When I was in my teens, Tickles was one of my favorite shops. I loved holding their stuffed toys (mostly cute bears!) and pillows, and also looking at their stationery (I bought stationery taking the shape of a bear holding a heart, and I used that sparingly for many years). I also ate their P5 colorful candy gum, which you get by inserting a coin in a sort of vending machine.
Now, several years later, I was tickled by curiosity - forgive the pun, but it's true - to enter the Tickles shop when I was walking leisurely around Glorietta and in no particular hurry. It looked different, yet the same. They still have bears, though not as many. Now they have dogs and cats, too - in pillows, bags, stuffed toys, and stationery. Actually, they have other animals, too - I saw a squid stuffed toy as well. And yes, they still have the P5 candy! I bought one and it still tasted the same.
They have new items, too, like packing cubes for socks and underwear.
The staff noticed my interest and we talked a bit. I discovered that she was once a staff at the Alabang Town Center branch, where I used to go most of the time as a teenager. She was warm and friendly and told me about the Tickles then and now, and how the Tickles owners were also owners of other unique shops like Roy G Biv (yep, that shop of clothes, bags, and accessories arranged according to the colors of the rainbow, also with a branch in Glorietta).
My companion and I bought bookmarks with really nice paintings, and which can also be given as gifts. I had a strongly similar feeling to the one I felt when I bought that bear stationery years ago. read more