The
CAGAYANTIMES Lifestyle Weekly de Oro
Sep. 26 - Oct. 2, 2015
3
The Night Stalker:
The CUBE Bazaar Strip Grand Launch “It’s a great opportunity to be at the very center of everything in CDO. As in any Ayala development, we’re able to contribute in terms of helping boost domestic economy and improving lives.” - Former ALI Pres. & CEO Antonino T. Aquino
T
ake 130 square meters of relatively quiet space in one of Cagayan de Oro City’s leading malls, 27 enterprising start ups, a gung-ho brave heart, a savvy corporate marketing team, and what have you got? The CUBE Bazaar Strip at the 3rd Level of Ayala’s Centrio Mall, that’s what. The brainstorm of Cagayan de Oro Gateway Corporation and gutsy retail event organizer Angela Pescador, the “corner in the sky” of Centrio quietly opened last month, Cagayan de Oro’s Fiesta Month of August, traditionally one of the biggest months for retails sales in one of the country’s “Most Competitive Cities.” CDO Gateway Corp. is the joint venture between Ayala Land Inc. and the Floirendo family who owns the land where the Centrio Mall now stands. “We got the idea for CUBE when we noted the good performance of the Higalaay Fiesta Bazaar organized by Ms. Pescador at the 3rd floor Bridgeway at Centrio last month,” said Pamela P. Mendez, Centrio Deputy General Manager. “We invited her to look at this 3rd floor space which was still not leased and see what she could come up with.” Ms. Mendez
explained the concept is an offshoot of Ayala Land’s partnership with local home grown concepts to help develop regional brands through its nationwide network of malls. During the Merchants’ Preview that preceded Centrio Mall’s opening, erstwhile ALI President and CEO Antonino T. Aquino said the firm was allocating 10-15 percent of its gross leasable area for local and “homegrown” concepts. “We would like to have an offering for everything that is going to be needed by our surrounding communities,” said Mr. Aquino. “This is the philosophy which underlines Ayala’s involvement in all its host communities all over the country.” Although Centrio can accommodate up to 300 tenants composed of local, national and international brands of stores, boutiques, service centers and restaurants, its rates are beyond the reach especially of start-ups. “We thought of grouping these young entrepreneurs together so they could apportion the costs of a shared space among themselves through an organizer like Angela,” Candice A. Saligumba, Operations Associate Manager who was the liaison between the group and Centrio Mall. “Our marketing group liked what they
saw with her handling of the Higalaay Fiesta Bazaar at the 3rd Floor Bridgeway and thought she was the right person who could make it work.” Angela got together a core group of start-up entrepreneurs, many of whom just had their first venture with the fiesta bazaar, and moved into the empty space. “When we started the place was not yet divided into individual stalls so we just made do with what we had and it was quite jumbled at the start,” Angela admits. “This, while they were simultaneously running their fiesta bazaar at the Centrio Bridgeway.” But it was not all roses for the new venture even if Centrio Mall had record numbers of shoppers during the latest Higalaay Festival. “When we started, our sales were a little slow since for most of us, it was the first time we were thrust into a store, much less a mall,” Angela recalls. “We had very little knowledge of merchandising and the space was in the third floor so tuyounon jud.” However, the Centrio operations and marketing teams were closely monitoring how the new venture was doing and pitched in to help. First, the mall organized the space into 15 booths at its own cost and got designer Bambi Pacquiao to spruce up the interior
The grand launch was well covered by mainstream and social media
a bit with signage and interior decors. “We have as many as three to four merchants of similar or complementary lines of merchandise sharing one booth,” Angela noted. “I take care of operations and administration of the whole space but Centrio only deals with me. All our internal issues and concerns we handle internally among ourselves.” Among the product lines carried by CUBE merchants are cosmetics, including US brands like Mac, Sephora, Urban Decay, Physicians Formula, Rimmel, Loreal, Maybelline, Revlon, Almay, Neutrogena; fashion accessories like branded wallets and scents; electronic
gadgets and accessories like power banks and mobile phone fashion; children’s toys; food items like locally made yema, pastillas, chili spice, taro chips and of course very affordable RTW for all ages. Next, the CUBE merchants got Tipoy Piquero of Renzeez Events to organize a grand launch with Makiyaki Caterer Lanyah Asombrado to set up a buffet for guests and media. “We thought a fashion event was the best way to ramp up awareness about the CUBE among shoppers,” Angela said. “We got community models who worked for us gratis and Centrio management again came to our rescue by providing us with a venue at its busiest
entrance along C.M. Recto Avenue to ensure maximum exposure for the event.” Coincidentally, the Friday, 25 September grand launch was an official holiday so there was quite a crowd of shoppers who stopped by to watch the brief show which everyone declared a complete success. It was immediately followed by a ribbon-cutting and blessing of the CUBE Bazaar Strip and dinner for guests and merchants afterwards. With God’s grace, CUBE Bazaar Strip will open the doors to the entry of more young entrepreneurs to get into business and take up Ayala’s offer to develop regional brands straight from the grassroots. Mabuhay!
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