When retail stores are opened up

Feeling the pinch of the recent oil prices increase, shopping for reasonably priced if not totally inexpensive food and other essentials is a must. More so if one is a daily wage earner and has a large brood to feed.

Sticking to a budget and a prepared grocery list without being distracted by attractive sales and discounts is really hard. If one must do it, having horse blinders while shopping help keep one’s resolve. As one banker put it, "A centavo saved is a centavo earned."

With that in mind, I went last week to four shopping places, armed with my list written in a stenographer’s notebook, a ball pen and a strong determination not to spend a centavo more than the set budget of P2,000 per place.

Price Club

The first place I went to was the newly opened S&R Price Membership Shopping or Price Club for short. Located at Fort Bonifacio, a stone’s throw away from Forbes Park and Dasmarinas Village, it was on its fourth day of operation.

Opening last May 18, the place was packed with people curious on what this Price Club was all about. Jerry Barican, who went there the day after it opened, described how the crowd equaled the size of EDSA 2 and 3 in terms of numbers. He was ecstatic about the hot dog being sold in the snack bar, saying it tasted like the ones being sold in the streets of New York.

Dragging Edna Floro, a friend who was a club member, we went for a look-see. Earlier, she had paid the introductory membership fee of P500 which was good up to April 30. Late applicants had to shell out the full price of P1,200 but, judging from the long line I saw on my way in, so many more people did not mind the steep fee.

The Monday morning shoppers were a mix of office executives in their barongs and ladies in corporate suits, a sprinkling of foreigners and well-dressed matrons with maids in tow. The rest were whole families shopping and comparing prices on what an item would cost if they bought it in the United States. "Very much like Cosco," was the comment of the few, minus the hassles of carrying heavy luggages and paying custom duties. (Cosco and Price Club were both started by Sol and Robert Price. The Price Club is the corporate vehicle for expansion outside the United States-Ed).

Going inside the Price Club was like stepping into American soil. It was pure heaven for lovers of PX items, especially those fond of buying towels, bed sheets, bathroom and kitchen wares and other knickknacks . From the stories I heard, some shoppers just got items without even looking at the price tags. I even met a lady who was there everyday ever since it opened and she bought items by the dozen.

The place has a travel agency, a drug store , an optical shop and a tire center not offered by Makro, Shopwise, and Cash & Carry, which I also visited within the week. Weaving in and out of the different well-lit sections, there were a few items that caught my eye.

There was the beautiful garden set composed of one umbrella, a table for four and accompanying chairs with cushions costing P27,999.95; an aluminum 16-feet ladder at P2,999.95; a gift wrapping set at P579.95; maintenance-free car batteries at P2,799.95; single-use cameras at P499.95; and an inflatable queen-sized air bed at P1,299.95. Definitely things not in my list but would be nice to have.

Going to the food section, the imported food items like turkey and chicken hot dogs were placed side by side with local products. Edna, whose husband Sammy, loves apple pies, got him one locally baked from the bakery section for P358.95 and swore it was really good.

The seafood section had a wide range to choose from and prices were comparable to the ones of Shopwise and Makro. Same thing with the fruit section where young coconut or buko sold at P9.95, a lot cheaper than the ones being sold by the itinerant vendors for P14 to P15 each and P12 at Shopwise. Local mangoes were sold for P35 a kilo, the same price as in the local market. Fuji apples cost P15.95 a kilo compared to the P20.33 at Makro and P22.50 at Shopwise. Red Globe grapes went for P99.95 a kilo, P98.90 in Cash & Carry and P90 plus 10% VAT in Makro.

As for vegetables, a friend texted me that, according to her cook, veggies cost more in the Price Club. I find the cost of vegetables a lot cheaper in Cash & Carry.

Junk food lover that I am, I got a two-pack Doritos tortillas chips (cheese flavor, 7 ounces) which sold for P164.95. Later on, I found out that the same two-pack Doritos was being sold at P174.50 with one liter of Pepsi at Shopwise, P79.50 each at Cash & Carry and a pack for four with Pepsi was P319 plus VAT in Makro.

For those who want to save on the cost of bathroom tissue, the two-ply Joy 12-piece pack was being sold for P139.95 and would cost P141.15 plus VAT at Makro. Price Club’s 8- and 14-watt Philip essential lamps were sold for P129.95 while costing P160 in Shopwise and P149 in Cash & Carry.

It was almost past lunch time. Feeling the hunger pangs and braving the long lines, it was time to taste that hot dog sandwich, which cost P69 a piece. Relish dispensers were located very near the paying counter of the refreshment corner where one could have as much condiment as one wanted. Sodas with endless refills cost P23 each. Coke loyalist that I was, I had no choice but be contented with a selection of Pepsi, Seven-Up and root beer. The others who fancied Italian pizza could have it by the piece or whole. There was the pepperoni cannelone for P64 a piece which was quite filling and delicious.

On the way out, I noticed the absence of jeepneys and buses plying the area. Neither did I notice shoppers arriving in taxis. The location of Price Club is a minus for ordinary shoppers who do not own any vehicle and would have to walk a distance to get a ride. As my secretary puts it, it is for the "sosyal, talagang pang AB class."

