I ran out of Meclizine for my travel back to the US. I had a long travel day ahead of me with an 11…read morehour layover in Korea, so I needed to get some pills. Luckily this Watsons was only a 2 minute walk from The Belmont Hotel. I headed to the counter and got my pills! This is a good sized Watsons. They have a nice section for personal care and beauty products. It looks fairly new so it was really nice and clean. As in most pharmacies or drugstore in the Philippines, you have to go to the counter and ask for the drugs you need from the clerk, even for OTC meds. They disburse them by the pill, so make sure you tell them how many pills you need.

There are a number of pharmacies in the Market! Market! area, but I still go to Metro Pharmacy…read morelocated in front of Metro Supermarket at the lower ground floor of the mall. Why? Because there's usually less people and no long queues of customers there. A big area of the pharmacy is allocated for non-prescription health and wellness section which sells vitamin supplements, protein shakes, and other herbal remedies. This is also where you can get over-the-counter medications, personal hygiene products, and even special haircare items. I like the fact that this pharmacy is quite strict with prescription medication. The pharmacists at the enclosed counter ask for prescription, dosage, and other important details to make sure that they dispense the right medication. They also suggest generic alternatives in case you are interested in saving money. Since the pharmacy is under Metro Gaisano, you can also get rewards for your purchases if you have a Metro Rewards card. This pharmacy is open daily during mall hours.

Nice little corner pharmacy were i needed to go because i had a very bad cold…read more The pharmacist was full of suggestions for decongestant and lozenges for my throat. Also you can buy distilled water and other items you usually find in a pharmacy.

It's so grown-up of me to feel some sort of appreciation for Mercury Drug. But I do appreciate it…read more It's the most reliable drug store in the country, and it's where almost all of our vitamins and medications come from. I also appreciate it more now because when it's late at night and my children need something urgent (a fever medicine, diapers or milk), I just ask my husband to drop by the Mercury Drug store outside our village, since they're open 24 hours. The new branch in Robinson's Place Las Pinas is my new favorite branch for the sole reason that there's no queue. The store is quite spacious and I can buy the meds I need in a jiffy. The staff there are also very accommodating. We went there one day and my mother was looking for a medicine that was prescribed by her endocrinologist (she's diabetic). The manager told her that the medicine was out of stock, but she will call up other branches and check when the delivery for that product was coming. Then she'll call my mom when the medicine is already available and she can just pay and pick it up. I like that Mercury Drug has Suki Card (their loyalty rewards program) and a courtesy lane for senior citizens. That's very important for stores like these.

lala ng staff nyo sa qc filinvesst batasan. mas matagal pang makipag kwentuhan sa customer keysa…read moremag service! ang lala 2 lang customer, pero sobrang tagal! better service sana.

I feel so awful when I or someone in my family gets sick. Worst is that we have to take medicines…read morethat are almost always expensive and have to be taken for a week for them to fully take effect on our system. That's why, during checkups, we would always ask the doctor to indicate the generic name of their prescribed medication. It's a good thing that the Generika Drugstore exists to bring low-cost but high quality generic medicines to the public. I like it that they are like sari-sari stores because you can find them everywhere, in that you can find the next branch not too far from the other. The Generika Drugstore has been our go-to pharmacy to treat that persistent and pesky cold. We can buy the set of tablets to complete the required dosage at a fraction of the cost of branded medicines. Though cheap, we have proven that they are effective for we do get well after taking them. I have also read from the Generika website that the drugs that they sell are backed by screening, testing and research made by their own Corporate Pharmacy Department and that those products are registered under BFAD.

I remember when Med Express first opened on Ortigas Ave. They were the first pharmacy to have a…read moredrive-through available and I thought that was sick... but there was one problem: their prices were markedly higher than Mercury Drug's or even Watson's. This was huge to me considering that Watson's in itself isn't cheap. So I stopped patronizing it despite the super cool drive-thru. Fast forward to a few years later, Med Express had set up shop in The Medical City where I often find myself and surprise surprise, their prices are now at par with Mercury Drug's! Ha. Glad they wizened up. The staff here always has smiles on their faces too, so plus points. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE: They deliver!!!

