a fairly accurate statue of yourself for around $60
Kind of hard to see, but off in the distance behind the motorcycle riders is a food stand called Pot Dog next to a drink stand named High Tea. Again, no clever puns here but I thought it was funny to see these two store names side by side.
With All Due Respect
The Philippines takes good care of its older citizens and also those that need special attention. You'll normally see signs like this in many establishments to help give them priority and a better, more comfortable experience. At the age of 60, people are allowed to carry a special "senior citizens card" which gives them other special privileges like discounts on food, entertainment, medical/dental services, and even discounts on their utility bills.
Looking Back
The Philippines may be a continuously developing country, but when you're in a major commercial or retail environment, sometimes it can be hard to tell. Spend your time close to the city and you'll find yourself feeling like you're downtown somewhere in the U.S. Price-wise you won't necessarily find great shopping deals there unless it's for food. For the price of a mid-range restaurant in the U.S., you can eat like royalty. And while malls are generally on the insanely large size, grocery stores look and feel just as they do in the U.S. With any luck you'll run into a cleverly named store, which always makes for good anecdotes when reminiscing about your visit. Maybe on my next trip I'll get a chance to have another unique retail experience.
Joel is an Art Director at JDA Inc, a graphic design firm that specializes in supporting companies' branding and retail efforts with a Unified Marketing approach. To learn more, click here.
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