Its always never an easy task to start up a sari sari store.  Having one will be a life-changing decision, and even a house changing decision too.

First lets answer the question – WHY?

Why start a sari sari store?  is it because:

• I dont have a job, but I have enough money, so I’ll just do this.
• My husband’s at work, but I’m bored at home, so it’ll be my hobby
• I won a sari sari store package – it’ll be a waste if we just consume the goods
• My house expenses are starting to pile up, I need extra income.
• My neighbors like doing business with me so this is but natural.
• We saw our neighbors raking in the money so we put one up to get a share of the pie.

To tell you frankly, there isnt any correct reason why. As long as you have your own reason and you can stand by it, go ahead.

My mom actually started it because she wanted to become a plain housewife for Daddy, but feels she might get bored at home so she started selling as a hobby, and it grew.  She had a passion for it and she enjoyed doing it.  I guess the neighbors saw that and they felt at ease buying from our small store.

Whatever reason for putting up a store – it is your reason. It’s always valid — except if you say “wala lang”.

If your family has a sari-sari store, how did it start? what was the reason WHY you guys put one up? Pls send it in via comments

Tantin

Quite a tongue twister eh?  I really like that title.  Even in English its quite a tongue twister – Various Variety Store Stories.

So why did I start a blog on Sari Sari stores? Well we had* a store that ran for more than 33 years.  We only stopped it because my mom got cancer from all the secondary smoke that cigarette buyers puff in my mom’s direction right after lighting up their stick.  She’s undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy now but is ok.

Over the course of  33 years, (30 of which I helped) we managed to gather lots of lessons, and before I lose them, I want to share it with everybody.

I owe a lot to that store. It sent me to college – to DLSU no less.  It also sent all 6 of us to various colleges and universities when my dad was out of work because of the pre-EDSA crisis.

I do hope I get to share some of the great stuff we know, and do tell us what you think of the articles.

Tantin Tolledo

The problem with having a Sari Sari store is that your neighborly friendly ties will be affected. The main reason? People cant easily separate being neighbor friends as against direct competitor.  That should not be the case, although it is in Filipino’s nature to hold a grudge.

Our store had lasted 32 years, and we’ve seen stores come and go.  First off, how do you kill off the competition? and secondly, how to you maintain being good neighbors?  We’ll tackle these in two separate blog articles after this initial post.  Lets call this article series Neighbor Wars.

NEIGHBOR WARS.

1. Beat them with your source.  If you can source your products from the cheapest retailer/wholesaler you can do two things.  a. you can outlast him, and b. if it ever comes to a price war, you can out-price him.

For example, its cheaper to buy from warehouse grocers, compared to Mall groceries.   If you can buy an item with a price difference of P0.5-1.00,  and the standard SS (sarisari) price is 10.00, you can earn more than your neighbor.   These extra earnings will allow you to invest in other products in your next purchase, while your competitor will have to live with what he earns.   Over the course of months of this, your competitor will slowly decrease his merchandise while you will have a full store.  SS customers usually flock to the store with more merchandise because of the impression that everything is always re-stocked and fresh.

If it ever boils down to a price war, you will be able to price lower, and still earn per item.  Your competitor on the other hand will be forced to stay only up to a price level that is most often still higher than yours.  With this you will have an advantage.  If ever they cant earn anymore from a product, they will drop it – leading again to a near-bare store compared to your fully stocked store.

Here are some places where you can shop at the lowest prices.

Puregold is cheap, and so are other warehouse shops. Enrolling in rewards cards also give you some price advantage so be sure to take advantage of these.

Factory sales – keep tab of factory sales.

Bulk – whenever possible, buy in bulk.  Discounts at purchase are your earnings when sold.

The Senior Factor – yes, Seniors have some nice discounts.  If you can use your elder’s benefit, use it.  Be sure to thank them from the profits that you will earn.

As far as I can remember, our family had a community variety store (sari-sari store).  Mom set it up so that she could add to the family income after retiring from work, and also to focus on us, her children while my dad work in the office.

So many things happened in this store, so a lot of my succeeding entries will be to recall those events and experiences.

Believe it or not, during the 80′s when most people lost their job due to the crisis, (including my dad) it was only this store that provided for the family.  It even paid for my college studies in De La Salle University, and I’m just one of six siblings that this sari sari store sent to college.  Even up to now,  people still cant believe it was possible.  Well, I graduated, so I guess I’m the best proof of that.  It even influenced my choice of course – I took up BSC-Business Management (Entrepreneurship)

If you have a sari sari store, and need to ask any tips on how to make your store improve, I’m all ears, and itching to type some advice.

If you’re planning to set up one, I’ll give you some checklist that will help determine if your future sari sari store will make it or not.

Mom’s sari sari store lasted for 33 years.  Neighborly competition came and went, and up to early this year, we were still the preferred sari sari store for our neighbors.  Too bad mom cant handle the store anymore due to her ailment, but if she wasn’t afflicted with it… i bet you we’d make it to 40, or maybe even more.

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