Bazaarista’s perseverance pays off
FOUR YEARS ago, Ailene Co got a space at the Greenhills tiangge to start her own fashion store. She named it U.R.U. which means exactly how you spell it: you are you. “Wear what you like and what suits you. Women should wear what they feel like wearing, and not dress to impress others,” explains Co, who studied at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines in Ortigas Center.
Co started with bags. “It’s one of my passions and the easiest way for me to get into business,” she says. Since she also loved clothes, especially those that fit her budget, she also sold casual trendy clothes that can be worn by women in offices or when going out for a gimmick. “We’re producing all original locally made casual clothing for day in, day out activities,” Co adds.
Co regularly goes to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Bangkok to check out fashion styles and does some designing herself although she also has designers working with her. She has sewers do the samples and production is subcontracted to suppliers.
Getting a space in Greenhills seemed the logical choice for her business even if she was selling stuff in bazaars by herself for years. “In Greenhills, you cannot go wrong if you have the right product. People go to Greenhills because it’s cheap there and it’s a one-stop shop,” says Co. Even recent Manila visitors Rihanna and Chris Brown shopped in Greenhills this holiday season.
And she knew how Greenhills works. Back in college at the Philippine School of Business Administration, she and two other friends also got a space in the Greenhills tiangge and sold ready-to-wear clothes and knickknacks sourced from wholesale bargain haven Divisoria.
So even if the rent in Greenhills was expensive by the time she decided to put up U.R.U. by herself in 2004, she went ahead. “I thought clothes would be easy to sell,” she says. But the first six months to one year was really challenging. “I was running out of funds. But I didn’t give up. I kept on praying. Then we got a wholesaler. May nakapansin sa amin (Someone noticed us).”
From that time on, business went on the upswing. As Co adapted to the market, U.R.U. was able to get a loyal market. Co started sponsoring celebrities such as Angelika dela Cruz, Yasmien Kurdi, Nadine Samonte, Wendell Ramos and Christine Reyes who would wear U.R.U. clothes in their TV and mall appearances. The exposure helped a lot.
Co continued doing business in other bazaars, though, and became a staple year in and year out in the bazaars of Karl Edwards, Worldbex International, Rockwell, Candy Fair, Cosmo Universe, Casa y Jardin, St. James in Alabang, and Yabang Pinoy, among others. “Girls as young as 14 would buy from us,” she says. U.R.U. would also sell from its website at Multiply.
Today, Co has four U.R.U. stores in Greenhills Center Mall tiangge alone. She has them strategically located in the mall such that from wherever you enter, you will encounter a U.R.U. stall. “It’s a major frustration if I am not given a good location in a tiangge,” Co says. Even in bazaars, the key success factor is location, location, location.
And U.R.U. has also gone to other malls, having stand-alone boutiques at Robinsons Galleria’s 50th Avenue, Robinsons Place Manila’s 50th Avenue, Tiendesitas’ Fashion Village, and kiosks inside Crafts By Boracay in Boracay Island and NCCC Malls in Davao and Palawan.
And as if this isn’t enough, U.R.U. gave birth to a men’s line called D.R.U., taking off from her husband’s first name, Andrew.
Next year, Co is opening another branch in yet another mall. Good thing she didn’t give up early on.
Photos courtesy of U.R.U.
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