| When you live in a very remote place, your options are limited, and at the same time, the location is not a few meters away.
But it takes 30 to 40 minutes by commute on either a motorcycle or a tricycle to reach the place. It’s also a challenge to wake up in the morning and try to be there first in line, because it is the only place where you buy your groceries, among other things. Because the ER Supermall is not entirely a shopping centre, but a grocery store that is the sole supplier to small businesses that have their “Sari-Sari Store” outside the municipal city of Baganga, which has small towns being part of it. Getting to this place, you see most of them are resellers piling up their shopping carts. |
This is not the first time I've been to this place. I recall from my first visit in the same month two years ago that the long lines were wild. This is because of so many factors, and most of it is not good. If there were a competing grocery store, they would improve those facilities that a real supermarket is all about.
Unfortunately, the building itself is outdated and has been heavily ravaged by Super Typhoon Pablo (International name: Bopha) all the way back to December 2012. When the storm came, the store was closed for a few days to manage repairs, and it was the only place people counted on during that time.
You can see the exterior look of the building being beaten down, and the colours have faded. Inside the grocery, the lights were dim as if reminding me of the transition of ownership with Shopwise Supermarket being acquired by Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc (RRH), the owner of the Robinsons Malls in Metro Manila, from Rustan’s all the way back to 2018. But the changes to improve the facilities of the stores did not happen until 2021/2022.
But ER hasn’t made any improvements to the store itself, as this is the only grocery store that does not have air conditioning. It mainly sells the most basic needs, and it does not even have freezers for frozen foods. But they do have chillers for cold drinks like sodas, juices, and ice cream.
A few weeks back, during our last supply run to Baganga, the surprising store that has frozen food for sale is Mercury Drug, a major pharmacy store that carries them. They had all the Purefood Hot Dogs, and when we visited this trip, they were all gone. There’s a demand for frozen food besides Hot Dogs. ER doesn’t even have them in its store. The only supermarket in the region doesn’t have any of them.
The store shelves look outdated and dusty. Some of them are empty and disorganized; it’s like you've been transported back in time to the old school grocery stores in the Philippines. ER is not only about selling the basic food and beverage needs; they also have a miscellaneous section where they sell random things, from food containers to toys and school supplies.
The toy section alone is generic, or someone I know back in the day coined it “industrial.” There are some unique and interesting things like plush toys of Superman and Pokémon’s Snorlax.
But I’m not sure if they are licensed products, as I checked, and the product tags are not present. The Snorlax plush is heavily wrapped in plastic compared to the other plush toys displayed out of the open without being packaged in plastic.
They are the only establishment that already sells Christmas trees, ornaments, and other accessories to spice up your Holidays, aside from another no-name store in Baganga that calls itself LC Superstore, which looked like a Hardware store selling random home improvement things.
Besides that section, I also checked their school supplies, which are not as competitive or affordable as what Mr. D.I.Y. is offering. Most people who visit this place don’t linger in this section, as most are buying essential supplies for their small businesses or for their homes. It’s like a generic Costco without the need for membership, with incomplete facilities and frozen food offerings.
Baganga deserves a better establishment to compete with this supermarket, because the customer service experience is not good either. The staff don’t communicate well if you’re not fluent in their local dialect.
They are having a hard time understanding a Tagalog-speaking person, what more if the person who visited their place speaks mostly in English. I’m sure an Australian YouTuber who migrated here has visited this place to buy his own supplies.
Also, with customer services, it shows how the owners of this place are stingy, given that it does not have air conditioning, and they limit checkout use due to the cost of electricity, with the obvious long lines when two checkouts are the only ones being operated, and the rest of their four remaining checkout counters are inactive.
Before we were heading out and had already paid for their groceries, their staff packing our groceries lacked mindfulness and care for the things we purchased. He was packing the insecticide spray with the food that most educated grocery staff would put in a separate paper bag.
The sheer mindless behavior would put this guy out of the job for that kind of careless behavior if nobody called him off for doing such an act. You pack an insecticide spray with the food in one box? That is an obvious foul, and he did not even apologize for it, so he needs to ask the cashier for permission to bag the non-food essential in a paper bag that easily gets ripped apart.
I requested to double the paper bag, but they did not say that they were not allowed to do that. Another stingy sign of terrible customer service, Baganga deserves a better supermarket than this place. But nobody has other choice but this place.
The municipal city of Baganga is ripe for big businesses like this, but knowing it is a remote place that’s 4-5 hours of road travel from Davao City, it is going to be a challenge for big companies like Robinsons or SM to set up their business here.
But 7-Eleven, Mercury Drug, and MR. D.I.Y. has done it. So what’s stopping them from opening a major supermarket or even a medium-sized shopping mall that has everything ER doesn't have?
It may take a while until this is fully realized, but other neighbouring cities like Mati City or Tagum City have either of the two big companies has opened shopping centres. The most recent SM Supermall opened last year in Mati City, which is almost two hours of road travel to visit the place.
For now, the locals will have to deal with getting their supply run at ER despite the mediocre customer service and outdated facilities until one of those two major companies sets up a prime location and levels the playing field that people from Baganga and its smaller towns are hoping to experience without the need to travel 127 kilometers away just to get good service or even dine at a Jolibee.
ER Supermall (which is not entirely a Shopping Centre) is open daily from 8 AM to 7 PM, and you can follow them on social media for their updates via Facebook!
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