FOLLOWING the thrust of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Tourism to integrate their efforts to help the two key industries in the country, an export group executive announced plans to open the Tindahang Pinoy in two to three months’ time.
Gift Toys and Housewares Foundation past president Jennifer Cruz said the place to set up the store, which would showcase the locally-made souvenir products, had already been identified.
“It will be located in a 500-square-meter space within the Bridges Town Square along Plaridel Street in Madaue City that’s very accessible for tourists before proceeding to the airport.”
The Tindahang Pinoy is a store jointly undertaken by the DTI and the Department of Tourism and exporters groups in Cebu to display locally made souvenir products for tourists.
Cruz said that renovations for the store had started since Sept. 8.
“The shop will be managed by GTH and for this we are looking to spend at least P2 million and we also hope to get assistance from DTI,” he said.
Cruz said that during their planning discussions with DTI Regional Director Asteria Caberte, who is optimistic and supportive of the project, assured us that the government would give P1 million assistance for the shop.
“We hope to get the assistance soon because right now we are using our own funds from the foundation,” he said.
Once it opens, this kind of shop will be the first in the country that will be managed by the private sector.
“There’s one similar shop in Manila and in Bacolod but these are managed by the Philippine International Trading Corp. This is the first that will be managed by us from the private sector and Director Caberte is seeing this as an example of the PPP or the private-public-partnership,” he said.
Initially, the shop will host 20 members of the foundation to display their products and they will gradually add more in the future.
“We will try to focus more on the Filipino products that we produce here and we will be checking on the quality of the goods so that the tourists, which are our target buyers will really like them,” he said.
The organizers plan to tie up with travel and tour operators asking them to include the Tindahang Pinoy as one of their stops during their tours in Cebu.
“We see that as the best way to promote the shop and it will also do good for our local tourism because we want it to have its brand and become a destination for tourists here in Cebu. It can become another reason why they should put Cebu in one of their stops while having a vacation in the country,” Cruz said.