As in our and maybe your purok and following generations old Sari-sari guidelines are still adhered to, there is an unwritten rule that there must be a Sari-sari store no further than 50 meters from the next one, they can be nearer if need be but a person should never be required to walk more than one minute to get to one.
I once lived on a dead end street in Olongapo that had twelve houses and seven had a Sari-sari store attached. (I believe the remaining five were bankrupted) Knowing that they all sell exactly the same thing at exactly the same price the competition must be fierce.
But as I popped open my adult beverage and pondered over that burning question, I thought; “With me it is the temperature of the bottled consumable plus did they keep more than three in stock? The answer was sometimes NIS and warm beer. One of the main reasons I soon purchased a separate beer Ref for myself. And out of respect I kept it in the closed Sari-sari store on the lot I was renting, as it seemed like the correct thing to do.
With more beverages I gave more thought as to why the phenomenon existed Then I had that “Light-bulb Moment” (I seem to have them all the time) as I remembered that if you needed a vulcanizer they were all on one street lined up one after the other in every town The same rule apprises to all trades, the Fan Repair, auto upholstery and so many others and least we forget bars! All in a row (Except in Tagaytay where all is neat and orderly) If you want a quick lunch at the Pinoy fast food stall pick anyone of the dozens of kiosks lined up on that side street.
I think I’ve laid a good background of established tried and true business practices here in our neck of the woods, (Except that one guy in Tagaytay who lives in that perfect place) But the rest of us could agree that I’m fairly accurate.
Now for how it is on my (Ilang-Ilang) street in my section of the world. Did you ever notice the redundancy in naming thing? The Bahak-bahak Market or my friend lives in Balik-balik, Sari sari store and so on. I’m still working that out.
We, as do you also have the prerequisite Sari-sari every 50 meters, plus I’ve added more beer and no wisdom to my ponderings and have concluded that it is a cult of personality, that is the determination between success or failure of the stores. (Well the Indian guy on the 90cc motorbike with the turban collecting the interest on the 5-6 loans also has something to do with it)
I’ll use my street and the 150 meter section of which I’m in the middle of as an example. To my left is Bobby’s Store, it is well built and professionally run. Carrying fresh products and regular prices, the down side is thick screens which prevent you from viewing the stock and they open at 1200 and close at 2200, but hell you should know what the stock is anyway, and they have only been in business about 6 months.
The store on my right and across the street is a small wide open place that carries most of the required items again at regular prices. Now to my theory of “The Cult of Personality” this store is ran by a tall slim very well dressed “Lady-boy” who every woman in the purok is now friends with, the store in the evening it has become the hang around spot with the ladies (Plus more single guys than should be there!) If I need my wife around sunset I know where to find her. On Friday night there is a party with the consumption of “Emparaflu Lite” which goes on until late.
Now I do not attend those functions, but only because that is Mayang’s social time and not mine (That is my decision, because I get my time when I want it) Also please do not assume that I’m a homophobic as I’m of the school of live and let live. Albeit Bruce Jenner seems a bit odd to me waking up in his sixties and deciding he was wrong for six decades. But he is now the spokesperson for Half &Half coffee creamer. That worked out well.
The Great Divide in the United States AKA the continental divide separates rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean from rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico On my street it is the front of my house that collects all trash from both Sari-sari stores as those wrappers will stay in a person’s hand as long as it takes to consume it. Then due to the spacing and direction travelled, it collects at my gate. Maybe I’m the one who should be the one to place the litter can in front of my house? .But remember no one litters in Tagaytay its still perfect there.
Did you notice how I wandered around the subject to get to my point about the litter? I amaze myself sometimes while having a beer and overlooking the Great Divide but as always it was an interesting trip.
Special note: Palawan is the cleanest place I’ve seen in the Philippines! (“Hey, I know yours is cleaner, but I’ve not been there yet!”
I love Philippines,presko ang hangin,presko mga pagkaon,mga buotan ug maayo ang mga Pilipino Bob Martin.?
Lagi, Jericho Gillette
Im not sure if your keyword is beer or ladyboy , good read either way
Ben;
Thank you sir! It must be beer as our Ladyboy never got an award from the media for courage. (lol)
Sir…….. yes your in the Phils lol
Perhaps if you drank more Redhorse , The ladyboy would have won
Ben;
The Sir goes back to a Dorchester (Section of Boston) upbringing and 35 years at sea both Navy and Merchant Seaman.
