PH shoe capital hopes to draw back-to-school bargain hunters

The country’s shoe capital is inviting bargain-hunters to its annual back-to-school shoe fair, offering locally-made, high-quality footwear at very low prices and hoping to give a homegrown industry a much-needed boost.

As a new school year opens this month, the Marikina City government has opened a bazaar dubbed “Balik Eswela Gamit Sapatos Marikina” featuring 46 local manufacturers who have set up stalls along Shoe Avenue, near City Hall.

The yearly bazaar, a project introduced in 2012, will run until June 10.

“Shoes here in Marikina are considered part of our culture,” said Noel Box, officer in charge of the Marikina Shoe Industry Development Office (Masido). “We want to elevate our products to be able to compete in the global market.”

Marikina officials are in talks with other local governments in Metro Manila to allow Marikina shoemakers to sell their products in their respective back-to-school fairs, Box said.

A market caravan promoting Marikina shoes was launched in Muntinlupa City on Tuesday.

Discounts

Black leather school shoes can be had at P500 to P600 a pair, while ladies’ flat shoes are available at P400 to P600. Senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and all national and local government employees are entitled to discounts.

“If it’s Marikina-made, we know that the quality is good,” said Freddely Paraños, a Barangay Tumana resident who bought a pair on Tuesday for her 8-year-old son who wound enter Grade 4 at Concepcion Integrated School next week. She availed herself of a 10-percent discount as her husband worked for the city government.

Data from Masido showed that in 2017 the bazaar sold more than 22,000 pairs of shoes and earned over P12.1 million in gross sales. More than 2,400 leather goods, including bags, were also sold, amounting to over P1 million in sales in just five weeks.

Box said they were hoping to surpass these figures this year.