Tapping into Cebu’s flourishing tourism industry by providing a venue where tourists both domestic and local can easily buy locally-crafted products for pasalubongs, city’s newest boutique arcade One Mango Avenue recently opened its biggest display of hand-crafted products.
Sebastianne Handicrafts recently opened its shop in the Be U Cebu Gift Center Night Market and Bazaar at the third level of the arcade which displays a wide range of their export-quality products.
These ranges from customized fashion accessories, furniture, hand-crafted house wares, decors, gift items, and accents utilizing the country’s different indigenous materials such as shells, coconut, fibers, wood and other materials.
These products are export overruns of Sebastianne Handicrafts, but Sebastian Funa the shop’s manager said that these are still top of the line and high quality products that were locally hand-crafted and sourced.
Funa said that their products showcase the best of Cebu’s hand-crafted products that can be marketed to both local and foreign tourists that are frequenting the city.
He said that the shop will make it easier for these tourists to get hold of local products they can bring home and in this way they can also help showcase Cebuanos’ skill, craftsmanship and ingenuity as they have hand-crafted products with innovative design and details utilizing the wide range of materials that we have in the country.
Aside from both local and foreign tourists, the shop is also targeting wedding and event organizers as they have a wide range of items that are well suited for weddings and special occasions.
Hotels, resorts, restaurants and spa operators as well as interior decorators are also some of the target market of the shop as they provide embellishments and accents for these establishments.
“We have over a thousand designs and many different raw materials that clients can chose from and we can customize for them,” said Funa.
Sebastianne’s product prices range between P10 from small gift items to P8, 000 for furniture.
Since they have just opened in the area, the shop is tapping taxi drivers and tour guides as marketing strategy so that the shop will be visited often especially on organized city tours.
Optimistic with the lack of competition and the bright prospects of their location , Funa is looking at generating good sales target for the shop this early after earning a revenue worth P20, 000 in just a matter of days after it was officially opened.
“This is actually the only one-stop-shop in downtown Cebu for locally-made home accessories and furnishings so we are very positive that this concept will click in the market. As of now not many people know that we are here but so far we are doing well and we hope to continue earning good sales,” said Funa. —Rhia de Pablo