If I ever feel the need to put myself out of the picture quickly, I will start drinking RedHorse. Wait I never will!!!!!! (lol)
If u put that garbage can out front u better chain it
Lenny;
If it does get stolen, I promise I won’t report it. (lol)
Hi Paul,
We only have one sari-sari store next to us because we are in a barangay that is a bit away from the town proper, and almost borders the next town over. I think that we are their biggest customer for coke.
Problem is sometimes the soft drink truck runs out of stock before it reaches us even though we’re right on the old national road.
Same with the beer truck, so we end up stocking our own stash from the city supermarkets. Unlike you we also like to get get some of that that San Miguel apple flavored beer too that is not stocked anyway in the town:)
My husband and I do head scratching sometimes about litter too. Next to us by the sea is a large grove of mangroves that end up bordering the road’s edge. Periodically my husband will pay local neighbors to pick up litter that has accumulated in the mangroves. He helps too, and they fill many big rice sacks for the trash guys to pick up. My husband wonders now, if people/children are saving up their litter mostly chip and candy wrappers on their way to drop in front of our wall and mangroves to ensure a future job when enough accumulates:)
Dropping litter is still something that people do quite often. It’s just not a priority yet I guess. It seems almost that people don’t notice it or turn a blind eye to it.
Queenie
Queenie;
I-95 entering Florida and the sign in 1967 read “Littering $500.00 fine, being Navy that was two months pay. I’ve never littered since that day, I keep a litter bag in my car, and I’ll find a trash bin to use when I’m walking.
I pay a guy once a month to clean the empty lot next to my house, but I claim the bananas because of that. (lol)
My beer and soda guys delivers, I didn’t know you could buy it in stores? (lol) Sari- sari stores should be required to have trash bins at every store.
Nice article Paul. Love it….
Greg;
Thank you Shipmate!
I need to find one of those delivery guys for the beer & soda. It is just to darn far for me to pack it up here on the mountain. Hard enough just getting me up here. Thanks for the company the other night and I guess the liquid refreshments must have caused short term memory loss as I put the lighter fluid in the front seat and set in the back seat on the return and forgot all about the fluid. I guess we will just have to get together again for the passing of the fluid.
Loren;
I found the Zippo fluid Saturday and quickly figured out what had happened. Blame it on the rum, check with a couple of your local Sari-sari stores and ask who delivers to them. I shout at you latter and we’ll do the Pancake House.
Mr. Paul T., I love the way you zinged on Tagaytay City… or was it for the dude who lives in that city where you could see Taal (which is in Batangas)? Anyway, another good article. Stars & Stripes and Military. com writers has nothing on you! Cheers and enjoy your SMB.
Jose;
Just in case he reads LiP I didn’t want to send him on another diatribe, I get enough of them from other idiots. (lol)
Paul,
LOL- Love your postings.
Our street only has 2 Sari-Sari stores and one restaurant on it. So we don’t have all the Sari-Sari stores you have. But then there are only 4 houses on our street.
One Sari-Sari store is renting some space. What a great idea to make some extra cash, right? A real capitalist at work. The capitalists only requirement (which is minor): Don’t sell anything he’s selling. Makes sense to him. Trouble is he’s selling everything from beer/food to screws. Hum!!!!!!
Rusty
Rusty,
Four houses and only two stores?
Sounds underrepresented, but the restaurant might be part of the Sari-sari rules. Open your own store and sell only to your house, make sure to mark it up so you clear a profit every month. (Damn I like that idea so much I’m gonna’ do it myself!
3 sari-saris within 50 metres of my house. Knew an American who owned one a kilometer or so from here. I used to sit and have coffee with him. He told me how many cigarettes and candies he needed to sell just to make a peso profit. Was more than a handfull that’s for sure.
Maybe he was unlike Filipinos and was deducting his expenses from his earnings at the end of the month! lol
Needless to say, he is not in that business anymore.
Littering is a bad habit here. Putting your trash in the bin should be taught in the schools at an early age. Same as sex education. Wayyyy too many gays, bayot, buclar, whatever you want to call them. Problem is, one of their leading celebraties (vice ganda) is a gay. They say that he, she, whatever is very funny so as a result there are plenty of gay teenage boys everywhere. Nothing funny about AIDS.
Adam;
The other downside to owing a store is the “Knock Knock” all day and night to sell a piece of candy at 50 centavos. While building our house my wife was going to build one (Sari-sari), I called from the UAE and said I’d knock it down if she did.
As for AIDS, regular folk can get it too. I let people do what they want as long as they don’t preach to me about it.
Paul,
LOL -Probably the only reason there aren’t more Sari-Sari stores on our street is that we own 2/3rds of the street. In 1995 when we bought the land no one wanted to live 10 miles outside of the major town. They thought I was nuts. Which is probably true.
