Cash & Carry: It's your kind of mall

Living in the south, I know of Cash & Carry only by reputation. Friends have told me about this grocery Mecca, where everything your family needs can be found and then some. That “some” came in the form of American goods and imported products that fed a society once crazy — and it seems still is — over everything imported.

Stepping into Cash & Carry for the first time on a normal Monday afternoon, I saw that the huge parking lot was filled with a respectable number of cars hardly seen on a weekday. I would have thought it was a Sunday except that I just came from the office.

Marvie Flores, marketing and promotions manager of Cash & Carry, says, “We recently renovated the store to include the mall. Now we have three levels with over 200 tenant stores for every member of the family. All throughout, the supermarket never closed.”

That turned out to be the key to Cash & Carry’s current success. The entire renovation project was focused on the addition of the mall facilities. Started in 1974, Cash & Carry is a hugely successful grocery supermarket.

Work on the mall started about two years ago, which made it a relatively fast endeavor. But according to Atty. Federico Ples, SVP of Makati Supermart Corporation, it could have been faster. “We kept the supermarket open,” he says. “The momentum would have disappeared if we closed everything for the renovation. We would have lost our suking customers. Some of them did leave but came back, eventually.”

Ples joined the group in 1978. Cash & Carry was not as big then and he personally saw the growth of the store through the years. “The kind of service we give here is very personal, especially with our avid customers,” he adds. “Sometimes they come in here with an issue and, without question, we accommodate them. It’s that convenient as long as we know the person.”

The mall itself lends credence to that personal, almost familial, relationship between tenants, management and customers. The building proper is located on the South Luzon Expressway, just before the Skyway ramp and easily accessible through many roads along all its sides. It has the original grocery establishment with the mall stores easily accessible via four different entrances. The first level is a smattering of your usual brand-name clothing stores, restaurants, booksellers and audio/video shops. At the mezzanine area you’ll find all the PX stores, which made Cash & Carry famous throughout the years. Anything from imported medicines to clothing and apparel — even electronics. There’s also a massage service and blood pressure check-up at different parts of the floor.

The second floor contains the Food Circle food court and a few more retail stalls. All of the computer and telecom stores are here as well. Down the hall are major hardware and appliance brands, such as Ace Hardware and Anson’s. At the time of my visit, an arrangement of furniture stretched from one half of the center floor space to the other end of the hall. These various sofas, chairs, tables and desks will all fit into the space for Furniture Express, located at the still-to-finish third floor.

In any case, there were still a couple more things to see on level 2. At the opposite end of the hall from Food Circle are the wellness shops — everything from a spa to barber shop and salon. Two state-of-the-art cinemas are located to the side providing Dolby Digital EX surround sound, comfortable seats and ample legroom.

One of the biggest potential draws is The Good Find, a collection of clothing and surplus shops such as the kind you see in Greenhills. I say “potential” because not too many people know about it yet. One look at the brightly lit interiors and ample walking space across the grid of clothing and apparel shops tells me this Christmas will see that part of the mall shine.

Despite the number of shoppers, there is still so much room to move about. That’s because everyone is shifting at a constant pace, going from one shop to another. The relatively small size of the building compared to other malls in the city, the location, and modern design all blend to make for what Ples calls a “community mall.”

“What you see are our walk-in customers and clients within the community,” he enthuses. “And even people from as far as Batangas come here. We already have that reputation of having affordable goods in ample supply. It’s a one-stop-shop concept where, once you park your car, you can immediately go shopping in comfort and security.”

Cash & Carry also has a semblance of the oft-touted but never fully realized family component. There’s a place here where mothers and fathers can go while the kids set off for the food court or arcades. Hardware and electronics stores for dad, appliances and clothing boutiques for mom. Kids have a lot of options with some videogame stores and fun areas to spend time in. This family-centric theme translates even to the tenants, where Cash & Carry management execs freely walk and talk with the shop and retail staff like they were ordinary customers browsing.

Ples relates that it’s something you rarely see in other malls and supermarkets. “Where else can you see the president, then later on, the chairman of the board sitting in front of a store and casually talking to customers? That is what’s unique about the group.”

There is a noticeable harmony throughout the building, as you’ll notice the lack of opposing brands and stores on any given area. There’s always only one fastfood, one pizza shop, one hardware store, one Chinese restaurant, one major brand and many others. This gives a better atmosphere of helping rather than competing.

“We have a program geared towards helping our tenants,” he relates. “We always tell them, ‘We want you to stay. And as much as we can help you, we will.’ We have had about two or three general meetings where we talk about shoplifting and security. And recently we asked the DTI to talk to them about their rights. Doon lang sila nalinawagan tungkol sa ‘No return, no exchange’ policy of the government.”

Everything, including the third level, will be done before the year ends. Already, the Cash & Carry Group has big things planned for next year and beyond. A contact center will move in midway in the year and a special chapel will also be built. Aside from that, better parking spaces for what Cash & Carry foresees as a growing market within the next couple of years.

For more than 30 years, the Cash & Carry brand has gone strong. I’ve always wondered why that was, having never set foot in the place until now. And in just one typical Monday afternoon, everything became clear.