A Guide to Bargain Shopping in Manila

Tourists who have made multiple trips to Southeast Asia know the drill: sunbathe and frolic in the beaches, sample the street food, mingle with the locals, and shop. Though people will swear by the great shopping in Europe or the US, when it comes to bargain finds, nothing beats Asia.

Go bargain hunting in Manila

In the Philippines, Manila is a place that every tourist should check out for amazing bargain finds. Here, you’ll find the latest fashionable clothes and accessories that will make girls (and sartorially-savvy guys) come back for more. There are a lot of malls, bazaars (or tiangge, as known in the country) and markets that are simply overflowing with the hottest trends of the season, and you can go and stock up on shoes and bags without causing massive damage to your wallet.

Here are a few things to remember when shopping in Manila:

• Always carry cash with you in different denominations. Having smaller bills will help since most tiangge stall minders don’t have enough change for, say, a 1000 peso bill.


• Bring some reusable bags or eco bags with you. Some parts of Metro Manila have banned the use of plastic bags, and purchased items are usually placed in flimsy paper bags.


• Wear comfortable clothes and slip on shoes, especially if you’re gonna be trying on clothes. Most tiangges don’t have a dressing room, and to try on clothes you’ll be asked to duck behind an opaque curtain to change. The saleslady who’ll be waiting on you will make sure that the curtain doesn’t accidentally fall down or open, so rest assured that you won’t be accidentally flashing anyone. Just be prepared to change in a real tight space though.


• Bargain like mad. There is such a thing as a “tourist price” in tiangges, so if you can bring along a Filipino friend, have that friend bargain for you. If you’re shopping alone, aim to pay at least 30 to 40 percent lower than the price that was mentioned.


• Be alert and aware of your surroundings. Pickpockets and snatchers could try to get your belongings. To be safe, don’t wear any jewelry, and carry your cash in a small sling bag. Wear the bag’s strap across your body, and keep the bag in front of your person at all times.


• Bring an umbrella to shield you from the strong rays of the sun or to protect you from sudden downpours.

Here are the places to go to for shopping:

1. Greenhills Shopping Center

Located within the affluent parts of San Juan, Manila, Greenhills is a favorite of many tourists, fashionable teens and yuppies, cool moms and celebrities. Here, you’ll find all sorts of things, from clothes, shoes, bags and luggage, watches, and accessories, to flowering plants, mobile phones, tablets, and handicrafts. This place is pretty much a one-stop-shop for everything you need. There’s even a grocery nearby, as well as local and international food chains and restaurants.

Shop at Greenhills Shopping Center

On a recent trip to Greenhills, I wanted to see how much stuff I could get for 5,000 pesos, or roughly about $113. My goal was to get a few clothing items, a pair of shoes, a bag, and maybe some accessories if I have anything left over. Knowing that I needed to buy the big ticket items first, I went to the lanes selling bags and shoes.

The bag lanes are just crazy! Here, you’ll find all sorts of brands, from Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, and Gucci to Burberry, Michael Kors, Hermes, and Balenciaga, among others. Bags are classified as Class A, triple Class A, and Quadruple A. The grading system is based on how good a copy a bag is. The Class A ones will be the cheapest among the bunch. They are decent looking replicas, but the mark of a good copy of an item is all in the small details. The triple and quadruple A bags are the best bags, quality-wise, and if you’ll look at them closely, it is quite impossible to tell whether you’re looking at a fake or the real thing. The Quadruple A Hermes Birkin bag was priced at 25,000 pesos, which is definitely out of my budget. But upon checking out the other stalls, I saw a triple A Louis Vuitton Speedy bag at only 2,000 pesos. I haggled and managed to bring down the price to 1,700. Score!

Next on the list was a pair of pretty, locally-made flat shoes at a fixed price of 700. That left me with 2,600 more. I managed to get three blouses for 1,000, then a dress for 600 pesos. Finally, I got two shirts for 500 pesos, and a nice pair of “Ray Ban” triple A aviators for 500. All that for just a little above $100!

2. Divisoria

Compared to Greenhills, Divisoria is more chaotic, more crowded, and will prove to be a lot more confusing to those who aren’t used to the area.

