Sari-sari stores take centerstage in fair

MANILA, Philippines - For the past five years, thousands of sari-sari store owners in Pangasinan take centerstage as the biggest chain of malls in the province showers them with prizes and surprises, as well as livelihood seminars to uplift their economic plight through the CSI Sari-sari Store Fair.

This four-day event for small enterprises was held recently at the CSI Stadia in Dagupan City and successfully gathered over 20,000 sari-sari store owners.

Dagupan Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, who is also president of the CSI Group of companies, said it is their way of thanking their customers for their loyalty for patronizing them over the past 25 years.

She said this year, bigger prizes, more promotions, entertainment, and more suppliers participated in the fair. Discounts availed by sari-sari store owners ranged from 25 to 70 percent.

“This is the venue where they (suppliers) can really promote their products for consumers and the sari-sari store owners as well,” she said, adding this is also their company’s way of encouraging people, especially those who would like to earn extra income, “because we know that sari-sari stores are the number one retailers in the country.”

The vice mayor advised sari-sari store owners to be persistent and to live within their means.

CSI started as a small grocery store in Dagupan City and now has 12 outlets across Pangasinan and nearby provinces.

Three more branches of the mall are due to open in Rosales, Urbiztondo and Tayug, while construction of two more branches is set to start in February in Pozorrubio and the capital town of Lingayen.

Meanwhile, Peter Mangabat, provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Pangasinan, said the fair is considered as discount caravan similar, with a bigger range of goods, to the DTI’s program to provide big discounts on basic commodities for consumers.

He added that this would also greatly help small and medium enterprises in looking for suppliers. “So this is like a meeting place of prospective sari-sari store businessmen and suppliers from Manila,” Mangabat said.

He added that micro enterprises including sari-sari stores comprise 99 per cent of the total establishments of small industries in the country.

He said this type of business is very vital, especially in remote places where people could buy their basic needs.