I grew up reading books. Story books, comic books, history books which my dad happily supplied when…read moreI was a child. When I grew up, I was buying them myself and it didn't matter where. Local stores, garage sales, book fairs- I was always there. I never felt guilty for buying books; I could buy 20 at a time and feel no remorse. So imagine my happiness when Fully Booked finally opened its doors to the public. It felt like having access to something so grand and I knew there and then that finally, I could get the books I want anytime I please. Fully Booked always has the latest and the greatest literature around and it's been my constant source of supply ever since it opened. Tips: 1. Be ready to spend when you're here! 2. Check out the Tin Tin exhibition when you have time.

There is no bookstore in Metro Manila which for me rivals this particular Fully Booked. Sure there…read moreare other Fully Booked bookstores out there, but I don't any of them rival this one in terms of size, and even if they do, none of them can probably compare to the ambiance of this place. The fact that it's located in the south means that it doesn't draw as large of a crowd as the Fully Booked in BGC. It has around four floors if memory serves me right and each floor is full of the kind of books that can satisfy almost any person's needs. There are books on speculative fiction, different kinds of hobbies, history, and so much more. I love this place because they keep most of the book marks, posters, and other trinkets and baubles that they sell down stairs. Once you get to the second floor and beyond, it's all books from there. It's also very quiet. I actually have half the mind not to talk about this particular Fully Booked out of fear that more and more people might want to go here.

Tyrion Lannister once had a conversation with John Snow who asked him why he read so many books, to…read morewhich Tyrion replies, "A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." Our country can use more of book stores like Books for Less. Books for Less has an earnest appeal to it. It doesn't make any pretension to be anything more than what it says on the tin. It has books for less. The books are all old or second hand, but in all honesty, does that even really matter? What matters is that you have a copy and that you can pass it on. What matters is that they're making books accessible to people. Were I a government official I would've given the person who came up with this business a medal for making books more accessible to the public.

Call me old-fashioned even with the increasing popularity of e-books and Kindle or Kobo, I still…read moreprefer reading paperbacks. There is something about the experience of holding a physical book and smelling the pulp that e-books cannot replicate or replace. This place is my haven when I need something to read and my budget is not enough for brand new books. I mean, you can purchase new books for around PhP300. Bring your PhP300 to Booksale and you can end up going home with at least two of their pre-owned books. You just need to be patient in searching the stacks of books in their stores. It adds a bit of adventure in your experience. The more popular authors like Stephen King or John Grisham gets to have their books displayed in just one area so you won't have any problem searching for them. But unfortunately, there are customers who can't be bothered to return books to their proper places after looking at them. You have to be ready to bend over or sit on the floor for long periods of time but you sometimes get lucky and score a rare find that got stuck under a pile. If you are looking for a title that is not in their current inventory, you can tell the staff and if you leave them your contact information then they will inform you if they already have a copy in their branch.

Booksale always rewards its patient, determined customers with a good steal. As a cheapskate and a…read morebookworm, Booksale is just a happy place to be. I can get lost here for an hour or two, carefully browsing each shelf for good finds. SM MOA's branch is the last Booksale I visited from which I was able to get awesome selections at cheap prices. A lot of people think that this place is only for those people who read pocket books/romance novels and those sci-fi paperbacks, but actually, you can get a LOT of great resources here. I'm a graphic designer, and I did purchase some of my design and art books here at Booksale (Well, let's be honest, this is the ONLY place I can afford to get art books, anyway. They can get sooo pricey at leading bookstores). Depending on the branch (and your luck), you can get great, hard-to-find art and design books that are great as reference materials and look BEAUTIFUL as a coffee table book (that will make your house guests think you're so cultured.. Haha). I even found a gigantic, super-oversized poster book of James Jean's illustrations for only Php 400! If you're quite the cook, this place also has a wide selection of cookbooks in all types of cuisines, dietary restrictions/preferences, etc. Sometimes, if you're really lucky, you can also get hardbound editions of good autobiographies here! I recently picked up John Peel's Margrove of the Marshes an Russell Brand's My Booky Wook here, for only Php 120 each. So, if you want to go restore hope in mankind, do pick up a book. But, don't pick up one just anywhere, get it at Booksale so you can buy some coffee with the money you saved and park your butt in a coffee shop where you can remind people glued to their laptops and tablets that BOOKS. STILL. EXIST! TIP: They'll give you a 5% discount for a minimum purchase of Php 1000 for a single receipt.