Divisoria is composed of streets and alleyways filled with merchandise, malls, and airconditioned bazaars all together in the heart of Manila, near Chinatown. If you’re squeamish, unused to crowds, and can’t bear the idea of dodging small vehicles and horse-drawn carriages, then you probably won’t appreciate this place too much. But if you’re after a good bargain, then this is the place to be.

Haggle at Divisoria

The quality of the merchandise here may not be the same as the things you’ll find in Greenhills, but the prices are definitely cheaper. Divisoria is also a great place to go to for buying things in bulk, since you can get a cheaper price for the whole lot than if you were to buy just one or two pieces. Say you’re looking for plain cotton shirts which you’ll use for party favors or corporate giveaways. For that, you need to go to Ongpin Street, where several stores are offering shirts of all colors for wholesale prices. Imagine getting one shirt for less than $2.00! Amazing, right?

For tropical fruits such as mangoes, papayas, pineapple, watermelon, and bananas, the streets to visit are Asuncion and El Cano streets. Fruits are cheap here compared to buying them at the grocery. In fact, a kilo of the world famous Philippine mangoes cost as low as 70 pesos per kilo. Prices depend on whether the fruits are in season or not. Some of the vendors will even let you taste the fruit before you buy.

For clothes and bags, head on over to 168 Mall, New Divisoria Mall, or Juan Luna Street for the cheapest and best stuff. All over Divisoria, there are street carts that sell clothing, but don’t even think about getting your clothes there if you’re looking for good quality. At 168 Mall, class A knock-offs of Polo, Ralph Lauren or Lacoste shirts can be had for about $8.00 a pop. Class A bags are as low as $15, depending on the size and brand.

If you’re looking for toys or party favors, the best place to find these things is at New Divisoria Mall. Some loot bag items go as low as $0.11, so it’s possible to get a lot at these low prices.

Whether you like the atmosphere at Greenhills, or whether you prefer to dive in the chaos of Divisoria, remember to haggle, be polite, and watch your belongings. Indeed, shopping is more fun in the Philippines!

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Back to School Again: Tips to Get Your Kid Psyched to Start the School Year Right

As the days of summer vacation come to a close, kids start counting down the days until school officially starts with an equal mix of anticipation, and something close to regret. In the Philippines, the school year begins on the first week of June, and by the third week of May, kids begin to go crazy, going on all sorts of crazy adventures, staying up as late as they can—anything, just to prolong that summer vacation feeling. I know, because I have two school-age children and a toddler who are currently driving me crazy with their end-of-summer shenanigans.

Back to school kid

Witness Exhibit A, my 11-year-old son, who has became a rabid fan of WWE over the past two months, and can usually be seen practicing his best John Cena face in the mirror and beating the pillows into submission. He has also taken over the TV from 10PM to 1AM on a daily basis, the regular timeslot where our whole family is forced to watch Cena et al. The fact that I have watched Wrestlemania 33 times is beyond me. And also the fact that I know those wrestlers by name (The Wyatt Family, Seamus, Daniel Bryan, Cena… I could go on and on) is kind of a head-scratcher for me. Whether or not knowing all that puts me in the Cool Mom category, I’ll never know.

Or what about my five-year old daughter’s insistence on going on the Dance Central game at the arcade every single time we step out of the house? For those who have never set foot in a Timezone arcade, Dance Central is a game wherein you follow the dance moves of a dance coach onscreen, and your moves are tracked by a sensor, so you’ll know if you have moves like Jagger or if you’re as graceful as a giraffe on ice. And because my little princess refuses to dance by herself, who do you think is the hapless adult who gets dragged to shimmy and shake in front of hordes of teens and tweens? Yes, you guessed it, me.

So as I shake my money-maker to Katy Perry, Kesha, Nicki Minaj, Robin Thicke, and Lady Gaga, I try to convince myself to ignore the stares and snickers and think to myself that I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom (see Amy Poehler in Mean Girls) and that my kid will have wonderful memories of her good ol’ mom who tried her best to make twerking look dignified as much as she could. Am I a Cool Mom yet or what?

