Manila Shopping

There's a vast assortment of shops lining both sides of Ongpin as you pass by the Chinese Arch into the heart of Manila's Chinatown. It will take you a whole day to even check out half of the stores selling everything from fortune objects, gold jewelries, electronics, food and home furnishings.

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Enormous warehouse shopping marts located in Fort Bonifacio (32nd st. & 5th Ave.) & Ortigas, Roxas Blvd Paranaque City, Quezon City and Alabang, Muntinlupa City (modeled after membership warehouse shopping in the States like Costco, Price Club, Sam's etc). It is owned By Lucio Co of Pure Gold Supermarkets in the Philippines.

Imported (mainly american) and local goods are available including groceries (fresh and dried goods), housewares, electronics, office supplies, clothing, sporting goods, car tires and batteries etc. They have ready to eat hot dogs and pizza too! Two levels of annual membership are available - Business membership costs 1,500 Pesos (allows you to enter the store an hour earlier than the Diamond members.) Diamond (individuals) membership costs 700 Pesos for the first year. One extension card is available for 600 Pesos for first year. There is an ATM also in the store as well as a Pharmacy and Video Store.

What To Pay: About 5000 pesos or more ($ 124 plus)

What to buy: My favorite will be the Beef Franks by Hormel, The even have the White Castle Burger Microwavable Slyders at 900 pesos ($ 19.50) , USDA Choice Steaks like Prime Rib , Rib Eye, Porterhouse at 800 pesos ($ 17) for 12 ounces. Breakfast Sausages and Spicy Beef Links, Beer Sausages by Hebrew National for 299 Pesos ($ 6). Australian and New Zealand Beef. Tropicana Orange Juice, Florida's Natural, Cheesecake Factory Cheesecakes, TGI Fridays Buffallo Wings, The Choices are ENDLESS! however they don't have my favorites like Alaskan King Crab Legs, Dungeness Crabs, Alaskan Sock Eye Salmon, Hillfshire Farms Kielbasa Sausages and Jumbo Roasted Chicken like the one in Costco and Albertsons in the States.

They even have offerings of Mexican Churros, Beef or Polish Sausages, Pizza's, Calzones , Baked Hamburgers and Bottomless sodas inside the store! and the BEST part is that they sell KIRKLAND products (off course licensed by costco!)

What to pay: USDA Choice Steaks starts at 800 pesos, Sausage Links starts from 250-350 pesos, Florida's Natural Orange Juice at 225 Pesos. Mexican Churros at 45 pesos, Pizza Slice at 99 pesos, Cheesecake Factory Frozen Cheescakes at 900 pesos, Kirkland Multivitamins Large Jar at 900 Pesos.

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The Promenade contains cinemas (Digital and THX), high end restaurants and bars (Like Teriyaki Boy, Tender Bob's, Cibo), KTV, concert hall, and book shops. It is Trendy and upscale and is designed to compete against other promenade style shops of other malls in Manila like in Shangrila Plaza Mall, The Strip of SM Megamall, Metrowalk in Ortigas District, Bonifacio High Street.

What to buy: High End Books, A Large Variety of International and Ecletic Cuisine's, Beers and Cocktails.

What to pay: Meals at restaurants average around 250-350 pesos per order ($ 5.50 to 7.50), A Movie cost 120 Pesos ($ 2.50, way cheaper than in the states where matinee hour movies cost $ 5 and $ 10 starting 6:00 pm).

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Shoppesville Arcade is made up of 4 levels. The lower 2 levels contain various shops, selling local and imported merchandise. The 3rd level is mostly composed of stores selling RTWs, toys, and other gadgets. The 4th level, known as Shoppesville Plus, hosts many computer shops formerly located Virra Mall, before it was renovated into the new V-Mall.

They also Have A Couple of Restaurants that are Popular since the 1970's in Greenhills like House of Minis Steakhouse, Le Ching Tea House and Maxim's Teas house.

What to buy: RTW shirts, Counterfeit and original computer programs, Jeans, Polo Shirts, Bags, etc. Almost the same choices as in the main Greenhills Complex, however not as crowded here!

What to pay: same as in Main Greenhills complex, Haggling is the norm in the Tiangge's but prices are fixed in regular stalls.

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The new V-mall was started in December 2005. The Greenhills Shopping Center Complex occupies 16 hectares along Ortigas Avenue, of which V-Mall accounts for 20,000 square meters. Totally redesigned to make it more convenient for shoppers to go around, V-mall boasts of a wider area as the escalators have been relocated to the sides instead of its old location at the middle of the mall. It also features a scenic elevator that allows shoppers to see the whole area on their way to the top levels. V-mall sports a new look with five attractions from the SM group that include the successful Toy Kingdom chain, SM Appliance Center, Our Home, Watson's, and Ace Hardware.

Sports shops like Ralph’s Sports Shops and Planet Sport are also part of the new attractions. The Great Eats Food Court has several food outlets at the third level of V-mall together with Q-Power Station, and an arcade and amusement center. Astrovision, whose first store was at the old Virra Mall is back home in its new a 300-square meter shop. Cinderella, one of the oldest stores in the Greenhills Shopping Center, is also back with another branch in V-Mall.

What to buy: If you were a Shopper like me, you would buy an original Rolex Watch at Chronos (xxxxx price hehe), counterfeit Rolex available at Tiannge for 2,500 pesos (Triple AAA they say) .Shops here are for the High end Market unlike in Shoppesville or in the Main Complex where there are "tiangge's", none are here since this Newly Refurbished area is designed to compete with other Glitzy Shops in Manila like the Powerplant Mall, Glorietta, Greenbelt, Bonifacio High Street, Robinson's Place, Trinoma.

