Presy Florentino: From shoeshine girl to shopping mall wiz
February 12, 2003 | 12:00am
This Friday night, the four of us have a date to a riotous concert featuring ’70s singers, Hadji, Rico J. and Rey Valera at the Music Museum. Never mind if we are called baduy by friends who see us, because Music Museum president and CEO Priscilla "Presy" Florentino assures us that the show will be fun. We believe her. For an hour and a half, we forget our office concerns and hurry back to the delightful days of the ’70s when life was less complicated.
I watch Presy from the corner of my eye. Tonight, she is enjoying the show as a spectator. I hear her scream "Hadji, Hadji" like a teenage fan when the singer croons the first bars of Tag-ulan, the favorite that made him a singing sensation. And when Rico J prompts "only virgins" to shout "macho" during one of his numbers, Presy lets out the loudest "macho" in the audience – to the disbelief of close friend Edith Alcantara who sits beside her.
Presy, you see, is a "natural." She is spontaneous, fun, warm. Her friends speak of her occasional silliness and child-like behavior. But beneath the happy disposition of this baby boomer is the steely stubbornness of a hard-nosed businesswoman. Presy is aggressive. Fearless. Hardworking. Hands on. Intuitive. Qualities that have catapulted her to success, making her the new lady on the Greenhills-Shopping-Center-block to watch. Aside from owning and managing Music Museum, a popular venue for live concerts and plays in Metro Manila, she owns Shoppesville Plus, a mini-mall adjacent to Music Museum, ritzy and popular Theater Mall, and the newly renovated bargain haven Shoppesville. Last week, she opened Good Earth at The Fort, a Chinese restaurant serving superb fusion cuisine.
After the crazy concert, the two of us hie off to her chic Makati pad to have a nightcap. It is the hide-away of a successful businesswoman. Paintings of Bencab and Amorsolo compete for wall space. Italian tiles mix well with dark molave hardwood. I notice the seven-foot-tall oil painting of her by portraitist, Isabel Diaz. The short hairstyle, tousled locks and impish smile have not changed. Considering her entry into the circle of golden girls, the years have indeed been kind to Presy.
Over a cup of freshly brewed coffee, Presy takes me back to her childhood days when her entrepreneurial skills saw their beginnings. Growing up in the quaint town of Bocaue, Bulacan, she smiles at the remembrance of her "thriving shoeshine business." Every single weekend saw eight-year-old Presy trooping to neighboring homes with her specially made box under her arm to polish to mirror-image perfection the shoes of waiting customers and friends. "I don’t know why, but I just loved shining shoes!" she declares without a hint of embarrassment.
But that was not all this consistent honor student at St. Paul’s College (Bulacan) did during holidays. "On the eve of All Saints’ Day, I would station myself at the gate of the town cemetery with a cariton filled with white cement. People would buy a kilo or two and use it to spruce up the white tombs of their loved ones, " she proudly recalls. "The next day, which is All Souls’ Day," she continues, "I would lug a brightly colored box filled with Magnolia popsicles and ply the entire cemetery shouting ‘Popsicle, popsicle’. I was a big hit!"
The excitement of earning continued to stir in Presy’s blood as she grew older. At the onset of summer, 12-year-old Presy would insist that she manage her parents’ small grocery store located inside the town market. While kids her age were in dreamland at this time of the day, young Presy would be up at 4 in the morning to open the store at 5 sharp. Throughout the day, she cashiered and looked after customers, but also found time to sell her own concoction of sago at gulaman on the side. At 10 in the evening, she would head for home with the day’s earnings properly accounted for and ready for turnover to her proud parents. Even at that early age, she knew she loved being in business.
At the ripe age of 14, Presy added one more task to her already full summer load. She learned how to drive her dad’s van. Whatever for, I ask? "I loved delivering orders of customers, so I learned how to drive," she laughs at the memory of her daring days. The young entrepreneur kept on with her shoeshine activity, store management, and the special forays on special holidays, up to her high school days. She remained focused, in spite of the distractions of adolescence.
When Manila beckoned for college, Presy went to Maryknoll College where she enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Business Administration. The Manila girls awed the precocious Bulakeña. "They were so articulate, so bright, so sharp." Instead of feeling inadequate and insecure, the confidence rubbed off on her. She studied hard and vowed never to work for any firm after graduation except for corporate giants IBM or Procter & Gamble. "I believed they were the only ones that deserved me, " she laughingly recalls.
When that didn’t happen, Presy enrolled at the UP for her master’s in Business Administration. Feeling grownup and independent, she fended for herself, taking up "bed space" for P60 a month in UP while doubling as assistant registrar at Maryknoll. Her service to her alma mater spanned five years.
The call of the corporate world came in 1973 through Tommy Alcantara, older brother of classmate Edith, who offered to double Presy’s salary if she would agree to work for their family’s company, C. Alcantara & Sons. She did, and would have happily remained a corporate professional had she not met Kuh Ledesma in 1979. Their friendship exposed Presy to the entertainment business. Learning the trade fast, Presy in no time successfully produced concerts and shows regularly, and even briefly partnered with her new friend in a TV studio venture.