There are literally hundreds of branches of Mercury Drug all over the country. Only a few operate…read more24/7. They come in all sizes, from the very small to nearly supermarket size. The latter is what we have at the corner of Russia and Dona Soledad Avenue in Paranaque City. I've found that not all Mercury Drug branches are run the same way. I like this branch not only because it comes in handy during the odd hours when there's a sudden need for medicine, or even "essential" food items like potato chips and ice cream. The better to watch videos with, There have been several occasions when we had to run to Mercury when there was an urgent need to buy diapers or paracetamol for the kids. During regular hours, the place can get pretty crowded so its best to schedule any purchases during the odd hours. Parking is no problem though. Besides the front and side, there is also a full parking lot right beside the branch. It's free of course because this is Paranaque, not Makati. For sheer convenience alone, I give this branch of Mercury Drug five stars.

I only buy medicine from here. I own a Mercury Drug Suki card and so far, it's been giving me…read morepretty good rewards. I've made Mercury Drug rich over the years and I do wish I own a branch. They just make so much money, more than any business out there. I often say that you can tell if a city is "prosperous" or "emerging" if it has the following: a Jollibee branch, a BPI bank and a Mercury Drug. Yes, ladies and gentlemen these are the signs of progress and everywhere you go in this city you are bound to find any of these. I like this branch in particular because the lines are never ever horrendous. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I haven't spent more than 15 minutes buying any of my OTC needs when I'm in here. The staff in this branch are fast and efficient and they've made the whole process of spending thousands of pesos for medicine somewhat bearable.

A few steps away from CommCare is Supreme Pharmacy. Convenient, if you ask me. Go to CommCare to…read moreget diagnosed and get a prescription. Then walk a few steps (or ask someone to do if for you 'cause you're sick) to the pharmacy and get your medicines. Surprisingly, they do have an it's-not-that-wide-but-good-enough selection of medicines. They do have pills for the usual headache, fever and other common ailments. There are days when they have my dad's heart medicines, but most days they don't have it. I noticed that they have a lot of products for babies and children.

Guadalupe Nuevo is one of the busiest MRT and bus stops along the northbound lane of Edsa. People…read morewho live in nearby barangays, such as Pinagkaisahan, Pitogo and Cembo, usually pass this area on their way to and from work. Thus, it's not surprising that there are a lot of establishments in the vicinity that are open 24 hours. One such place is the JK Humanbond Mart and Pharmacy, located at the ground floor of Hotel Sogo Guadalupe. It is open 24/7. I usually stop by the mart to buy water or candies before riding the bus plying along Edsa. The store isn't big, but they sell necessities like bottled water, food items, and toiletries. Since it's also a pharmacy, you can buy medicines here. But I noticed their stocks are mostly limited to over-the-counter and commonly prescribed medications. There are parking slots for about three cars in front of the establishment but since Magsaysay Avenue is a busy and narrow street, getting in and out of the parking slot may be a challenge especially during rush hours.

My area is one of the busiest but most convenient places in the Metro. I'm actually lucky to be…read moreliving here. The traffic of potential market for most businesses is incredible, and it's literally a street that never sleeps. (Right now, there are still tawaran sessions happening at the market downstairs at 1 AM, get a load of that!) And one of the places that literally never sleeps is this JK Pharmacy store which I still refer to as "K2 Drug". (Self, get on with the times, will ya?) That used to be its name, actually. I don't know what happened. It was renovated and stuff, etc. and re-opened as JK Mart. ANYWAY, I love that this place is so near. When my cats get sick, I just do a cartwheel and I have a bottle of Amoxicillin drops ready to save their lives. I can even get away without prescription (Well, I ask my vet friends and they tell me to go buy whatever through phone. Ain't nobody got time for prescriptions!) I just tell JK Mart I need this for my cats, and viola. I have the drugs. I don't really know if that's good or bad, or am I just an exception because they know me or something, though... They are forever open, so I go here for midnight snacks and emergency Yakisoba (Spicy Chicken) hoarding sprees. They're a hybrid of convenience store and infant/pedia/generics shops that it's provided Guadalupians a place to run to late at night for (hopefully) not too grave necessary medicine buys. Let's face it, even if another nearby similar store, Mercury Drug towards Edsa has a lot more to offer, it just takes ten thousand years! (And it has never changed for the 20 years I've been going there, really). I love this place, and I give it five stars because it's awesome.