The Lady-Boy is a thought. I could open a little shop, as something to do, and the Lady-Boy would at least bring in the women. Women do, after all, always want to eat. At least my wife does.
Rusty
Rusty;
It seems to attract single guys also, and they sell the hell out of Redhorse when the ladies go home. Buying most of the street is a good way to avoid a troublesome neighbor. (lol)
Paul,
The smoke. The smoke. Seems if one buys the whole area someone is going to burn and drive one nuts. A friend said I should be glad they are killing my bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Where do they think I live.
I even use detergent with lemon to kill the ants. Actually white vinegar and water keeps ants away better than detergent with lemon.
The ants hate the smell of vinegar. So they move on.
Rusty;
I’m so green, I let the thousands of bats roosting in my window overhangs take care of all flying bugs and the hundreds of lizards on the wall eat the ants. Vinegar I use on my fish and chip’s! (lol) With a SMB on the side.
Paul, Thank you great article.
Luke;
You are very much welcome, and thank you for reading it!
Paul,
The 50 meter rule doesn’t apply to our subdivision. We might have 5 stores in the whole subdivision. I generally don’t use them, but Anne visits them when she forgets something at the supermarket.
Ah Papa Duck;
You are missing so much, the sheer pleasure of being told “Not In Stock” 14 times in a row. (lol) They (Sari-sari) are the reason I stock up on everything so I don’t have to go there.
Why are you down on Tagaytay?
Ha ha, if you read Paul’s weekly articles and especially the comments you would know! 🙂
Hope you are doing well, have not heard from you for a while, Dennis.
Doing well, thanks. Still in Tagaytay. I must have missed Paul’s visit. Wish I could have visited with him while he was here. Still learning expensive and brutal lessons about building a house here. I know………..I should have rented.
Hope y’all are doing fine.
Dennis
Lol Dennis. Have built a house here as well.
The key is to get your wife or girlfriend to source all the product yourself. That way there will be no “skin tax” and certainly no middle man!
Beats the hell out of renting. Dead money!
Adam;
You are one hundred percent correct about avoiding the skin tax. One other trick she used was to buy in bulk; a truck load of cement is far cheaper than 20 bags at a time. My outbuilding (My now workshop and hang around spot was built first to store bulk purchases.)
Dennis;
Earlier this month I wrote an article and then was attacked by a person from Tagaytay, who explained to the rest of us that we live in cesspools and he has found the true garden spot. I jabbing at him, not Tagaytay, which I know is a fine place to live, as long as one doesn’t live next to that guy. (lol)
Well, I don’t think I live near that guy or I would surely know him by now. But I have met a few here who think they stand taller than anybody else for sure. I just ignore them and live life………………..my way.
Dennis
Dennis;
You are a lucky man indeed to not know him, I normally turn a blind eye towards idiots, but when they confront me all bets are off. But dealing with folk like that is part of the internet.
We have quite a few sari sari stores in our barangay. I honestly do not frequent them too often. One thing that has bothered me and I do not know if I will ever understand it. My in-laws and all of our neighbors are very proud of their yards, with grass or not. They will spend quite a bit of time every morning sweeping up leaves from the driveway, grass or dirt. Some of the same people will also be the first to throw down the candy wrapper or plastic bag filled with coke as soon as they are finished with it. I think one day I might see the logic in it. I think it is more like the wise old owl and how many licks to get to the toostie roll center of a toostie pop. The world may never know.
GaryM;
I never thought of it, what you said about people cleaning their yards and then littering. But thinking about it and I agree you are on the money with that observation. Then also the Sari-sari operator sweeping the front of their store but never putting up a trash bag? This could turn out to earn you a Doctorates Degree but finding the reason. (lol)
Hi Paul
I think someone said just the other week that Filipino’s will sweep their house for hours then drop rubbish on the floor outside the local Sari Sari store. Unfortunately litter is one of the worst traits of life in the PI.
The car tends to get used as a rubbish bin as well. Whenever I am waiting for the wife outside a store I use it as an opportunity to give the car a clean up. It seems that all pockets in the doors are a rubbish bin according to Philippine law. When the door pockets are filled up then the car door is opened and the contents dumped on whatever part of a road you happen to be on. The brother in law keeps the car spotless inside and out but never touches the door pockets for some reason.
Tagay
AJ UK
AJ UK:
Maybe your Brother-in-Law hates to litter and that’s why he leaves it there. Singapore and Hong Kong and so many places in Asia have trash bins every 50 meters like the stores here. If you can’t find one you aren’t looking. Here I seldom see them anywhere.
