Our Negosyo Goal Achieved: Bargain Hunting in Taytay Tiangge

My Beloved Wife Lei’s online business took me to unlikely places just to find items being sold for the lowest price. I entered a decrepit building in Carriedo area to get buy lady’s bags direct from the bodega. I even scoured both 168 Mall and 999 Mall in Divisoria for various items.

Lei’s search for low priced garments brought us to the increasingly popular place for bargain hunters: the town of Taytay, Rizal.

Taytay is now considered as the “Garments Capital of the Philippines” not only because of of the tiangge but because of the sheer number of garments manufacturer in town. In fact, Taytay Business License Processing Office reported that there are 190 registered garment manufacturers, 52 remnant-cloth sellers, 29 registered ready-to-wear retailers, and 4,000 surveyed flea-market sellers this year. Taytay Tiangge is way smaller than Divisoria but it has 4,000 tiangge sellers!

The garments and textile industry of Taytay was kickstarted by the town’s mayor from in the 1950s to 1960s. That municipal mayor is knowledgeable of customs procedures and has connections to suppliers of remnant textiles or aged textiles in New York.

In the past, Taytay’s garment manufacturers bring their products to Divisoria and Baclaran. This set-up was changed when the municipal government and garment manufacturers’ groups such as Baclaran Garment Producers Inc. (BAGPI) and I Love Taytay Garments Producers Inc. (IGPAI) built the Taytay Tiangge to lessen transportation cost and improve the local economy. Now, it is the buyers and resellers who flock Taytay to buy affordable garments.

My Beloved Wife Lei, who is an online seller, got wind of the affordable clothes from Taytay so she decided to go visit Taytay tiangge during the long Halloween vacation. And I can say that she is pleased with her great haul of affordable and resellable clothes.

How to Go to Taytay Tiangge

Map of Taytay Tiangge (source: Google Maps).

We went to Taytay Tiangge by going first to Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall. The terminal of jeepneys going to the towns of Rizal is located beside the mall is this where we rode a jeepney going to Binangonan that passes through Taytay Palengke. We paid 20 pesos each for the jeepney fare. We reached Taytay Palengke, where Taytay Tiangge is located, after 45 minutes.

Taytay Tiangge is not hard to find because it is located beside Mang Inasal. Visitors can also enter through the arch of Club Manila East.

Our Taytay Tiangge Experience

Lei’s goal is to buy affordable garments at BAGPI but we were immediately distracted by the sheer number of shops selling various clothes. Lei already bought shorts and shirts from these shops before we decided to move on to BAGPI.

BAGPI is a large warehouse of rented out to hundreds of small garments manufacturers and vendors. We were told that only clothes made in Taytay are allowed to be sold in BAGPI.

Just like my usual experience in Divisoria, my feet ached because of long hours of walk as Lei searched for the best bargain. She passed through every aisle and checked almost every shop. My Beloved Wife was not disappointed because she got good quality but affordable items like this one:

My Beloved Wife enjoyed her shopping in Taytay Tiangge so much that she decided to return to that place the next day. Her target for the second Taytay Tiangge is IGPAI, which is another big garments tiangge. But before we reached reached we checked out other tiangges like the My Seoul and BAGPI (again) where Lei bought some shirts for her store and pajamas for the kids.

We also entered Octagon Fashion Strip, where the garments are more expensive but more fashionable. This is where shoppers can buy some Korean style apparel.

We entered IGPAI before we ended our long day of shopping. Here, Lei searched for sando shirts ordered by a customer. We also found plenty of bargain clothes in IGPAI.

My Beloved Wife Lei left Taytay satisfied with her successful bargain hunt. I felt happy for her despite me experiencing aching feet because of the nonstop walks all around the tiangge.

All in all we had a very good experience in Taytay Tiangge. Lei found very affordable and good quality garments. In fact, some of the clothes that we found are half the price of the ones we saw in Divisoria and Baclaran. This is very good for Lei’s online business.

I am sure that we will return to Taytay Tiangge and I have to ready my feet for that.

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NOTE: The mayor who kickstarted the garments and textile industry of Taytay was not named in the Business Mirror article, which is my source of info on the history of Taytay Tiangge. That unnamed mayor is probably Manuel I. Santos who served as Taytay’s mayor from 1952 to 1960.

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Information about Taytay Tiangge came from the following sources:

BOI meets Taytay garments, textile manufacturers and stakeholders in Business Mirror
Taytay, Rizal in Wikipedia
.