I love reading; I grew up with my father buying me more books than toys. Now that I'm a mom, I…read morewant to share my love for reading to my daughters. I put up a mini library for my girls on their area of our room and I'm constantly trying to grow that, but children's books, especially the more popular titles are quite pricey. I know books are investments, but my two-year old daughter is in the stage where she's not yet careful in flipping the pages so I'd rather not buy expensive books at this moment (my heart jumps every time she accidentally tears a page and I salvage it as best as I can). Good thing there's Booksale where we can get nice books at a quarter of the original price. I got most of my daughter's board books there for less than a hundred pesos. Her Dr. Seuss hard-cover books we got for 150. Most of the books are still in good condition. There are also a lot of good titles for adults. Booksale really is the best bargain place for books. You just need the patience to stand the faint smell of old books and to leaf through the hundreds of books available for sale.

Unpopular opinion, but...I love e-books! They're so handy! You can bring your entire library with…read moreyou everywhere and read on your phone or on your laptop or on your tablet, and you can highlight and make notes without completely ruining your book! After I discovered the wonderful world of e-reading, I rarely ventured into PowerBooks or Fully Booked for the latest novels, because who needs to go to those places when you can just search for books on the internet? Though my love for those bookstores have waned, inexplicably, my love for Booksale has not. I love the smell of books - especially the smell of pre-loved books, and Booksale smells exactly like that. Also, there are some great finds in there! My friend isn't much of an e-book lover, and I remember finding a Daniel Handler book he really wanted in Booksale for P150, when it was still relatively new and cost around P550 in Fully Booked. What a great steal! I also love Booksale because, as much as I love e-reading, there are some obscure books out there that you just can't find on the internet. I remember finding Susan Sontag's collection of essays in Booksale for P100! Definitely the best thing I ever found in there. They also have a variety of dictionaries available for cheap, and all of my Spanish - English dictionaries from there have been a huge help to my goal of achieving my Spanish minor! It might not seem like the greatest bookstore at first, but Booksale definitely has some hidden treasures in its shelves - all it takes is a bit of looking!

National Bookstore is synonymous with school supplies. I mean, this business has established itself…read moreas the go to place for anyone who needs school or office supplies. However, no National Bookstore can, for me at least, compare to this particular National Bookstore in Alabang Town Center. The reason why this is special is simply because of the fact that this is where I and my sisters used to buy our school supplies at the beginning of the year or when we needed something for our project. It's now located at the new wing, not the latest one though, and used to be a part of what is today the Metro Department Store. This is by far one of the biggest National Bookstores out there. Given the amount of traffic that it receives I don't think there's any reason why it's going away anytime soon. Go in and browse through their books or maybe buy whatever school or office supplies that you need.

More popularly known as "BF Ruins", the Good Shepherd Bazaar has become a permanent fixture and…read morelong-time favorite local haunt amongst southside folks. It's a popular "tiangge" where you can get these four things: Pirated DVDs/Music CDs, cheap clothing and shoes, mobile phones/accessories, and cheap food. It's not glamorous nor is it well-ventilated, but on days outside of the holiday season, it's a pretty relaxed place to go for some light impulse shopping after work, or a place to get some cheap, quick snacks in BF Homes. Although on holiday season, beware because this place becomes a cramped, sticky labyrinth, but still is a convenient place to get some last-minute gifts. Back when the internet wasn't such a thing and DSL connection was still unheard of, my favorite stall here would be this seller of rare/hard-to-find/indie pirated DVD's. But now, I just go here for cheap clothes and to grab some veggie snacks at Feng Ling, the cheap Malaysian & Singaporean food place, which serves tofu, veggie balls, fried kangkong, and yummy green mango smoothies. If you're planning to drop by, do visit around 5pm to be sure that all the stalls are already open. They open late, and since there is zero ventilation system inside, it's better to go when the sun is out.

