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Filipinos love shopping, especially where there are good bargains. We are all suckers for cut-price sales, buy-one take-one deals, 3-for-100-pesos bundles, and other discounts and freebies.
The tiangge is a perfect place to get a bargain.
Goods sold in a tiangge will vary from one puwesto to another. Generally, a tiangge carries a wide range of products -- apparel, toys, household items, school supplies, cooking paraphernalia, food items, bedroom needs, religious images, plastic wares, glass items and many more.
In a tiangge, your P10 has super buying power. There are stalls where every item goes for P10. You can buy fancy earrings, key chains, crayons, pens, small toys, notebooks, nail polish, and combs for that small amount.
A wise tiangge shopper knows how to make "tawad" or haggle with the merchant. If you want a discount, ask for one. The merchant is not likely to offer you a discount if you keep quiet. Getting the vendor to agree to your proposed price may depend on your persistence and charm.
Shopping is fun but remember to keep an eye on your belongings at all times. Remember that pickpockets thrive best where crowds are densest.
Personally, when I enter a tiangge, I do not only get charmed by the products and the bargains. I get fascinated with the folks behind the counter. I imagine it must be a hard but interesting life for them. Sometimes, I wonder too how they are doing as small entrepreneurs. Do they get rich? Do they earn just enough to make their labors worthwhile? What adventures do they face leading the life of a tiangge merchant?
To satisfy my curiosity, I struck up a conversation with one of them last March 9. I visited a tiangge at Sto. Tomas, Batangas, when the town celebrated its town fiesta.
Munting Tiangge
Manong Ver, 52 years old, is a magtia-tiangge by profession. He sells children’s apparel, shorts, pajamas, assorted towels, beddings, pillows, pillow cases, ironing table covers, mats, bandanas, caps, gloves, and underwear.
His small-scale tiangge does not have a permanent location. He goes from town to town, wherever there is a fiesta.
Manong Ver is like a nomad merchant because he is constantly moving in search of places to sell his products. For him, every fiesta is a blessing, an opportunity to sell his products and earn money.
A town tianggian may last from three weeks to a month. Manong Ver averages ten towns in a year. With such a hectic schedule, he manages to spend at least a week at home in between tiangge gigs.
Manong Ver sets up his stall a week before a fiesta. He pays rent to the local municipality in exchange for a small space in the tianggian. Once the tianggian is opened to the public, his little stall becomes his temporary home. Manong Ver eats and sleeps in his puwesto. For him, a wooden bench, a folding bed, and an LPG Tangkito for cooking resonate with the comforts of home. How about the call of nature? Public toilets and portalets answer that need. Sometimes he and fellow tiangge entrepreneurs go to a nearby residence, which allows bathroom privileges for a fee.
Manong Ver’s puwesto has no walls, except for a makeshift tarpaulin as partial cover against the sun and occasional rain. His tiangge is open 24 hours.
Manong Ver manages his little tiangge with the help of his wife and children. No, his work has not made him rich. But he and his family get by. He is able to send his children to school. He is proud that he is making an honest living through his hardworking ways.
Mang Ver’s kind of tiangge belongs to the more traditional category. In fact, the tianggian has evolved into more modern, bigger, more systematic, and more fun (if a bit pricier) venues.
Modern tiangges
One of the earlier modern tiangges is the Greenhills Tiangge. It used to be mounted every Christmas season. Shoppers flocked there to avail of various Christmas bargains. The huge crowd made shopping literally an elbow-to-elbow affair. Human traffic was at its highest during this season.
As years went by, the Greenhills Tiangge turned into a year-round bazaar.
Filipinos embraced the concept of modern tiangges so much that more establishments started to capitalize on the idea. Today you can find modern tiangges in many places including the mall. Take Tiendesitas, for example, whose overall setup is based on the tiangge model, with the addition of leisure and dining facilities to make shopping more entertaining.
The tiangge has certainly evolved through the years. There are now multi-level fully air-conditioned tiangges just like St. Francis Square Tiangge.
Top tiangges
Below are some of the top tiangges in Metro Manila:
- 168 Mall
- Tutuban Center Mall
- Greenhills Tiangge
- Quiapo Tiangge
- Baclaran Tiangge
- Tiendesitas
- St. Francis Square
Photos: “Greenhills Tiangge” from Shopping Finds. Used with permission.
Other photos by Rachel Yapchiongco. Some rights reserved.
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