A walk with retail
After years working in the fashion industry, scouring shops and trying to discover new brands to feature, I can pretty much say that the mall is my second home. I have developed a built-in radar that automatically switches on each time I step into a retail space and I can honestly say that I can map out my favorite shopping centers in my head.
The ones I frequent, due to proximity reasons, are Greenbelt and Glorietta. Traversing Greenbelt’s fashion offerings is easy — it’s just one entire row that starts from Topshop in Greenbelt 3 and snakes down to Greenbelt 4, detours to Greenbelt 5, finally ending with Marc for Marc Jacobs (I am always drooling over his quirky cartoon canvas bags) and Banana Republic in the newest Greenbelt addition (the further you go, the tighter your hold on your purse becomes). Adora is my main playground in Greenbelt 5. I like wending my way through its column-riddled layout just checking out Stella Luna’s newest feet candy, trying on frames from Dolce and Gabbana and Lulu Guinness and keeping tabs on the latest Lanvin totes.
While Greenbelt is so linear, Glorietta is built like a spiderweb, with a central circle in the middle and pathways connecting to each other in bigger circles outside of the center. I like how this web just swings me from one retail experience to another without my having to worry that Point A leads to the point of no return. You see, I have this tendency to wander aimlessly when I’m in the mall and it’s actually good to know that, in Glorietta, I’m just walking around in circles and won’t end up lost in some new wing or some unrecognizable annex. In this mall, I just look towards the light of the central Activity Center to figure out where I am, or I just follow the fresh, intoxicating smells wafting from Lush, one of my favorite beauty stores. Around the corner from Lush is the newly-opened The Natural Source, Australia’s answer to all-natural skincare, and another haven of heavenly smells.
When I feel like making a trek just for some retail therapy, I drive down to TriNoma, which is basically a bigger version of Glorietta. I’ve learned to like this mall because, despite the sheer number of people that frequent it, its spacious layout doesn’t make me feel claustrophobic. Second, TriNoma has fashion stores that aren’t found anywhere else: hip French brand Promod, a brand that essentially captures the young French woman’s carefree and effortlessly chic style, first opened a store in TriNoma. Local indie boutique Bleach Catastrophe which churns out the edgiest statement tees on comfy, washed-out cotton also marks its address here. A lot of brands have also put up their flagships in this mall. The Firma here is the biggest and the most well-stocked. Levi’s has put in a mix of their classic styles and their high-end sub-brands in their store here. Local retail faves Folded & Hung and Artwork also have sizeable spaces in TriNoma. Plus, the new Landmark here is amazing.
I am a huge fan of department stores. Nothing beats the thrill gained from a great bargain buy and in Landmark TriNoma, great bargains are pretty much all you can expect. When the department store opened some months ago, I found some beaded, Marni-like dresses for P350, metallic wedges for less than P1,000 and a swarm of gladiator sandals that would have really made Caligula come out of the closet.
People usually ask me if I go to the gym to which I reply, “No, I shop.” I can spend hours in the mall just walking around, looking through racks, taking advantage of testers, trying on stuff and, sometimes, even purchasing something. In either Glorietta, Greenbelt or TriNoma, all of these part of the Ayala Malls, I can just wile away half a day, flitting from one store to the next. It helps a lot that I know where I’m going and what to expect, which is, essentially, the unexpected. And that’s what I like about the Ayala Malls — they give you the many surprises!
