Nedy Tantoco and Judy Araneta-Roxas: Hand-in-hand at Rustan’s Gateway Cubao

To my generation of twentysomethings, even as Metro Manila’s central land transportation hub, some of us tend to associate the 35-hectare Araneta Center with its crowning glory, the Big Dome. Think iconic events like “Thrilla in Manila,” concerts by international acts, men’s basketball games. After which we make a beeline to Gateway Mall through a bridge to get our Taco Bell fix (its first and only location in the Philippines for a time). Our parents before us went to A&W, where Farmers Mall is now located, then a drive-in restaurant with waitresses in rollerblades serving rootbeer and burgers. Or, they shopped at Rustan’s.

Before Makati, before The Fort, there was Araneta Center. Had the late Gliceria Tantoco and her husband Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., now 95, not founded Rustan’s back in 1951 from their San Marcelino, Manila living room, what would’ve become of Manila’s luxury retail industry? In 1974, Rustan’s Department Store drew the stylish set to Cubao with luxury finds culled from all over the world. Other similar concepts have come and gone. Rustan’s has only expanded and diversified since then.

“I started my career at our offices located here in Rustan’s Cubao,” shares Rustan Commercial Corporation chair and chief executive Zenaida “Nedy”Tantoco at the formal opening of the renovated and expanded Rustan’s Department Store at Gateway Tower —  bigger, better, just as she envisioned it to be — last Saturday.

Gateway Mall was built in 2004 with a better space for Rustan’s in mind. Following an eight-month renovation and expansion of the original 3,000-square-meter store, Rustan’s Gateway is now 10,000 square meters big with four floors of what we love about the department store.

At the unveiling, Nedy toured Araneta Center vice chair Judy Araneta-Roxas around the beauty section hand-in-hand, as two long-time friends; indeed, theirs is more than a landlord-tenant partnership. Later they were joined by Ambassador Tantoco who is immediately flanked by his children, grandchildren and in-laws, and great-grandchildren. Strides by the second- and third-generation Tantocos orchestrated by Nedy (and always with the ambassador’s guidance) have made them the Philippines’ first family of high-end retail.

“We have a very good relationship with the Aranetas, long-standing, symbiotic. Whatever we’ve done, we’ve done a lot together,” says Rustan president Donnie Tantoco. “We’ll do more with the multi-talented Araneta family in the future.”

One of the talented Aranetas is Margarita Forés, named Asia’s Best Female Chef for 2016 by internationally recognized Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Gaita grew up in Cubao. One of her restaurants, Cibo, is inside Gateway Mall through the second floor exit.

“It’s very close to where I grew up. My family’s house is a block away. I always visit the Farmers Market. My next stop is Rustan’s Araneta Center. Growing up, Rustan’s has always been the go-to place for the nicest things, for making life beautiful. Now, I frequent the home section. The Filipiñana section is always interesting. They get the best from what our artisans have to offer,” Gaita says.

Because of this relationship, Nedy had an idea: “I invited Gaita to open one of her concept restaurants here in Cubao. And she said yes! She will.”

For now, on display at the home department is a table arrangement done in mismatched, rustic style by Gaita herself, reminiscent of what she does at her farm-to-table concept Grace Park, an homage to her paternal grandmother’s home in Caloocan. It’s for a two-day event where she taught shoppers how to entertain at home. “Rustan’s loves to bring in Old World brands, things you hardly find in Manila,” she explains.

Expect more events like this to come. “We made each section — beauty, fashion, home and children’s — a lot larger. A larger space allows not more products and brands but more room to weave in experiences,” says Donnie.

How Do ‘The North People’ Shop?

Cubao’s reign as the country’s business mecca from the Sixties to the Seventies is seeing a bit of a north side resurgence as various industries decentralize, something the Tantocos have been quick to pick up on. The Gateway Mall is right in the middle of it all.

“The customers in Rustan’s Makati, Shangrila-La Plaza Mall, Cebu, Alabang, and Cubao — they all have similarities. Their difference in Araneta Center is that we have a growing upper middle class to middle class community here. There are more millennials to younger families. So in our home section, it’s for young families. It has to be well-suited for apartments. The dinnerware aligns with the way they entertain, the number of people they have. They prefer intimate dinners,” Donnie observes. “Because they spend a huge amount of time working, they don’t want to be very formal. They like clothes that go from day to night. They like a versatile wardrobe for mixing and matching.”

Store Specialists Incorporated president Anton T. Huang responds to this with a curated selection from the family’s franchise company for its biggest landlord such as the Denim Bar in the youth section, complete with hip neon lighting. “We have our younger brands here and we are in the process of adding more of them.”

During the event, influencers styled lifestyle vignettes at the Youth section displaying their signature aesthetic, still on view throughout the ground floor. Among others, David Guison went for a preppy jetsetter style while Brent Javier did street and sporty.

Nedy recommends the streamlined beauty section, especially the Nail Bar, where picking your ideal shade and finish is no longer divided by brand but arranged in a color spectrum. “We look forward to growing the market here, especially the young people. We are opening MAC and Victoria’s Secret makeup and perfume,” Nedy adds.

Shortly after the unveiling and playing with his great grandchildren, Ambassador Tantoco was spotted sneaking out through the Beauty section; he laughed when caught, saying, “I’ll leave it to the young people.”

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Every P3,000 single receipt purchase in Rustan’s Gateway until Sept. 30 qualifies for one raffle ticket. There will be one winner each for a weekend stay at the Novotel hotels in Bangkok, Singapore, and Manila Araneta Center for a family of four and a Toyota Fortuner.