What to pay: Maxx out your credit card buy buying Laptop (about 122,000 pesos for top of the line hence cheaper in the states since it only cost 90,000 pesos there!), A HDTV at SM Appliance Center (Sony Bravia) at 255,000 pesos or a Rolex Yatchmaster steel and gold watch at 375,000 pesos at Chronos!

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Greenhills Shopping Center in Manila is a tiangge (tent like or Hawker's Center) style shopping mall located in San Juan region of Metro Manila. Bounded by Ortigas Avenue on the west, Connecticut Street on the south, Club Filipino and Annapolis Street on the north and Missouri Street on the east, this shopping center contains many malls, entertainment and dining outlets.

The most notable among the malls is V mall formerly known as Virra Mall. V Mall helped in boosting reputation of Greenhills shopping center and standing as a challenge to its rival shopping complexes. V mall contains computer shops, boutiques, SM Prime's Stores, a bookstore and an excellent food court.

LifeStyle Center houses a sport center and furniture, old coins and other antique items. If you want to see a movie along with some shopping, then Theatre Mall is the best option as it contains good movie theatres along with some boutiques, software shops and dining options.

From designer wears to accessories, Greenhills Shopping Center is a very busy bargain center where you can find everything at affordable prices. Manila Greenhills shopping center has three sections: main Greenhills complex, Unimart Supermarket and V Mall. Clothes, shoes, computers, cell phones, designer bags, electronic goods, designer wardrobe are some of the items that you can buy at this shopping center of Manila.

What to buy: Greenhills is a shopping paradise. Clothes, shoes, native souvenirs, computers, cell phones, knock-off designer bags and wallets, toys, children's apparel... these are just some of the items that you can shop for at Greenhills. The Greenhills Shopping Center is divided into three parts: Virra Mall shopping center, the main Greenhills complex, and the Unimart Supermarket. Anyone can find great deals on every shop. It is recommended to go there in mid-morning, where the sales ladies can give shoppers a first-customer discount or 'Buena Mano'. Haggling at half the price is a must because some stalls put up a mark-up on items based on the person's looks. food stalls and fast-food restaurants are all around the area when you get hungry; just be careful with drinking water served by the restaurant.

Greenhills is great for clothes, discount cellphones, jewellery including very cheap Philippines freshwater pearls, and some pirated goods. It used to be the place to buy high quality and cheap pirated DVDs and computer software, but after a recent piracy clampdown, the DVD vendors have now relocated to the 2nd floor of the EDSA CENTRAL market on the corner of EDSA and SHAW BLVD (also neighbouring the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel). Expect to pay no more than 50-70 pesos per DVD ($1.10 to 1.44). Some vendors have a tv where they will demonstrate the quality.

What to pay: 50-70 pesos per DVD ($1.10 to 1.44), 500 pesos for a counterfeit ralph lauren jeans, 800 pesos for fake nike shoes, 150-200 pesos for fake perfumes like davidoff or calvin klein, 600 pesos for anne klein "loft" women's polo shirt (export overrun hence original), 800 pesos for ralph lauren polo shirts (again export overrun). 600 pesos for silk bags (cheaper in Sai Gon at 350 pesos). A lot, lot more!

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Powerplant Mall is a former Coal Powered Powerplant in Makati CIty and was renovated to become a plush Complex within Makati City. Conveniently tucked away in the verdant "city within a city" that is the Rockwell Center, Power Plant Mall provides a unique and leisurely experience for the discerning shopper.Its four-level complex incorporates a mix of specialty brands, both international and local,The mall also offers a new concept store, Rustan's Fresh,which promises to reinvent supermarket shopping. Besides shopping, the mall, lifestyle retailers, signature mini-anchors, themed restaurants and state-of-the-art cinemas equipped with Dolby Digital Surround Sound and plush seating arranged stadium-style for optimum viewing. Some sections evenhave club seats that allow sofa seating for two and bowling alleys.

Lately, it has become a popular hang out place of the South Korean Community since there is a growing korean prescence in the philippines due to it's english language proficiency wherein koreans go and study english here and spend long vacations. A Korean Town is nearby this mall in Barangay Poblacion, Makati.

The Bars here are popular night spots!
examples are Cork, Dencio's, Mati, U-Bar, Via Mare Oyster Bar.

Not as congested as greenbelt, park square or Jupiter street bars.

What to buy: Luxury Brands like what you can find in other areas of Asia like in Shangai Tang, Ocean Center, Siam Paragon, Parkson, Takashimaya, etc.

examples are: Kenneth Cole, Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Crabtree and Evelyn, Bass Shoes, DKNY, Mango, Chronos (where I bought my Rolex Submariner on a Vacation here in Manila) etc.

be ready to maxx out your credit card!

Powerplant mall is open from Monday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 9:00 Pm

Bars close at 12:00 am on weekdays and 2:00 am on weekends.

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Bonifacio High Street, which is a mixed-use development with high-end retail shopping, residential and commercial office components, is part of the 36-hectare Bonifacio Global City center. Besides the commercial and residential buildings, it also has parks and restaurant rows that cater to the A and B market.

This is the perfect place to walk your dog, take the kids shopping, and even have coffee with the ladies, all at once. Resembling the Sta. Monica promenade outside Los Angeles, California, this is as innovative as Manila. Many of your favorite SSI shops are there and a couple of flagship stores make the place even more exciting and refreshing.

What to buy: Flip Flops at Havianas, Donuts at Krispy Kreme, Shirts at Crocs and a lot lot more!

What to pay: Much, this is a High Class Area comparable to Ocean Center of Hongkong or Orchard Road of Singapore