Shopwise

Late last year, Shopwise opened a branch in Pasong Tamo, which is near my place. I really enjoy going to the fish section, which sells hard to find kanduli, biya and lato. There is the usual selection of galunggong at P85 a kilo; tawilis at P65; big milkfish or bangus at P105 and medium bangus at P100; crab or alimasag at P165; big tilapia at P79 and medium tilapia at P74; asuhos, hasa-hasa, squid or pusit bisaya go for P110 and white shrimps at P390. I do not have to go all the way to Makro Sucat when I can have the same fish for almost the same price minus the South Superhighway and Sucat traffic congestion.

With regard to bedroom and bathroom linens, Price Club towels start from P379.95 to P429.75 and Shopwise Cannon bath towel at P145 for the unbranded (heavy weight) at P295. Give and take a few peso difference, one can have these thick bath size towels and no-iron bed sheets Filipino housewives go for.

One thing about Shopwise, which belongs to the Rustan’s Group, is the service. The grocery crew is always helpful and friendly. If you ask for something, a section attendant would go out of his way to find you the needed item. An added touch are the grocery carts, which have mini-carts in front and make shopping with kids an enjoyable experience.

The drawback of Shopwise (Pasong Tamo) though is its limited parking space. This has been remedied with the employment of a parking valet. For customers who do not mind a three- to five-minute walk, there is this huge parking lot at the corner of Kamagong and Pasong Tamo for the exclusive use of Shopwise shoppers.

Cash & Carry

Next stop was Cash & Carry. Started in the 1970s, this no-nonsense supermarket is still, for me, the most convenient (distance wise). The store has items that are reasonably priced except for the fish section, which I find a bit on the high side. Medium-sized bangus is P130 a kilo and pusit bisaya sells for P150. Same thing goes for office supplies and clothing items, a few of which are similar to the ones found in bangketa sales.

The cost of vegetables like tomatoes and kalamansi are comparable to that found in the public market or neighborhood talipapa and may, at times, be even cheaper in Cash. As for meat, the cost of pork, beef and chicken are comparable to Makro, especially when the latter have these items on sale.

Outside the main building were stalls which used to be known for selling PX items until the place was gutted by fire in the early 1990s. However, in a nearby one-storey building are still a few stores that sell imported American, Korean and Thai goods, very much like the ones found in the tiangge or flea markets of Greenhills and Glorietta Goldcrest.

Makro

It was pretty surprising to find the huge parking lot half-filled the Sunday morning I went to Makro. Normally, numerous vehicles of all shapes and sizes can be seen in the vicinity on weekends. Once you enter the entrance, there is already a long line of people waiting to get in and the information personnel busy attending to six to 10 people applying for membership. But not that Sunday. I asked myself: Was it because money was really tight or usual shoppers had gone elsewhere?

Opening in the mid-1990s in Cainta, Rizal, the European Makro (which has Shoemart’s Henry Sy and the Ayalas as local partners) managed to attract quite a number of Filipinos to the bulk sale of everyday commodities. Membership is only P250 with cards called passports for both the principal applicant and one extension. One card holder can only bring in one companion and children are not allowed. Since then, Makro has established stores in Dasmariñas, Cavite; Sucat, Parañaque; and North Harbor, Manila, which I all visited. They are accessible by public transport.

When I visited the North Harbor branch roughly around two months and a half ago, there were flies hovering around me and there was this offensive smell of the surrounding area. That particular Sunday I went to Makro Sucat, it was my first time to see a bubwit or a small mouse near the noodles shelf.

Items worth buying in Makro are the school and office supplies. Of course, nothing beats the Divisoria prices! The cost of the home appliances are nothing to sneeze at, especially if one has a set budget. If you are buying a VCD and a television set, a refrigerator or a kitchen range, better be sure that you have the space in your car for those big ticket items. Special offers that are good for two weeks are advertised in mailers sent to members.

One thing though – the store does not deliver and VAT is separate from the advertised price. So, pay attention before getting any item from the shelves. The big printed price written above is not the amount you pay at the counter. Be sure to read the small printed price below it, which is really the amount to be paid.

For families who are heavy consumers of rice, Makro offers a wide variety from intan, special dinurado, whole grain and wagwag. Prices are not far behind Price Club, where I got 25 kilos of premium rice costing at P459.95. The 10-kilo fragrant jasmine rice (Rooster brand) from Thailand, locally known as milagrosa, costs P563.50 in Shopwise and P515 in Makro.

After my most recent shopping expedition, I’ve come to two conclusions.

First, no matter how hard the times are, conspicuous consumption among those who can afford will always be there while the rest will just have to do with some belt tightening just to get by.

Second, competition is good for the consumer. There are more choices for local and imported goods. Prices may vary from one store to another but will not make much of a difference, considering the time and effort saved if one has to shop in a place that will take two hours on the road just to get a bottle of shampoo, a tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap. Couple this with putting up with store personnel who do not know their merchandise at all. Being centavo but peso following is another thing.