However, in 1989, Kuh, who was bent on leaving for the USA to forge a career there, asked her friend Presy to take over ownership of Music Museum, which already had become the country’s hottest theater for pop concerts and modern plays. With innate wisdom, Presy took it on. Under her watch, Music Museum did amazingly well until 1992, when it was razed to the ground due to the reckless use of candles during a short brownout.
Did the tragedy traumatize her? Yes, she confesses. "For a time, I was paralyzed with fear. I did not know what to do." It was her landlord who brought her back to reality. "He was collecting rent. Even if Music Museum was not operational, he said I still had to pay for its lease." She decided to rebuild and even saw an opportunity to resize the theater, then realizing that there was enough space to create a mini-mall. This became Shoppesville Plus with its myriad of hip stores selling clothes, shoes and accessories.
The newly renovated Music Museum re-opened in 1994. Interiors were ultra modern. Sounds and lighting equipment were state-of-the-art. The stage was bigger. Showcases held new memorabilia: Lea Salonga’s costume in Annie, Pilita Corrales’ sequined strapless evening gown and others. Star Café, the coffee shop, served great food and drinks. Even the spiral staircase, once every asthmatic’s waterloo, was made easier to negotiate. In no time, it was again the darling of the concert and theater crowd.
But there was a Damocles’ sword hanging over this businesswoman’s head. In a few years’ time, Presy knew that the lease of tenants in the Greenhills Shopping Center would be expiring. The future of her two projects was thus in jeopardy.
In 1997, armed with an indomitable will to survive, Presy met with the Ortigases, owners of the Greenhills Shopping Center. "They were not decided on what they would do with the shopping center after my landlord’s lease expired, so I sensed it might be the end of Music Museum. I considered other possibilities. The Fort was willing to house my theater so I had architectural plans prepared. But in 1998, the economy became bad and things did not look too well there," she recalls. Intuitively, she aborted her plans at The Fort.
How then did she handle her predicament? "On bended knees, I prayed every night to the Lord for wisdom," she began. "Finally, in 2000, I had a surge of unexplainable self-confidence and approached the Ortigases again, this time to bid for the old and run-down Greenhills Theater." Her proposal was not only financially attractive to the owners, but her entire plan for development was totally impressive. Architectural perspectives for the new cinema and her proposed mall were so beautiful that the owners had no trouble deciding that Presy would be their partner. In 2002, she opened Theater Mall, which has two movie houses and 200 special shops and boutiques. If the aging Greenhills Shopping Center boasts a new image nowadays, it is largely due to Presy’s Theater Mall.
Today, even bargain-haven Shoppesville with its 600 shops is under her wing. A staff of almost 200 people runs the Music Museum, Theater Mall, the two Shoppesvilles and Good Earth. Sister-in-law Maybelline handles Shoppesville, and sister Rosie manages Music Museum. Both confirm that the Presy Florentino style of management is casual and friendly. She delegates, reads reports, and is hands-on.
As if these were not enough, the indefatigable businesswoman opened still another venture two weeks ago: a Chinese restaurant called Good Earth at The Fort. The very modern edifice designed by Ched Berenguer is already a popular place for gourmets and food lovers. Fusion cuisine of chef Henry Chung is superb, ambiance is warm, and prices are friendly.
In July 2003, Presy is "giving birth" to yet another baby called Crossroads, a new mall on Annapolis St. (Greenhills) which she says will be another posh place with a romantic promenade, exciting food and beverage outlets, swanky retail shops and boutiques and two modern movie houses. With all these successful businesses under her watchful eye, she still has time to be chairperson of the Plywood Council of the Philippines and untiring treasurer of the Maryknoll Class ’68 Foundation.
What is the secret of her success? Presy answers that it is the spiritual dimension in her life. "Without God, I would not have been able to do all this. He is my partner in everything I do. I need His advice at every turn," she says. I look into the eyes of this seasoned entrepreneur and see that she means every word she says.
What is her idea of fulfillment? "Money has never been a driving force. My joy is to be able to create something, to make it work and to make people happy," she answers. "I want to be a blessing to my parents and my family." Her generosity to her parents, favorite charities and special scholars is legendary.
What are the inherent qualities that have helped in her climb to the top? "I am very optimistic and forward-looking. I love taking calculated risks, and I am hard-working. I plan my activities and my time punctiliously, enabling me to provide enough time for my Music Museum and mall interests, and my work with C. Alcantara where I have been marketing manager for nearly 30 years. Also, I am loyal to a fault and will never abandon a friend. Finally, no matter how tired I am after a day’s work, I end my day with prayers," she shares.
This enterprising Bulakeña has indeed come a long way from the shoeshining days and graveyard sorties of her youth. Thanks to her keen business savvy, Priscilla "Presy" Florentino is poised to be a dynamic force in any business or endeavor she chooses to be part of.
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