“Maverick of retail”

Top 100 Cebuanos personalities

CEBU, Philippines — It is worth re-emphasizing again and again that the globally known clothing and lifestyle brand Penshoppe is a Cebuano founded success story.

Founded by Cebu’s pride Bernie Liu, Penshoppe has been able to stay relevant in the retail industry for more than 30 years, despite the intimidation of more established, much popular clothing and lifestyle names in the world.

In one of his interviews, the Cebuano business icon Bernie said the brand maintained its strong performance through the years by continually adapting to the trends and needs of the consumers.

Far from what he studied in college and his profession as licensed architect, Bernie began in his parents’ garment factory in Cebu in 1986 designing shirts.

Soon his designs reached department stores and in 1991, Penshoppe opened its first boutique store at SM City North EDSA in Quezon City. It has since expanded nationwide and has several branches overseas.

Since then, the company has created other popular retail brands like Oxygen and ForMe, and brought in the Regatta line into the country as well.

Bernie has been a recipient of dozens of awards, bringing up Cebu’s reputation into the higher ground. He has been named Outstanding Filipino Retailer twice, while Penshoppe was elevated to the Hall of Fame of the Philippine Retailers Association and the Department of Trade and industry in 2002.

Bernie believes that Penshoppe as a brand, along with its sister brands like Oxygen, ForMe, Memo, and Regatta, is a work in progress.

Managed by a holding company called Golden ABC, Bernie’s line of clothing and lifestyle brands are competing head on with veteran brands and his business strategies proved that when you are in your own home court— “you lead the game.”

Claiming its high potential in the international market, Penshoppe has been aggressive in tapping international stars to endorse the Cebuano brand, with the likes of English boy band One Direction, Hollywood actor Zac Efron, British supermodel Cara Delevigne and “Gossip Girl” stars Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick visiting the Philippines as Penshoppe ambassadors.

From starting as a clothing shop in Cebu in 1986, Penshoppe has expanded not only to Metro Manila but overseas as well.

After much success in the Philippines, Penshoppe opened its doors internationally. With stores in Cambodia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the Philippines, Penshoppe continues to grow and expand its reach in the Global fashion retail scene.

Bernie’s Penshoppe is available online in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.