It has been called by many names: BF night market, The Good Shepherd Bazaar, Ruins. But most…read moreresidents from the south know it by the name that it was first called: BF Ruins. This interesting little one-stop-shop for everything has been inside BF Homes as far back as I can remember. Before Aguirre became a famous food strip, right at its corner with President's Avenue was the ruins of an abandoned old building. Some really cool merchants started pitching tents and setting up tables to sell their wares there. You'd find a lot of really cool vintage items and some stylish clothes that you won't get in malls. Over the years, it has developed more into a find-everything-here place selling DVDs, CDs, electronic gadgets, accessories, clothes for kids, swimwear, tshirts, gift items and toys. It is now a structure with a huge roof and several stalls. It was called The Good Shepherd Bazaar for a few years now and usually runs between 2pm to 2am. However, their selling time seems to have changed very recently and most stalls are already open by noon and close around 11pm. While shopping in the sweltering heat may not be a good idea in the summer, I often brave the traffic and the heat to go here because they still have the best selection of children's items. If you're looking for class A toys, they've got a bunch you can get from P100 to P200. For instance, if you buy Shopkins (those little plastic toys with faces) in the mall, a 5-piece set would cost you about P350. Here, you get the items with the same quality - since it's all made in China anyway - for P120. You can get a two-piece swim suit for a baby for only P80 and Gerber Graduates, which is not available in malls here, for P220. Pajamas for kids run for about P100. Oh, and they have a nice little food area where you can get some really cool snacks. They have kwek-kwek and tokneneng selling for P20 for an order of 5 pieces. Chicken skin is the bomb! They sell 5 pieces for P25.

Found everything I needed within 10 minutes, everything you need and more is within walking…read moredistance of each other. Lots of non-bookstore items there too, so you'll be picking stuff up at the cashier too lol

The biggest and most popular bookstore in the metro (and nationwide) has been serving Filipino's…read moreyoung and old since the 1940's and is continuing to expand their empire throughout the Philippines even in the rural areas. I must finish at least one book per week or I'm incomplete, so when my options ran out (and read most of the books available), I dusted my parent's old bookshelf to reveal several of their book collection during their college days with price tags from National Bookstore.What I like about this bookstore is that they don't just sell all sorts of books, but also school supplies and office supplies, Home and Office essentials, gadget accessories, vaults, toys such as board games and chess; gift wrapping, party favors and art supplies.I also like when National Bookstore takes effort in enumerating the bestselling books for the month for fiction and nonfiction category. When you visit the store, share your blessings in life with this business with a heart, as they give chance to consumers to donate notebooks, pencils, eraser and sharpener for PHp25.00 and are given to children needing it.

Activity center in alabang town center it's like a dirty market especially those bazaar, some of…read morethe booths are selling ukay ukay very disappointed.

Excellent huge shopping mall in Alabang. Good restaurants, upscale shopping and a theater. I stayed…read morenearby and could safely walk to and from here or catch local transport.

I bought a 150k peso Lazy Boy 3 peice couch from the BGC branch a year ago, one armrest has very…read morelittle filling, I have complained time after time and they always agree to send someone to check it. but it never happens. When it was first deliverd I was told the agent would visit me to adjust it, never happend. Be aware. I am building a house in the provence and want the same couch but I dont want to deal with these people.

Another veteran of Alabang town Center. As I mentioned in one of my reviews, I often found myself…read morespending a lot of time in Time Zone playing video games on arcade machines. I knew this store not by name, but simply by the furniture that they sold. I never really paid it any sort of attention. I'm surprised that it's still there. I mean, it's not like you see a furniture store always jam packed with people right? But I guess in a way that just goes to show a certain lesson. That sometimes, a successful business doesn't always have to be the one that draws in a big crowd. Some businesses might not draw a huge crowd, but are nevertheless capable of drawing a huge profit. And that is probably why it's still standing there today. I actually never thought I'd live to see a day that I'm happy to see that a furniture store that's been there for the longest time is still there.