MANILA, Philippines – One of life’s greatest pleasures is discovering a place you belong to and a place that seemingly belongs to you. In everyday terms, this can be as simple as discovering a mall that answers all your needs. One place for everything. No need to drive through traffic as you go through your list of things to buy.
While Bonifacio Global City (BGC), the metropolis’ emerging premier business and leisure destination, is not the first place you think of when it comes to bazaar shopping, there it is: Market! Market! with its soaring roof and exclamation points as though promising surprises that await you.
And indeed that’s what it delivers. Market! Market! is a mall where bargain hunting goes hand in hand with finding one-off products. It’s world-class shopping meets outlet store adventures. It’s casual dining meets fast-food restaurants and street stalls. It’s a treasure trove of products that come from all over the country and, above all, a place where people from all walks of life converge — from fashion designers to teenagers, fashionistas from nearby Makati and Parañaque, homemakers, office people at BGC, and balikbayans looking for pasalubong to bring back abroad.
By its very name, you know the kind of shopping you’ll get here, albeit in a very comfortable mall setting as Market! Market! merges the elements of a world-class mall and bazaar shopping. It was the first to introduce an outdoor hawker’s food center in its Fiesta Market! and regional carts offering a wide array of the country’s best loved delicacies like ube jam and peanut brittle from Baguio, chicacorn from Ilocos, bottled crab fat from Pampanga, and buko pie from Laguna. It also put together Dangwa flower and plant retailers alongside fruit and vegetable producers in a clean, outdoor environment that’s just steps away from the indoor mall structure.
For bargain hunters it introduced themed bazaars for textile, toys, arts and crafts in the Gift Market!; fashion apparel and accessories in the Fashion Market!; and home décor and furniture in the Home Market! For those who are followers of particular brands, the mall recently opened a new retail wing featuring local and foreign labels in addition to its anchor, Metro Department Store and Supermarket.
Market! Market! is probably the only place that’s got the basics covered, offers value for money, and still have room for unique offerings.
Designer Dreams
When fashion designer Jojie Lloren goes to Market! Market! he goes straight to Metro Department Store’s fabric section. Most local designers come here because it has a wide selection of fabrics that you can’t find in other department stores. Though he also sources fabrics abroad like in Hong Kong, Metro Department Store makes it easier for him to do it fast and quick.
“They are fabrics that I really need, like different kinds of satin and silk. It’s a common place for us designers to source,” says Jojie.
Known for his genius in draping, Jojie has his atelier in Pasay, in an old compound that also houses two other artists. Sometimes he offers patternmaking courses there.
“I like teaching,” Jojie says. When Amina Aranaz opened her School of Fashion and the Arts (SOFA), she turned to him to teach patternmaking, and when Project Runway Philippines needed their local Tim Gunn — one who would mentor the contestants, guide them throughout the season as they were learning about their own aesthetics and about the fashion business — they also turned to Jojie.
“When we were doing Project Runway Philippines, it didn’t feel like work to me especially when I was evaluating their designs and checking on their progress. Parang naglalaro lang ako. It felt like work only when it was time to go to the runway and wait for the judges’ decision on who they were going to expel for the week.”
He’s happy about how the fashion industry is flourishing today. “This new wave of designers, I’m so happy that they think education is important so they enroll in fashion schools or they take seminars to broaden their knowledge.”
More than a decade ago, Jojie made a name for himself here and abroad for his avant-garde designs. One of his most memorable was an abaca corset, which won the grand prize at the International Competition of Young Designers in Paris.
These days, he says, his fashion has evolved and become simpler, more classical, less experimental. Jojie counts among his loyal clients Nina Huang, Crickette Tantoco, Marivic Vasquez and Gretchen Barretto.
After all these years, what still excites him about his job? “When it’s a challenge, like, say, the client is scoliotic, which makes it hard to fit a dress, palaging may kulubot so you really have to fix the pattern. Or the client is attending a weird party that requires her to come as this or that. Sometimes I’d get a request like, ‘Can you use metal? Or wood?’ Ay, parang gusto niya akong sumali ng competition!” he says with a laugh.
Jojie also loves the Home Market! Often, while he’s waiting for his fabric purchases to be added up, he finds himself looking at the home décor and picking up items for his home. “I live in Pateros with my mom and we’re 10 minutes away from Market! Market! It’s so convenient for us.”
A Balanced & Earth-Friendly Lifestyle
For yoga teacher, vegan and animal rights activist Raya Mananquil, the outdoor fruit and vegetable market of the mall “brings a certain charm and a wonderful contrast to the vicinity.”
