Us Girls just wanna have fun at Glorietta

Us Girls Angel Aquino, Chesca Garcia-Kramer, and Iya Villania are simply fabulous, fun, and fashionable. And yes, one more thing they have in common is they’re all crazy in love … that is, with Glorietta! Their love affair with Glorietta started many years ago when Angel Aquino was a young mom to her two little angels, and when Chesca Garcia and Iya Villania were gawky, starry-eyed teenyboppers. And rain or shine, in good times and bad, this love has remained constant through the years.

With a cherubic smile, Angel confesses she’s found heaven in Glorietta and frequenting this mall in Makati has become a habit that’s hard to break even if she lives in faraway Cainta. She notes, “When it comes to shopping for Christmas or any occasion you wanna celebrate or buy gifts for, you can find all the gifts you’d need for everyone here.”

Being a down-to-earth multi-tasking mom, Angel makes sure that when she goes to the mall, she can do all her other errands there. “I go to Glorietta because here, I’ll find everything I need to buy in one stop. I can also pay my Globe bills, have my phone fixed, do my groceries, get whatever my daughters need for school and whatever I need, too.”

When she’s not shopping for her own clothes, Angel enjoys helping her teenage daughters Iana, 15 and Thea, 13 pick theirs off the racks of Bayo for Kids or Orange Juice. “I usually take them along shopping. My eldest has the same taste as mine, but my second is a bit funkier, she likes to choose her own clothes. As a mom, I’m happy that they’ve consolidated the children’s area.”

Other than shopping, Angel says, “I also like watching art films with my friends at the Glorietta cinema. Sometimes, there are exclusive screenings of certain art films.”

Convenient One-Stop Mall

Chesca echoes Angel’s sentiment, “Glorietta is truly a one-stop mall. It’s neither too small that there’s not much excitement nor too big that it’s overwhelming. It’s just right. Everything you need is here, branded or non-branded. You don’t have to go to other places to find this and that. You can do everything in the mall without having to go through traffic. It’s right in the middle of everything, it’s so very convenient.”

The shopping-savvy Angel notes, “I like the fact that there’s a good range of prices at Glorietta, from the most expensive (she once bought a really pricey Tiffany pen at Rustan’s to give to a special friend) to the inexpensive. If you’re feeling the crunch a little bit and you want to tighten your belt, you can still come here and find something to buy.”

Being a bookworm and an arts and crafts person, Chesca’s favorite stores are Powerbooks and Carolina’s, where craftspeople can buy buttons, accessories, and beads to fashion into nifty stuff.

These days, Chesca is full of expectations. “Yes, I’m on my seventh month of pregnancy,” says the blooming mom-to-be. “I will deliver my firstborn by C section on the third or fourth week of July. I feel great!”

To prepare herself for her new role, Chesca has been buying mommy books at Powerbooks such as What to Eat When You’re Expecting (but more on what Chesca’s eating a bit later), What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and everything on marriage. “I have a lot of these self-help books, it’s always nice to have these kinds of references,” she stresses.

When Chesca’s not curling up with a good book, she’s probably writing poetry, some of them probably for loving hubby Doug Kramer.

The expectant young mom is doubly happy to shop for baby stuff at the infants area of Glorietta and the infants section of Rustan’s. “I have like shoes and a whole wardrobe for my daughter already.”

The Kramers are also window-shopping for furniture and appliances for their new home. Chesca likes checking out the upbeat furniture and accessories at Dimensione on the second floor of Glorietta 4. There’s also A Touch of Elegance with its European look and then there’s Homebound with its trendy decorative items and accessories on the third floor Homezone of G4.

“I’m also giving birth to my first baby,” chants the irrepressible Iya. “It’s my new album ‘Finally.’ Finally, after so many years — I started singing back in Australia at seven years old, I’m 22 now — I have an album!”

A Few Of Their Favorite Stores

It’s not easy psyching out this psychology graduate, but one thing we know for sure is she loves music (yes, no music, no life for Iya) and sports (anything that involves running), you’d probably see her checking out the music stores and sports shops at Glorietta.

Also easily Iya’s favorite store is National Book Store. “I love it because I love pens. I just graduated, but it doesn’t stop me from buying pens, I’m always on the lookout for a good pen and I get it even if I don’t need it. I love looking at the stuff at NBS — the binders, diaries or even books, but I wish I could read more.”

Iya is tickled pink when she talks about her other favorite store at Glorietta — what else but Tickles! “Puede kang magpa-wrap don. I love that store!”

More than a master (w)rapper (it’s been around long before Francis M. came along), Tickles is the store to go to for assorted cute, cuddly, fun and wacky stuff as well as Carlo Tanseco’s jolly good pillows you’d love to give away or keep for yourself.

