Baclaran and Divisoria shopping guide

Less than a month from now it will be the “Ber” month already, which means that we should prepare ourselves for the coming Holiday season. Various malls will surely have lots of 3-day-sales or Midnight sales from now on, Tiangges and Bazaars will pop out here and there again.  But if you have lots of godchildren, have a big family or running as a candidate for Mr & Ms. Friendship then I am sure you will consider buying gifts to either Divisoria or Baclaran.  Your 1,000 pesos can buy a lot of stuff in these places.

I was at Baclaran yesterday even though it was raining hard to check a Filipino Ethnic Costume for my son (read more about it HERE).  Before going there, I checked the price of the items at the mall first to know if the price at Baclaran is far from it.  The ethnic costume at SM Kultura is around P400-P500, and I am glad that I got it at Baclaran for only P220.00

Ito ang eksena kahapon:

Me: Ate magkano to?
Ate: P300
Me: Ang mahal naman pwede ba P200 na lang
Ate: hanggang P280 lang po
Me: Mahal pa din… bawasan mo pa..
Ate: sige po hanggang P250 na lang… masisisante po ako ng boss ko… ayun po sya o (hehehe buti sinabi mo)
Me: (kinausap ang boss) Ate, baka pwede to ng P200
Boss: Mam ang baba naman, dagdagan mo ng P20…

Me: Okay sige na nga P220 🙂

I thank my mom for teaching me how to haggle.  She is a Pro I tell you, naaawa ako pag sya ang tumawad hahaha.  She told me to always ask half the price of what was the declared price of the tinderas.

Besides that, here are some tips when you shop at Baclaran and Divisoria.

• Divisoria now started to have their night market.  I’ve tried shopping on  a night market before when we were still in Paco and I can say that the price is a little bit cheaper during the night. But I don’t suggest doing this if you are far from the area or a first timer to go there since it is not safer.
• Always make sure to keep an eye on your bags and belongings.  I already lost some money while shopping at Divisoria.  No, I was not snatched or robbed, but because I misplaced my wallet while fitting clothes.  It’s a good thing that I have some coins inside my pants which I used to be able to go back home hahaha.
• Don’t wear your yellow gold jewelries.  It’s a fact that there are lots of snatchers in these places.
• It is better if you will bring some money in P20, P50 or P100 denominations.  If the vendor see that you have bigger amounts of money they might not give you the amount you are asking for.
• Wear comfortable clothing like flip flops, t-shirts, shorts or pants.
• Do not forget to bring your Ecobag.  Pasay and Manila do not ban the use of plastic bags yet, so to help the environment it is better to have your own ecobag that you can use to put all your shopping haul.
• It is better if you have a companion.  I can shop better if I am alone because I can go to whatever place I want, but it is because I am quite familiar with Divisoria already.  But if you are new in the area, I suggest to bring someone with you (not kids ha!), this way they can help you look for your bags while you are browsing some products to buy.

Here are just few of my proven tips that I can suggest to you.

If you have any additional ideas, share it with us on the comment below.

 

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