Raya, who’s into organic and natural products, loves that fresh produce are readily available at Market! Market!, making it unnecessary to hop from one place to another to complete her to-get list.
“I also particularly like the Eco Market, which carries local bath, body and household cleaning products. Buying natural soaps, lotions and cleansers supports the local industry, and they are way cheaper than the imported ones!”
Raya became a vegetarian when she was in college after reading an article on animal rights and the benefits of vegetarianism. The very next day, she quit eating meat.
“To me, becoming a vegetarian was more than a diet,” she says. “While I feel the physical effects of being healthier, having more energy, feeling stronger, it also had an esoteric impact because of my compassion toward all sentient beings. Being a vegetarian is also much kinder to the environment. Did you know that meat consumption actually has more damaging effects on the environment than vehicular carbon emissions? Knowing that what I eat on my plate, something so seemingly mundane, is a step towards a greener and kinder planet asserts my reasons and beliefs on why I quit eating meat in the first place.”
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) chose Raya to be a spokesperson in one of its always-thought-provoking global campaigns (Charlize Theron, Pam Anderson, Pink and Alicia Silverstone are also advocates). The Go Vegetarian campaign features Raya in a white dress with an outline of angel wings, holding a cute little pig in her arms and the copy “Be an Angel. Go vegetarian.”
She did the campaign several years ago and to this day continues to work for animal rights. “I’ve always had a dog for as long as I can remember, and I’ve come to realize that cats and dogs are no different from pigs, cows, chickens and all other animals. I would never hurt or eat my own dog, why would I do the same to other animals? They all have heartbeats…they feel happiness and they feel pain. We can still survive without harming others.”
Raya also goes to Metro Supermarket’s healthy section whenever she does her groceries. “Market! Market! is aligned with today’s major concerns, which are environmental awareness and the economic difficulties in today’s trying times. They make shopping bags out of recycled tarpaulins, they provide very affordable quality goods, and support earth-friendly businesses like the outdoor organic market.”
In today’s world where everything is fast-paced and confusing, Raya remains balanced and never wavers in her beliefs, thanks in part to yoga. Her path toward becoming a yoga teacher was paved when she began experimenting with her own practice at home. Then she took a month-long training course in the US and when she came back her friends wanted her to teach them, and then other people asked her, too. “I then got more serious about practicing Iyengar Yoga, and travelled to take workshops, intensives and courses mostly in Australia and the USA. Yoga is a continuing process of self-study, even when you become a teacher. And I think the idea of going beyond oneself appeals to me — having epiphanies and breakthroughs physically, mentally and spiritually.”
A Stylista’s Treasure Trove
Model and stylist Bianca Valerio runs to Fashion Market! every time she has a shoot. Whether it’s for a giant holdall or shoes for her to wear on a runway show, or accessories for a pictorial that she’s styling, she finds Market! Market! a convenient place to shop.
She works with her boyfriend Mikee Carrion, also a model, in styling pictorials. “I personally love styling for men because it’s a challenge. You can only do so much with a T-shirt or long sleeves and pants, right?” she says. “The biggest challenge there is that you have to make it look fresh when it’s actually not. Maybe there’s a part of me that wishes I were a guy. I get more excited looking at men’s clothes. Don’t get me wrong I love to dress up, but when I’m walking in a mall I notice more what men are wearing than what the women are wearing.”
Bianca says Market! Market! is her secret treat — a treat that doesn’t cost much. “It’s very affordable. We don’t want to go all the way to other places for their bazaars because they’re so far. At the Fashion Market! you can make tawad. The choices are so nice that you want to keep coming back.”
Her biggest tip on bargaining? Make lambing. “We’re all in the business of trying to make a living and having an idea of how much an item really is tells you how low you can make tawad.” Then she adds, “There’s a store here where everything is P10. I mean, girl, tatawad ka pa ba?”
Bianca is also a personality development coach, host, mother and chief makeup artist for ModelCo, an Australian brand sold at Beauty Bar. The role she loves playing best is being a mother to her eight-year-old daughter Natasha. “My daughter is not very kikay; she’s more of a nerd and I’m very proud of her and she loves to paint.” She shows pictures and her daughter’s paintings and, indeed, they look like they were done by a much older person.
“Natasha got her love for painting probably from my dad, who has a photographic memory — whatever he sees he can draw later; and my mom who also did Japanese and Chinese painting, so we have her murals in the house. I’m artistic but with makeup.”
