Makati is a haven for shoppers
looking for the latest in
fashions.     


The flower vendors of Carbon Market



Enthic buys catch the eye at
city shopping centers.



Fruit markets delight the senses
with exotic produce



Baskets of all shapes and for all
purposes entice shoppers at the
Baguio City Market

The Metro Manila lives up to its reputation as a shopper’s paradise. Shopping malls here are cornucopia of valuable finds and good buys. Show windows are a-glitter with displays of all that is fashionable in clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and jewellery, cosmetic and personel care, books, gifts and many others . The following are some famous shopping areas :

• Divisoria area, famous wholesales market and has everything from comestibles to wedding dresses. A recent addition to the area is the Tutuban Centre, a rather modern mall with many small stalls selling ready-to-wear clothing, jewellery and basic houseware commodities.
• Horrison Plaza has Shoemart and Rustan’s Deparment stores in addition to more than 50 specialty shops, boutiques , cinemas and eateries
• Robinson’s department and its satellite shops, cinemas and fast food outlets. This area is rather compact so less walking required.
• Ayala Center in Makati has every level of restaurant and shop ranging from high fashion boutiques to bargain jumbles in the Landmark department store.
• Mandaluyong area in Manila is the latest proliferation of retail shops and restaurants. There are three shopping malls , where the concept in each malls is to offer airconditioned entertainment centre where families can spend leisure time together.





• Shangri-La Plaza, is a shopping complex that accompanies the Edsa plaza Hotel. It has a fast food section called the "Gourmet Express". The main attraction here is an eight story atrium with live trees and a musical fountain.
• Robinson’s Galleria is a more compact mall which links a hotel tower and a corporate office tower and offers a wide range of boutiques and specialty stores and restaurants.
• Greenhills Virra Mall is an older shopping centre. It is surrounded by relatively easy accessible parking and has a number of restaurants.
• Magallanes Centre is famous for bicycle or golf equipment.
• San Andres Market is famous for fruits and Seaside Market is famous for seafood.
• La Porcelana and V.M. Antiques in Ermita, Chang Rong Antique Gallery in Intramuros and Tawalisi in Makati are some places famous for antiques.
• Fine handicrafts can be found in places such as Silahis, Balikbayan Handicrafts.

OUT OF MANILA

CEBU CITY :

Cebu has a rich cultural heritage, born out of centuries of Spanish influence and the innate creativity of its people. Thriving arts and crafts industries have increased the fortunes of the provinces, while dedicated to traditional methods and meticulous detail have paved the way for export quality items and famed far and wide.

• Mambaling is famous as the hometown of lepido-mosaic artist Professor Julian Jumalon, who collects damaged butterfly wings from all over the world and pieces them together into paintings that seem to throb with living color.
• Minglanilla down south is an industrious town of skilled carpenters and embroiderers at present enjoying a boom in the ready-to-wear garments industry.
• Mactan and Maribago produces Cebu’s famous guitars. In the many backyard enterprises and factories, one can observe guitar makers turn out hand-crafted instruments which enthusiasts swear compare to the best in the world.
• Rattan furniture, one of Cebu’s top export, is positive proof of Cebu’s enterprising spirit. Although the province does not grow its own rattan, almost two-thirds of the country’s rattan furniture is manufactured here.
• Colon Street, considered the oldest street in the country, is a haven for shoppers who enjoy the comforts and conveniences of air-conditioned malls. Sleek new department stores are available. Smaller malls offer everything from native handicrafts to designer labels.
• Carbon Market, on the other hand, is a bargain-hunter’s bazaar crammed with every conceivable buy. Hobnob with the Cebuano folk as you pick out your choice of handicrafts, weets, fruits, flowers, household items, vegetables, meat and fish ! (It is a marketplace).

DAVAO CITY :

Davao is a land enriched with the cultural heritage of many ethnic tribes, each with their own distinctive arts and crafts.

• At the downtown Aldevinco Shopping Centre, arcade upon arcade of these artifacts in their modern adaptations entice the souvenir-hunter: shoes, bags, accessories, and decor items of intricate, beaded T’boli ornaments, bright and colorful Muslim fabrics and clothing (malong), Muslim brassware and shellcraft and articles of Indonesian batik.
• Along the road to the airport is Nieva’s Arts and Crafts, where local artisans combine ethnic, paisley and Aztec-inspired designs with avant-inspired shapes to create unqiue souvenir items. The shop’s exclusive Lumad (meaning "native of") designs are handpainted in striking desert colors on ceramic, woodcraft, fashion accessories, office and kitchen ware.
• Davao’s exotic orchids and citrus is a first-hand appreciation by most visitors. Aside from the orchid farms, the MINFLO offers a wide selection from rare, indigenous waling-waling to the more common dendrobium and phalaenopsis to the colorful vanda, mokara, and kagawara hybrids.
• At the Madrazo Fruit centre, wide variety of fruits can be found from the prickly and odoriferous Durian to the perennial Davao sweet pomelo.

BAGUIO CITY :

A bul-ol (craved wooden image of Ifugao rice god), a pasiking (woven rattan backpack), a jar of strawberry, yam or coco jam, a lei of "everlasting" (straw flowers which literally last almost forever) or a silver filigree bracelet, the shopping potentials in this city are enough to make the inveterate bargain-hunter go gaga.

• Baguio City Market, produce and handicraft from all over the Cordilleras converge at the market, a mecca of good bargains in basketware, pottery, woodcarvings, furniture, antiques, beaded jewelry and knitted stuff, all wrought by the city’s artisans and tribespeople from neighbouring mountain villages. Bring home a jug of honey, a jar of fruit perserve, ube jam, a bottle of the sweet fruity strawberry wine. Here are also sold the freshest vegetables from the farms of nearby La Ttinidad and Benguet, as well as baskets of fruit, including the ever-popular strawberry.
• St Louis University Silver Shop, here youths are trained in the delicate art of silvercraft. Visitors can watch the youth smiths craft fine filigree samples out of sterling metal. Visitors can pick out silver accessories and other decorative items at the shop where finished products, in the form of miniature musical instruments, furniture, flowers, and butterfiles are sold.
• Easter Weaving School, visitors can appreciate the skill of weavers at work on conventional looms or on the backstrap looms favored by the highlanders. Colorful threads are converted into blankets, table linen, bags, clothing and other woven items which are then sold in the shop.
• Good Shepherd Convent, a sisterhood which provides a home for unwed mothers and adoption services for many of their babies. To support these charitable endeavors, the Convent produces and sells what many local believe to be the best strawberry and ube (a vilot-colored local yam) jams, coc jam , cashew and peanut brittle.