In terms of shopping, so many brands I remember from my childhood have started to make their presence felt this year also.
Around April of this year, my baby sister asked if we could go shopping for a couple of corporate attire outfits for her org's miting de avance. She was 3rd year at the time, and she was running for her college org's president. Most of her clothes are (ahem, ahem) party wear, save for a couple of Mango and Zara cocktail dresses that were subdued but very short. I decided to bring her to the Black Shop in Glorietta so that we can get her first office-wear outfit. She ended up purchasing a sky blue shirt dress and a pink shift dress with a black sheer neckline cover. She wore the pink dress to her miting de avance. She was the only one who took the dress code seriously.
A couple of days ago, she called me aside and asked me to purchase more corporate outfits for her, because she volunteered to become a lounge attendant at the airport for the VIP lounge in NAIA for the APEC 2015 delegates. She's actually to be paid for the 4 days that she will be in the airport next week. Her problem was that she didn't have enough corporate outfits - and that was the prescribed dress code. We ran off to The Black Shop again to get her more outfits. I was chiding her that the cost of her outfits were more than what she was going to be paid - of course, she was doing this really so that she could put it in her resume.
We almost went to The Black Shop in Trinoma, had I not been informed that it had closed already. I started interviewing the people in The Black Shop in Glorietta and they told me that there were only two branches left - the Glorietta and Megamall branches. They were shifting away from mall retail locations and transferring to showrooms in Quezon City, Ortigas, and Makati. Apparently, rent in the malls were starting to become steep for them.
I was kinda worried that this might herald their closing, I was assured though that they would still be around. In the early 90s, I often remember my mom dragging me to shopping marathons in Makati - The Black Shop was one of the stores where I would patiently wait for her to fit her pantsuits. I started to get sentimental and started taking pictures of the shop.
All items were on sale - my mom who insisted to be brought to The Black Shop also after dinner actually thought that it was already their closing out sale. My sister was able to purchase her first pantsuit, a blue dress (which she planned on using also for her Ateneo Med School interview) and 2 crisp long-sleeved shirts.
This is her taking a selfie with the blue dress trying to pair it with the blazer from the pantsuit.
While they're still there, please pass by and visit The Black Shop. I'm sure a lot of mothers have at one point experienced buying something there to wear to the office, they have been around since 1990. People my age and the millenials probably shop for their office wear in Zara, Mango, H&M, and Marks and Spencer (especially when they're on sale - GUILTY) but nothing beats local! (Wow, did I really just say that?)
Save The Black Shop!
P.S.: If you were to buy a dress, pants, or blazer from The Black Shop, the kind ladies there will be the ones to assist you having it altered to fit. How cool is that? I'll be driving back to Makati in a couple of days to pick up my sister and mom's altered garments.
The Black Shop
Ground Floor, Glorietta 4, Makati
tel. no.: 02.8468025
