Stores, Malls or Markets in Philippines

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Center of Luxury Shopping in the Philippines, comparable to Orchard Road in Singapore or Pathumwan District in Thailand. Located in the Financial City of Makati in the Capital Region.

Glorietta used to be Quad in the 1970's and early 90's until it had a major facelift wherein in was remodeled and reconfigured by the Ayala Corporation into Glorietta Malls ( a more affordable place than high end greenbelt nearby) and is the main showcase of the Ayala Center, besided the ritzy Greenbelt, located just across an avenue. A prime 1 square mile block of prime retail space and malls that encompasses a prime area in Makati. It is still a work in progress since a wing (Glorietta 2) was destroyed by a bomb blast in 2007 and is currently being rebuilt.

opens 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Sunday-Thursday
10: am to 9:00 pm Friday-Saturday

What to buy: it has everything you want, food courts, Shoe shops, furniture shops, Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Cinemas, Department Stores, the only louis vuitton and burberry shop in the philippines and a lot More!

What to pay: maxx out your credit card!

Find authentic branded clothing and get them for a ridiculously low price. The catch is, you will have to dig or rifle through piles and piles of clothes. Much like mining for gems, you end up with dirty hands and possible a sniffly nose. But if you are a real bargain-hunter, you know a treasure trove when you see one.

What to buy: Clothes, shoes, toys

What to pay: On a per item basis, you can get an item for as low as $0.10. The "expensive" items cost around $8.

its a small shop located at the towns center..you will find various souvenir items such as coron tshirt, caps, keychain,reg magnet and more..just try to haggle a bit and ask for discount for many items.

This is a big airconditioned flea market style where one can buy a lot of things, from necessities to luxury items. The area also sells "discreetly" quadruple A signature items and these items really come close to the original item.

Pearls are predominant in the jewelry section, in fact a lot of foreigners visit the place especially for more affordable southsea pearls. One just need to be careful in buying, it helps you know what is authentic and if you have negotiating skills.

A lot of the clothes sold here are also export overruns so you get to buy branded items that did not pass strict quality control in the plants. Do note there are several branded items being manufactured in the Philippines but not advertised nor promoted.

What to buy: Almost everything - clothes, cellphone and all techie stuff, shoes, novelty items, jewelry

What to pay: It really depends on what you need to shop but prices are normally affordable

If you'd like to go to the malls while waiting for your flight, but don't know where to deposit your luggages, here's your solution. All the big malls in Metro Manila have Baggage Check-in Counters where you can leave your luggage. However, don't be surprised if they request you to open the bags for security inspection before you enter the mall premises.

I suggest you shop either at SM Mall of Asia which is very near the airport, or in Makati Ayala Center where there are different malls to choose from (SM, Landmark, Glorietta, Greenbelt, The Link), which are interconnected by bridgeways. If you choose to shop at Makati Ayala Center, you may leave your luggage at the ground floor Baggage Check-in Counter of SM, then go back for it after you've finished mall-hopping.

You may take a metered taxi from the mall taxi lane to bring you to the airport, just give enough leadtime for your required check-in time. Btw, the security guards list the plate nos. of all taxis leaving their malls.

What to buy: Clothes, bags, shoes, tobacco, toys, souvenir items... they've got it all!

"Baluuuuuuuuuuuuuut!!!!! Penoyyyyyyyyy......... Baluuuuuuuuut!!!" cries the Balut vendor trying to entice people from their houses to buy his goods. Balut is considered a street delicacy. You can't find it though in the city centers or in commercial/shopping areas but in regular residential areas and in the countryside. While it also sells in the afternoons, Balut is more a night time treat.

What to buy: Balut is not for the faint hearted. Penoy, its milder counterpart, is also a duck egg but soft boiled at the stage where the yolk and white of the egg are indistinguishable. Balut is unusual because you have an almost ready to hatch duck inside (if not cooked, it would probably hatch in a few days). You have part egg and part duck fetus. It is very nutritious. Probably the reason why it is believed by the elderly to aid in keeping the knees strong. Another natural VIAGRA. I must caution you though that Balut is very high in cholesterol. Hypertensive people and people with heart problems are not advised to eat this treat. Balut has been part of Philippine culture for so long that it has even earned a song for itself.