I’ll assume it keeps the folks alongside the street with brooms employed! (lol)
A couple of years back we visited Corrigidor and during the tour the guide pointed out the netted off beaches on the Manila side. He said that they pull a hauler full of rubbish off the beach a day. What do you think they do with all of that rubbish. Dump it back in the sea on the ocean side of the island so that it can carry on it’s journey.
Gary;
That would not surprise me, the people of Olongapo fill the storm runoff trench with trash to washout on to the beaches of Subic Bay, but it does clog up the trench, and then they wail when the streets flood.
Paul T.,
Do you think anyone teaches them that throwing trash in the place you mentioned will clog up the drain? To many times people assume that someone knows something but the truth is they don’t.
I am not a flaming liberal but do the people know the trash will clog up the drain? They should but……
Rusty
Rusty;
Filling the cities storm drain with trash is more common sense than conservative or liberal. It’s just learning that the first floor of your house going underwater really sucks.
Paul,
I know your wise. I know you’ve been here much longer than I have. I have a point here please let me explain. Really discuss my thoughts.
I taught at an At Risk school, both in Vegas and in Detroit, for many, many years. Did you know that a cat can get PG by having oral sex? Yup, a parent told me that. I could go on and on but back to common sense.
Paul, can you imagine having a Pejow (spelling) as a friend/relationship? Cn you imagine the cultural differences? They think so different. They have a belief system we’ll never understand.
What is “common sense” to us isn’t common sense to so many people and not just Pejows. I’ve spent so many years, although in another country, trying to educate those whose culture is so different. It will be generations before even a dent is made in what I’ve tried to do.
Anyway, what is common sense (ie. the PG cat/clogging up the sewer) won’t be understood until someone explains it to them. Yes, explains what other know as common sense.
That’s probably why the countries wealthy just rip the people off. They know the people are just going to, for example: clog up the drains, no matter what. So they don’t even try to explain it anymore. Does that make sense?
Rusty
Rusty;
I’ve been away to long for anything to make sense to me. I’ll clog the drain with second hand SMB and then open another one.
One of the things I LOVE here is the sari-sari stores.. and the abundance of them… yes I have only been here 6 months or so.. no where near as long as you “old hands” here… but being a generally bemused observant person.. I have found that I need to spread my spend to the ones at least in proximity to my home… I hate the looks of betrayal I get when they see me buy at the one 50′ from theirs.. lol .. I have however found it is a great source of finding that “guy”.. be it digging up a chunk of ground for me to plant some veggies or where to get a few rice bags of caribou poo to fertilize.. or some split bamboo.. a couple of red horse with the local old dudes works wonders.. as my da would say.. “fair exchange is no robbery”
Richard;
So true, in the states you find those “Guys” at the Home Depot” here it’s at the Sari-sari. You figured that out quickly enough. But you are also right about the “look” given if you by pass the one near your house. We old hands learned just the way you are learning, by keeping our eyes open.
BTW.. trash goes in a bag I carry in my back pocket.. (opposite side that I carry my toilet paper).. until I find a place to dump it into a can. 😉
Richard;
I just wait until I get home or go in a store and use the trash can. (To deposit the trash) Now that will get you an odd look, but it’s better than litter in front of the store.
The TP, I never had the need unless I’m on a long trip. But anyway we don’t litter is a good plan.
Hi Paul, good post our local sari sari store never has any beer, I keep telling her stock
More beer if you haven’t got any your missing sales,I think she only got so much money
To buy her stock, I usually walk further down the street to buy some beer, it’s all quiet
This week from that guy in tagaytay you must have shut him up, I like tagaytay but it’s
Getting to big to many condos it will end up like Baguio nice weather but to polluted
To enjoy, spent a week in vigan now that’s a great place to enjoy,
Derek in pasig.
Derek;
Mu granddaughter was up there last weekend for a swimming meet, (One Gold and one Silver) Tagaytay is growing so fast that you might be right. Vigan is always a nice easy weekend away.
Be careful you could get the reputation of the “Guy who drank the purok dry” (That’s why I have mine delivered LOL)
Paul,
Another great story as usual from you. Keep the SMB flowing.