A few days ago, I decided to rein in the craziness and have my kids start thinking about school. The hard part was getting them psyched about it. Oh, they know what school means. It means no more staying up late to watch guys on TV hit each other inside steel cages. It means no more dance parties in arcades. It means waking up early, gulping down a quick breakfast while still half asleep, and getting rid of their comfy shirts and shorts and wearing uniforms five days a week. I’m sure parents with school-age kids everywhere can relate to what I’m saying. That’s why I’ve come up with sure-fire ways to get your children excited about going back to school.

1. Go back-to-school shopping with your kids.

While shopping for the kids’ school things will certainly be easier without them, letting them choose their school bag, notebooks, pencil cases, crayons and other supplies will help them get in the zone and psyched about going to school. Before doing this, scope out several malls, book stores, or bargain centers to do some comparison shopping at least two weeks before shopping day, then decide where to take your child. Make a list of what the child needs to avoid overspending. School supplies are certainly cuter and kitschier nowadays, and if you’re anything like me, it’s easy to get carried away and buy loads of erasers that look like miniature sushi, so consider yourself warned.

Go back-to-school shopping

For school bags, check out Landmark in Makati, SM Malls, and Market Market. At Landmark, we scored an aggressively girly book bag for my daughter for 500 pesos, and a sturdy backpack with absolutely no logos or cartoon characters for my son for only 700 pesos. Leather shoes are a must for elementary and high school kids, so we scored a pair for our son for only 400 pesos, while my daughter who’s still in preschool went with a sparkly and very pink pair of Barbie sneakers for 450 pesos.

Notebooks and other supplies can be had at National Bookstore, and branches of this family-owned bookstore/ school and office supplies chain can be found all over the Philippines. Apparently, the notebook du jour for little girls this year should be plastered with characters from the Disney movie Frozen. Those went fast, and I’m not ashamed to say that I did a bit of mild elbowing to get about a dozen of those notebooks before they were all gone. Notebooks (with or without Disney or Mattel characters) cost about 16 to 33 pesos per piece, depending on the quality of the paper.

2. Practice sleeping early, and getting up early in increments.

Doing a practice run is a must for us, so I started by making the kids go to bed at 11PM, then I woke them up at 9:30AM. The next night I made them go to bed at 10:30PM, then woke them up at 9AM. On and on it goes until they get used to waking up at 6AM. Do your own practice runs this way to ease your kids gently into a schooltime routine.

3. Get your child’s opinion regarding his or her choice of snacks for recess.

Several weeks before school starts, buy a few snack foods for your kids to try and see which ones will make it to the approved-for-recess list. This year, we have all agreed to give the cream crackers and chocolate wafers a rest, and they all wanted more ham and egg with wasabi mayo sandwiches and peanut butter and banana sandwiches for recess, plus Oreo cookies for the ride home on the school bus. Thank goodness, because I don’t think I can look at another chocolate wafer for an entire year!

Let you kid choose for his snacks

For sandwich breads, try the pandesal from Pan de Manila, or the cheese loaf from Bread Talk. For cookies and crackers, Rustan’s and Market Market both have a wide range of local and international brands that are a hit with the kids. Chips Ahoy Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies anyone?

4. Give your child a back-to-school gift.

Most school-age children often make use of the Internet to do their research, and some schools also assign homework in homework portals. Make learning fun and easy for your child by giving them a back to school gift such as a tablet or a mini laptop. Just make sure to monitor the websites that your child is visiting, and be specific about how much time they can spend online on school days. Another great gift is a cell phone. It doesn’t need to be an iPhone 5! Let’s be serious, I mean, would you give your 9-year-old a smartphone? An inexpensive, ordinary phone that allows your child to text and call will do. A phone can be good to have, especially for older kids so you can check on their whereabouts during after-school activities, and also for younger kids in case of emergencies. Make sure to top up your child’s phone with a set amount of credits every month, and let him or her know that the credits should be used wisely. If he or she uses up the cell phone load before the month is up, let them know that you’ll be topping up the phone on the following month. It’s a good way to teach your kid about budgeting and responsibility.

This summer has been fun, sure, but school days are up ahead, and letting your child know that those days can be fun too will help them look forward to going back to school. It just takes a bit of patience, a little indulgence, and some practice, and before you know it, they’ll be raring to hop on that big yellow school bus.

As for me, I’ve just spent a couple of hours covering books and notebooks in plastic. Now, excuse me while I join my daughter for Dance Central. Lady Gaga is on.

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