Mother Lily's little store earns big

MANILA, Philippines - If you happen to be at the Imperial Palace Suites (IPS) on Timog-Morato Rotunda, Quezon City, you will see a table full of thingamajigs at the lobby. Bags, dark shades, bling-blings, Chinese ‘lucky charms’ are on sale at affordable (read: giveaway) prices. ‘I make as much as P5,000 every day,’ said Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde who runs the ‘little store,’ perhaps in the same way she did a popcorn stand at the Good Earth Emporium on Rizal Avenue years ago. ‘That’s how I started in business,’ confirmed Mother Lily, ‘selling popcorn.’ That started off Mother Lily whose ingenuity and acumen turned that popcorn stand into what is now the Regal Empire.