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An Occasion for Shopping
By Daisy C. Gonzales
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY – In the Philippines and pretty much elsewhere, Christmas is an occasion for shopping. As such, figuring out where to shop is as challenging as figuring out what to buy for presents.
If you have all the time in the world, the obvious and best place to go are the malls. Since it's the newest, the NCCC Mall along Maa Road is a good place to go. Here, you can shop not just for groceries (people swear NCCC still has the best price) but for smaller items like krinkets, headbands, trendy earrings, and souvenir items.
Other malls that might be worth a visit are Gaisano Mall in Bajada and the Aldevinco Shopping Center in downtown Davao in front of the Marco Polo Hotel. Tourists and balikbayans alike will be delighted to see colorful Moro fabrics and handmade Lumad ornaments.
Victoria Plaza |
SM City in Ecoland, Gaisano Mall and the Victoria Plaza in Bajada are places where families can shop together. With their amenities and wide spaces, these malls are comfortable for both parents and children. These malls have shops selling your favorite brands and, at the same time, their department stores provide a wide array of apparels at discounted prices, some for as low as 50 percent discount. They also have parking spaces.
In the north side of downtown Davao is a specialty store called Chimes. Shoppers who go for signature clothes -- from the Gretchen Baretto-endorsed Plains and Prints to Diesel pants to Jack Nicklauss apparel – will find this place enjoyable. Chimes is a comfortable, not-so-big three-storey specialty store that houses almost all signature products. It’s located along the Uyanguren beside of Felcris store. Parking, though, is not yet that comfortable since the whole Felcris building is undergoing renovation.
For electronics, gadgets and computers, SM City’s third floor has everything you need. Computer shops like Thinking Tools offer you good services, while cellular phones are aplenty. When you shop for cell phones, you should compare prices first with other shops on that floor so you can save a few hundred pesos. For cameras, check out the Nikon shop on the ground floor.
You can also visit the achmi Emporium along San Pedro Street in the downtown area. Shops offer secondhand TV sets, computers and reconditioned cell phones.
If you're hunting for music products -- from guitar picks to guitars to band sets – many of the malls have stores for music aficionados. In the music store inside Victoria Plaza, band sets made by Lazer, Regal and Rockstar are on display. Lowest price is at 13,000 pesos. If you don't have the money yet and you wanted to bang your sticks on those high hats or drums, visit the third floor of the NCCC Mall, buy a card worth 15 pesos
and you can play the drums to your heart’s content.
The arcades along Monteverde, Lizada, in Uyanguren, offer you with everything. Most famous is the Lots for Less shop, a store inside a warehouse that offers apparels of less known brands, kitchen wares, mosquito nets, shoes, lingerie, name it. These are priced lower than the usual mall prices. Just be ready for the crushing wave of people that go there. (Daisy C. Gonzales/davaotoday.com)
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