Balut actually tastes nice. At least the soup part and the yolk part. I have never tasted the duck part. Ewww.. so much for unbiased opinion. Heheh. Anyway, the trick to eating balut is not to take it out of its shell all the way. Pick the end of the egg that is more rounder and tap the egg there. Take out a shell piece at the top part and suck the juice by tipping the egg upside down in your mouth. Once you've peeled and exposed a portion of it, sprinkle salt (be sure to ask the vendor for salt), and eat without looking at what you are eating. Probably why it is popular more at night and eaten while still out in the streets. You can't see what you are eating. The meat is very soft and the only hard part of the egg is what they call "bato" (rock). The bato is edible and if my guess is correct it is the placenta. See... the reason I cant eat it anymore is coz I coudln't resist performing surgery on it. Anyway, if you happen to develop a taste for it, just make sure to limit yourself to two at the most as it is very high in cholesterol. A cousin of mine who grew up in the U.S. developed a liking for it. He didn't know how to properly eat it so he would pick it piece by piece like a chicken. Even veteran eaters flee at the sight of my cousin opening balut. So who can say... try it, you might like it.

What to pay: Balut costs about 7 pesos these days (about 7 eggs for 1 U.S. dollar).

One last suggestion. Eat it within a few hours of buying it. If you want to keep it longer, store it in the freezer and reheat in boiling water still packed in its shell when you want it ready. Otherwise, you might get a tummy ache. Remember, any egg once cooked or washed loses the protective filmy coating that makes the eggshell impermeable to common bacterias.

Durian is available in most fruit stalls and markets when it is in season.

Instead of the normal shop description, let me present you instead " A DURIAN TALE".

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom known for its wealth and beauty. Its beloved king, fearful that all will turn to ruin once he passes away with no male heir to inherit the throne, made the announcement that he is now considering choosing his successor via marriage to his only daughter. A lot of men flocked to the kingdom to vie for the princess's hand. Not only is the kingdom wealthy beyond imagination, the princess is also a famed beauty of the land. The castle was besieged by young men from all over. The king was overwhelmed with the turnout and a little disheartened too with the greed of people. With all the cunning that earned him the wealth of the land, he decided to turn the search into a contest. To lessen the number of competing men, the king warned that though anybody may enter, participants must be aware that the price of failure is death. Now, tempting as the wealth of the kingdom is and the beauty of the princess beyond compare, not all of the men were willing to lose their heads for it. So only a trickling of the original hundreds remained. The contestants are admitted and briefed on the mechanics of the game only one at a time and were given instructions to keep what they were told a secret. People notice only the "quest" seems to involve bringing back fruits, each more exotic than the last. So far none have survived the test. The participants became fewer until finally only 3 young men remain: Pedro, Juan and Ben. The king told each of them, your task is to bring me a fruit that I have never seen before. When you get back here, I will give you the next set of instructions. Pedro went out and thinking to impress the king brought back a sackful of mangoes which can only be found if you journey 3 islands away. He was very surprised when he learned that in order to win, you have to insert all of the fruits you brought into your anus and rectum and you have to hold it all in until everything is gone. Apparently, the king was not only cunning he had a nasty sense of humor as well. After two mangoes, Pedro lost his head. Juan is the most intelligent of the three and he had been observing all the comings and goings at the kingdom since the contest began. He noticed that the the bigger and more plentiful the fruits brought in, the swifter the death came. When he was sent out for fruit, he chose to bring in only a handful of ordinary grapes. Again, he was told to make all of it disappear into his rectum. Finally it seems somebody has met the challenge. Just as the last grape was to be inserted, Juan started laughing and spilled everything out. The king couldn't believe what was happening and asked the still laughing Juan how he could laugh at a time like this. Juan, tears streaming down from his eyes said in between laughter: Your majesty, I'm sorry, it is just that on my way back to the palace, I passed Ben on the street and he was carrying the biggest durian I have ever seen in my life.

