whyretiretothephilippines.com
Why Retire to the Philippines
Why, you say?
Because everything we need for our retirement is over there!
• the cost of living is amazingly affordable
• the climate is mild (not too hot/not too cold)
• living is “safe and secure” (like anywhere in the world)
• the people speak English, no need to learn a new language
• people are friendly, hospitable, warm and somewhat “Westernized”
• majority of the people are Christian, so there are no dietary laws to observe
• the country is lovely and the night life in the city is alive
• so many more other reasons!This little country seems to be the best place for retirement!
There are plenty of supermarkets catering to American foods around Metro Manila that retirees from the US need not worry about running out of anything. And because there are many competing supermarkets, they have a tendency to lower their prices.
Supermarkets are big business in the Philippines. An industry report cited that there are about 5,000 supermarkets in the country in a few years ago with estimated sales of over P100 billion. One can just imagine the supermarket sales nowadays!
A supermarket is a self-service store offering a wide array of food and non-food items, which are organized into departments. It is a retail format that is bigger than a grocery store and it has from three to 25 counters. A variation of a supermarket is a hypermarket, which is larger in size and usually combined with a department store. A hypermarket has more than 25 counters and sells both wet and dry goods.
The leading players in the supermarket business in the country are SM Supermarket, Robinsons Supermarket, and Rustan’s Supermarket.
SM Supermarket
The largest supermarket chain in the country is SM Supermarket, which is operated by Supervalue Inc. Supervalue Inc. is part of the SM group of companies which is involved in retailing, banking, real estate, among others. The very first SM Supermarket was established in 1985 in SM City North Edsa. Today, numerous SM supermarkets have been built in strategic locations in Metro Manila as well as around the Philippines.
SM also operates SM Hypermarket which first opened in Sucat, Parañaque in 2001. SM Hypermarkets offer food, fresh and frozen items as well as general merchandise products.
As the Philippines’ largest supermarket chain, SM Supermarket offers a world-class supermarket shopping experience – boasting a wide range of fresh produce, sourced directly from the growers, processors, and integrators. Driven by the passion for excellent customer service and superb quality assurance, SM Supermarket endeavors to conceive a distinction in the way food retail business is done – by hosting extensive line of food products and innovative services catering customer needs and wants.
Operated by Super Value, Inc., SM Supermarket is the most dominant player in the food retail industry. Since establishing its first store in 1985 at the Ayala Center, Makati, SM Supermarket has expanded to 28 branches nationwide. In 1998, SM Supermarket introduced its new stand-alone independent neighborhood stores – the Savemore Market. Offering the convenience of a first-class indoor wet market, groceries and general merchandise store, Savemore Market caters primarily to budget-constrained households by offering lower-priced items. Since its establishment, there are now 34 branches nationwide.
Robinsons Supermarket
One of the largest chains of supermarkets in the country is Robinsons Supermarket Corporation (RSC). It belongs to the JG Summit Holdings Inc.’s Robinsons Retail Group, which operates Robinsons Department Store, Handyman Do It Best Center, Robinsons Appliances, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Toys R Us, and True Value.
The first Robinsons Supermarket opened in Cebu in 1985. The supermarket has now grown and branches can be found in many parts of the country.
Rustan Supermarket
Another leading supermarket in the country is Rustan Supermarket, which is now operated by Rustan Supercenters Inc. after it assumed the management and operations of Rustan Supermarkets Inc. in 2006. Rustan Supercenter also operates the chain of Shopwise supercenters, the premier supercenter in the country which offers fresh goods, groceries, clothes, toys, home items, all under one roof. Rustan Supercenter is a division of Rustan Commercial Corporation (RCC), a member of the Rustan Group of Companies, which is into the business of department stores and food, specifically, coffee shops, being the local franchisee of Starbucks Coffee.
Rustan’s Supercenters, Inc. is the operator of Rustan’s Supermarkets and Expresslanes and the Shopwise chain of hypermarkets. It is a leader and pioneer in the grocery shopping industry, well known for its focus on quality, customer service, and fresh food. To date, Rustan’s Supermarkets has 20 branches in Metro Manila and 2 in Cebu.
Aside from these top three supermarkets, there are other chain of supermarkets in the Metro Manila area. Shopping food is never a problem in these areas!
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