Some of her bonding moments with Natasha at Market! Market! include watching movies and last December they were at the Dora the Explorer event of the mall.
Family Shopping
Whether you’re a mother raising two active sons and running a company, or a grandmother living with your cats, Market! Market! helps to make everyday life easier.
Mylene Abiva, president of Felta Multi-Media Inc. leads a full schedule as mother to Justin and Jed, and as CEO.
To de-stress, she does boxing and plays tennis — and shops. “I love shopping!” she declares. “I like looking for good bargains and best-buy items in the mall. I also like eating out with my children.”
Mylene counts among her favorite stores Apple and Eve, Plains and Prints, FOC (the small boutiques), Sports Depot, and DOTS.
Mylene says she’s a practical spender, which doesn’t mean looking for the least expensive product. “I look for quality and good value for money. For both my clothes and my children, I’m particular about the fabric of clothes and usually buy conventional and timeless designs for long-term use.”
Even though the family lives in Quezon City, Mylene goes all the way to Taguig City for Market! Market! She’s good at spotting upcoming brands that’ll become big later and unique stores not found in other malls. “Some are emerging brands and I support these stores. Some are owned by budding entrepreneurs who produce quality items not commercially available in other large malls. Also, Market! Market! caters to all economic levels of society.”
As president of the Philippine Marketing Association, Mylene appreciates the fact that “the whole ambience of Market! Market! is truly to support emerging or start-up entrepreneurs who would like to showcase their products. The mall is a combination of popular brands and boutiques and homegrown brands. It truly lives by its name: Market! Market!”
Her sons Jed and Justin, both attending Ateneo High School, are regulars at Timezone. Jed is into basketball, boxing and billiards; Justin is into badminton and tennis.
Whenever the boys are in the mall they drop by Bossini, Levi’s, Sports Warehouse, Penshoppe, Adidas, and the gadget stores. And because they’re growing boys, they get their fill — and more — at Sbarro, Tokyo Tokyo, Quickly, and Yellow Cab.
“It’s unique and fun activities like wall climbing and playing at LazerXtreme that I love doing at Market! Market!” says Justin.
From teens to grandparents, there’s a place they can discover and call their own.
Seventy-five-year-old Carmina Unson lives in Parañaque. For her cooking ingredients she goes to Metro Supermarket! “I usually stay at home and I love to cook. On weekends, I go to the mall to meet and spend time with my children and grandchildren.
Carmina says she religiously go to Market! Market! every Saturday with her daughter Gina and grandchild Gabby. “We also meet up with my younger daughter and her kids at Market! Market! often.”
For her it’s not only her basic needs that are met at the mall, but it is also a place “to meet all kinds of nice people. I really love the staff as they always go out of their way to ensure that I’m comfortable and happy.”
“Market! Market! is my home away from home,” says Carmina. “It has everything that I need and, most of all, I appreciate the genuine concern and care of the staff. They really make me feel at home.”
Halo-Halo & Other Delights
About nine or 10 years ago, we did a special story in this section about the best halo-halo in the country. I was assigned to find Razon’s in Guagua, Pampanga, and a colleague was assigned to do another popular halo-halo maker in Cavite.
With nothing more than hearsay, I tracked down Razon’s in a compound in Pampanga and found out for myself why it was considered a legend. Problem was, it was so far.
A couple of years later, during its conceptual stage, Market! Market! announced to the media that it would bring, interspersed between the national brands and retailers, the best eating places and tiangge veterans — holes in the wall and bazaaristas if you will — and put them together under one roof. And the rest, as they say, is Market! Market! history.
Though these were not big brands — not yet at least — they had cult following in Metro Manila among people who would literally go the distance for the best barbecue (Aling Nene, Ineng’s), chicken (Bugong Roast Chicken), or sisig (Trellis, the site of many a UP alumnus’ inuman with friends), or flavored suman (Tita Lynn’s) Malaysian mums (Dangwa), or maybe even really good espasol from Laguna, or home accessories from Cebu, or fresh tuna from GenSan.
That’s what makes Market! Market! one-of-a-kind — that in one day, or even in half an hour if you’re really pressed for time (and who isn’t?), you can travel around the country without breaking your checkbook because the stores are but a few steps from each other. They really compete to get your loyalty with their low prices and quality goods.
All these foods to eat, trinkets to buy, and stores to discover — and shopping is still a breeze, literally, because the mall incorporates the outdoors and engages you with its wide walking spaces, play areas and lush landscaping and topiaries.