They may be incurable shopaholics, but the Us Girls do practice shelf-control. When they’re tired of shopping, they just sit down and try on a pair of shoes.

Shoe what? Girls will be girls will be shoe freaks. “Oh, we’ve stopped counting how many shoes we own,” the girls chorus. But certainly, these girls’ shoe collections are nowhere in the elite neighborhood of Imelda Marcos’ over 2,000 pairs of shoes.

The Us Girls are just shoe happy that they’ve found a haven in Glorietta, where there’s a whole array of shoe stores that fit their lifestyles.

All self-confessed fashionistas, Angel likes to shop at The Ramp (“I love that they have different designer brands”); oui, Chesca goes for Petit Monde’s tres chic clothes; and Iya loves Bench (so with any other young person who doesn’t want to be just a benchwarmer and has his/her own sense of style).

Sales Galore

Of course, like any other girl, the Us Girls can never resist the S word: sale! “Except for my children’s clothes and things that they need, when it comes to me, I get drawn to a shop when it’s on sale,” says the smart shopper Angel. “It’s because if you know you can get something for so much cheaper, why pay for the regular price?”

“Oh, yes, I love sales,” Iya declares. “I’m a practical shopper, but if I can’t wait and I don’t wanna risk losing the item to someone else, I just get it.”

“I window-shop and make an assessment of what to buy and I get it when I get my salary,” Chesca shares her two cents’ worth. “But when I really, really like something, I don’t hesitate to buy it. I don’t deprive myself after all the hard work that I do. I reward myself.”

Hanging Out, Chilling Out

On weekends, Angel and her daughters spend precious time bonding — playing video games at Time Zone — sometimes also with all 11 of her pamangkins — and hanging out at Starbucks or watching a movie.

Chesca hangs out with husband Doug. “While I’m checking out books, my husband is listening to music at Music One which also has books upstairs. He’s like my shopping partner, he goes where I go, especially now that we’re about to have a baby.”

Iya loves hanging out with Drew (Arellano). “He’s my girl friend,” she gushes. “We just love to chill out, eat, and be married, and watch movies.”

With a twinkle in her eyes, Chesca points out, “What’s so nice about hanging out at Glorietta is it’s got such a wide selection, there are a lot of surprises waiting for you. It’s never boring. If you wanna have an exciting day, go to Glorietta kasi maraming makikita. Like those small stalls or kiosks they have in the middle, they’ve got a lot of exciting finds.”

Iya agrees with a passion. “What I love about Glorietta is it offers such a wide selection so if you’re looking for shirts, there are many shirt stores to look at, both local and imported, you’re not just limited to one store. And it’s got all the major stores.”

To which Angel adds, “Whether I am by myself or with friends or family, I won’t run out of things to do at Glorietta. Everything I could think of doing or buying is here.”

Food, Glorious Food

And what’s a mall without food? The Us Girls heartily agree that the food is simply glorious at Glorietta!

“Oh, food! I love eating!” Iya enthuses. Iya likes being spoiled for choice, which is why she goes for the many assorted delightful offerings at Food Choices.

As much a hearty eater (more so now that she’s eating for two) as she is a voracious reader, Chesca loves the salads at California Pizza Kitchen and she thinks that the sinful waffles at Heaven ’n’ Eggs are simply heavenly.

Malling Down Memory Lane

But more than the material things, the Us Girls hoard special memories of Glorietta that money can’t buy.

“I remember the first time my daughters were in awe because they saw The Circus perform at Glorietta in 1999,” Angel fondly recalls. “It was my daughter’s birthday and that was where I took them for a little celebration. They had so much fun.”

The devoted mommy adds, “When my kids were little, I’d always take them whenever there was a big children’s activity at the Activity Center of Glorietta, like when they brought in the characters of Sesame Street. I can never forget that. Even today, something is always happening at the Activity Center. Sometimes, they have an appliance sale. Once, I bought an entertainment system.”

Chesca also has delicious memories of Glorietta’s good old restaurants that to this day are alive and cooking. For instance, there’s Friday’s — the place to be not just on Fridays but every day of the week.

“When I was still going to San Agustin High School, Glorietta was, as it is now, the mall to go to,” Iya relates. “So my classmates and I would often come here and eat at Food Choices, which is one floor before you go up to the cinema, or watch a movie.”

She recalls, “It was in Glorietta where I came across taking pictures of your friends, usong-uso ’yon nung high school. This is where we’d always meet, do silly things, take silly pictures.”

Iya observes, “I think Glorietta is the best meeting place. Even if you don’t have plans, you just meet here and plan on the spot.”

Now you know why there’ll never be another mall for the Us Girls.