John;
The SMB has a plan for me later today in Olongapo with some friends. Glad you liked the article!!!!!
paul. ,i like to get up early 5.0ish to enjoy my morning coffee in my patio whilst its relatively cool and quiet.,but invariable bout 5.30 the scratching noise begins,its the maid or a rely sweeping the patio and then the garden around the patio and then the road outside the patio.Thats fine but sometimes that damn scratch,scratch sound from those bamboo sweepers fair drives me nuts ..the other thing is we have chairs about the patio and I swear every time someone enters the area they move the damn chairs to a different spot .lol those chairs must be moved a hundred times a day I should set up a video cam just to see how many times they move on an average day…gotta luv em
Bloodymal;
The rearranging of stuff is a habit I’ve never figured out, but you are right and a video would look like a stop motion National Geographic of a flower opening. The sweeping I encourage as I have 14 dogs and at 0500 AM it’s dark.
Paul,
Just 14 at 5AM. We have 2 dogs that bark ALL night long. Good thing they are 100 yards away. They just don’t stop. Seems every time the wind blows, or the fish swim, the dogs bark. Pity the poor Filipino who lives near them.
Rusty
Rusty;
My 14 dogs will bark only when disturbed, for the most part they are pretty good, now once in a while they participate in the chain bark where one end of the street sets it off and it flows like a wave, an interesting thing to witness.
I fondly remember the sari sari store that was right down the street from us in Angeles City. My wife would send me there when she was craving tuyo (dried fish) or a soda.
There was an elderly lady that operated the store most of the time and we became friends. One time I bought something there right after I had shaved my head. She told me I looked like I had just walked out of prison 🙂
Kevin;
There is some wisdom to be gained from the Sari-sari operators. I was sitting at one drinking beer it was warm. The lady would shout; “Ding” and a young kid would race off and bring me a cup of ice. The third beer I asked: “Why don’t you get a cooler and sell the ice?” She looked shocked as she said; “Then Ding will have no job!”
perhaps you should consider opening up your own sari sari sari store (going one better). Also include a karaoke, and ice of course. To top it all off, hire the prettiest ladyboy around to run it. This should be a winning combination.
Hudson;
Open my own Sari-sari? Please find a nice branch off of a mango tree, whittle it to a fine point and sand it smooth, hold it by the thick end and then with the pointy end poke it into my eye. This I would accept quicker than owning any store. The Ladyboy is on its own, or could give lessons to Bruce Jenner as to not waiting until you’re sixty to make the switch.
And where in the world do you and Waldo disappear for months at a time? (lol)
Hi Paul – Just an off-the-wall thought.
— Obtain one of those large, plastic, 55gal drum look-alikes for each sari-sari whose “inventory” adds to yours (litter-wise);
— Prior to “donating” it to the store’s owner, have the local sign maker-painter “dude it up” to look like the container into which raffles, give-aways, contests, and other such activities have their public entries inserted. (Note: this will require a large enough hole to be made on one end of the drum, if it doesn’t already come with an opening and lid.)
— Present the “winning entry containing” drum to the sari-sari store, with a story about a contest to win a big prize.
— Instruct all that an “entry” is a piece of litter. The more entries, the better the chance of “winning.”
— Continue the quasi-ruse, having sufficient numbers of “entries” collected from time to time, making it easier to enter more often and increase the chances of winning.
— When skeptics begin nosing about and murmuring about the contest, announce a grand drawing date, not failing to mention that there’s still time to enter.
— On the big day, make official looking movements and then announce the winner: the community. The Grand Prize: Clean streets.
By the time everyone realizes what just happened, good habits should have been formed. 😆
Now, if you are going to continue to live in the area without incident: “Never mind.”
Paul;
Please get that generator because sitting at the edge of the rice fields drinking warm beer in the dark will cause one’s mind to wander off on tangents best left alone. The flaw is that 55 gal containers plastic or metal are valuable so the life span in front of a Sari-sari would me about a New York minute.(LOL)
Gone in 60 seconds is the term where I come from lol,
You’re right Paul anything valuable will disappear.
Derek;
Re-appropriate is the preferred “PC” term! But “Nicked it” works for me! (LOL)
Paul, As for sari sari stores, there are 5 within fifty meters of me including one about 10 meters from Mine. Oh Yes I have one but only sell 2 items but on those tw0 things I get all the business since I am the only one that has tem1 The first is Ice at 2 pesos apiece and the other is COLD BEER at 1 peso higher than all the others. I do a thriving business al day but lock up at 7:00pm I do take out only as I don’t want drunks hanging out at my house all day. when I have sold ( or consumed) 10 cases of the thirteen I stock, I call for a delivery and My beer man will get it to me with in a couple of hours. I could probably sell other Items but my wife’s nephew owns the one next to me so when some goes there for Cold beer they send them to me and if the want cigarettes or snack I send them to him. It works out well for me and they get the loitering drunks to deal with!