Daily thoughts - Sari sari progress

A month ago I thought of opening up a sari sari store. My younger brother previously had his own store set up in front of our house but had to close it down because they now have a mini canteen and internet cafe. It was hard to find someone they could trust to tend to their sari sari store. At that time, my dad was still living in the province. My Dad has always wanted to own his own store however he was looking after an apartment being built somewhere in Pampanga. It is unfortunate that he has passed away now that my little store, which I named after him, is in business.

cleaning up the store

little mesh bags for chips

shelf for canned goods

shelf for candies

The first few days was a little depressing when I opened the store. It was because it was not yet noticeable since only a few items were on display. I also couldnt leave some of the goodies hanging by the gate because there was no chicken wire yet. For obvious reasons, I had to make sure that my investment wont get stolen. I had our neighbor hook the wires the day after and from then on the store looked better and more people have shown interest.

our neighbor Mel putting the chicken wires

The chicken wires did wonders! I felt more confident to leave the store while I did other things in the house like clean up, wash clothes or even surf the net.

Business is booming! hehe not really. The sales are modest but Im doing good and Im very happy. Also I now have a couple of loyal customers that come by on a daily basis!

my goddaughter EllenJoy

Mascot Murgit

Murgit looks like she wants some goodies

squid begging for scraps

The store has improved within the 2 weeks since I opened it. Hopefully by next month I can also sell cooked rice and viand to students who are on a budget. Hot coffee on a styrofoam cups seem like a good idea too. For now im focusing on selling what's in demand like soda, cigarettes, chips and canned goods. I have other stuff too but I have an idea now what people really buy most of the time.

weighing scale and rice boxes

bath stuff

cooking stuff

I also have certain customers that buy the same thing every single day. There is a guy named Mang Romy who buys Fortune cigarette menthol by the stick. He consumes probably 3-4 per day. Then there is a kid named Charles who lives a few doors away who buys candies and chips. Charles Mom also buys laundry soap, shampoo, qtips,bath soap and noodles every day. Another neighbor buys 1-2 kilogram of rice daily as well. Then during school week, the kids that go to the same highschool I went to, buy chips, soda, candies around 3-4pm. So the store never really has any zero sales. Sometimes even when I decide I want to have a day off, people I run into still buy stuff from me so I have to make a quick dash to the house to get whatever it is they need.

Charles and his crew (Tenten and Bembem)

Charles and crew

They love the chupa chups

Pop Cola Liter

Pop cola and Royal 8oz

I have only 3 kinds of sodas. Namely Pop cola, Royal tru orange and Coke. Coke is not too popular since people are mostly on a budget over here. A liter of coke costs 26PHP whereas a liter of Pop Cola costs only 16PHP. Not everyone is willing to shell out that extra 10 bucks for quality though. Although I still have customers who dont compromise their soda and get the coke. I have tiny bottles of coke and pop cola too which is a hit among kids.

Most importantly I have also added a top up station for GLOBE and TOUCH MOBILE. Ill be adding SMART and maybe SUN by tomorrow.

The best part of this small business venture is that I have more time to do what I want to do like Read, paint and also even play with my baby girls Thumper and Dapper.

and i have also started running again. Yes I tend the store while I also run in front of the house during the afternoons. I get my exercise while I do business. Pretty neat huh? hehe


I actually didnt expect that Id have so much fun operating this small store. The investment is not much, I dont have to go out as often and I have time for myself, my pets and my family. Yes money is important and I may not be making much right now, but I am very happy and content.

I wont be staying long in the Philippines and will have to relocate to the USA by next year. For now, Id say Im so glad that I have found something I really love doing and Im making just enough money on the side for me to survive.

I really wish I have done this sooner. Welcome to Eddie's sari sari store! How may I help you? Time to apply my customer service skills ^_^