What to buy: This is the famed durian - bane of hotels and other enclosed establishments. What is it about people not being able to wait til they get home before they open the thing? Durian can stink up an enclosed area in a snap. It smells bad. Smells like somebody stepped on poop and dragged it all over the carpet. Even the candy made from this fruit smells like flatus. Chilling deadens the smell to a tolerable level and makes the texture ice cream like. Who would eat this? Its reputation as a natural "viagra" make it popular with the menfolk. And believe it or not a lot of people do love the fruit even when they are not after its aphrodisiac properties. When I tried it myself, i'm reminded of a very rich cream with a buttery taste to it. There was a hint of garlic in there too. Durian is an acquired taste.

You buy Durian with the skin on and you pay for it by the kilo. You may also buy it sans skin and frozen at some establishments. Ideal for when you want to minimize your baggage. Only catch is once it gets defrosted, you might be stopped and asked if you are carrying roadkill on your person. This one has been halved the night before the picture was taken. As you can see, the skin or shell is very hard and spiky. Just hefting it in your hand is painful. You can understand why harvesters would use thick leather gloves similar to that used in baseball when they pick it off the trees. Carry it in a cloth bag or have the stem tied with a rope handle. Durian can cut through ordinary plastic bag and can be a hassle to run after. Excruciatingly painful if it falls on your sandaled toes. The local durian is grown in the Mindanao area.

What to pay: Durian is a bit expensive. P100 - P200? Depends on where it is from. Locally grown is from Mindanao but we also get some from Bangkok. The imported ones are more expensive.

In response to VTer's question on men's clothing in Manila (Philippine Forum):

Yes, clothes are very cheap in Manila (for custom-made)and you can also have these custom-made suits done fast if you ask some tailoring shops...generally about $100-175 regularly. I know in Hong Kong, they just make the suit in just a few days (less than 3 days?) and prices are so affordable. The Filipino tailors are likewise very fast and skilled, but sometimes they have too many orders. If you have Filipino friends who can guide you in the streets of Manila (along Espanya and Escolta), there are reputable tailoring shops like "King Arthur" (if I remember right, that is the name of one of those tailor shops)- but those may be difficult to find for foreigners (unless you have a local friend). If you have 2-3 weeks in Manila, that will be sufficient time to have a custom-made suit if you do shop for a tailor in your first few days...You choose the textile and style...

When I went to visit in 2006, I went to the Glorietta Mall in Makati and found a shop called "MERGER" which sold ready-made-suits which are fashionably "trendy" and they adjusted the suit to fit me (using "alteration shops" within the mall), and delivered them straight to my hotel room at Oakwood Hotel. I bought two suits -- one with a "chinese collar" (where you don't need a tie) and another regular suit with nice buttons. Both suits cost me less than $250 total ($125 each with matching belt!). They do get orders from the USA and say they usually send orders by mail to "balikbayans" (Filipinos who live abroad and visiting Philippines).
There are also several individual fashion designers with shops but their prices may be higher, but the quality very good but may be too fashion-forward. Conservative smaller tailoring stores may be more attuned to the conservative tastes of US citizens. You can even bring a suit (maybe a picture of Obama's suits which are well-tailored) and they will copy the style for you.

For really "expensive suits" (matching more of the European style), here's some stores:
Hugo Boss Level 3, Shagri-La Plaza Mall edsa corner Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City Tel (632) 633 8801
Armani Exchange can be found at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Alabang Town center, Power Plant Mall and Glorietta IV
Springfield at Greenbelt-3, Rustan's Makati, SM Megamall, Robinson's Place Manila, Bonifdacio High Stree, Power Plant mall, Rockwell Center

There is a SHOPFEST Philippines 2008 for "Suits on a budget" at specialty shops in SM Megamalls, Robinson malls, Ayala Malls, Crossings, Duty Free Rustan's, Greenhills Shopping Center, MegaWorld Eastwood, Araneta Malls, Ever Gotesco and Tiendesitas

Enjoy your stay in Manila!

What to buy: Custom-made suits, European style suits

What to pay: $100-175, but much much higher for name brands like Hugo Boss