Adora: The store for special gifts

Though the holiday season is decidedly more sober this year in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, I felt my spirits lift when I saw Adora’s Christmas windows.

Always tasteful, they don’t have those hyperkinetic flashing lights that make you feel like you’re about to have a seizure; instead there are more peaceful symbols like bells and Christmas ornaments gilded in bronze, silver and gold.

Of course, it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without a tree, and this Adora has at its second-floor entrance in Greenbelt 5, under which are the store’s signature pistachio-green gift boxes.

People have come to associate this shade of green with truly special — if not spectacular — gifts.  Whenever I hand an Adora gift bag or box to someone, 100 percent of the time I’m rewarded with a knowing, delighted smile.

This reaction is exactly what Adora strives for, according to the department store’s communications manager Erica Ilacad. “Basically, we want Adora to become known as the go-to place for gifts to buy for the special people in your life: family, friends and other loved ones,” she says. “It’s quite obvious that our price points are not for generic gifts or token items.”

While their merchandise may be far from generic or token, that doesn’t mean they have to cost an arm and a leg. Though customers have been known to give Rimowa luggage, designer handbags or H. Stern jewelry to their loved ones or themselves, there are many more affordable options, from Votivo scented candles to Malin + Goetz skincare to Penhaligon’s perfume sets, housed in gift tins so stunning it would be a crime to cover them up with Christmas wrapper.

“Last year we were sold out so we had to keep reordering,” Ilacad says about Penhaligon’s gift sets. “We just opened the Penhaligon’s counter last October but through word of mouth and because it’s such value for money, it did so well for us.”

Loyal Adora customers usually make up a list and buy in bulk around November, “which is good because it gives us time to reorder in December,” notes Erica.

When it comes to family or close friends I’m not a bulk buyer. I’m a slow shopper but there’s a reason for my slowness: I love choosing gifts that match someone’s personality … something that I imagine would be on their wish list.

So if you receive a pistachio-green box from me or anyone else, you should know that you’re really special.

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Adora is located in Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati. Call 0917-557-7402 (second floor) or 0917-557-7405 (third floor) for more information, e-mail info@adora.ph or visit the website at www.adora.ph.