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CELEBRATES
44 years ago, Cagayan de Oro was the typical small city in Northern Mindanao which had the regular establishments around – public markets, hotels, banks, bake shops and several small grocery stores. Back then, Cagayan de Oro was very laid back; it was very peaceful yet it slowly developed into a major city.
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CORRESPONDENTS
YEARS
MARY GLOBIEN CAPILLAN-SALCEDO, ALEXANDR ARROYO, NADINE ARABELLE VIVARES
A
Humble beginnings
a few set-backs, Ororama had the advantage of having a Manila office. As years passed, the business grew. Especially since Ororama served the higher end market because even back then they also sold imported goods and products. The Osmeña store space was getting denser with the more volume of stocks coming in, so they gave it up her 44th year of being an employee. After Cogon, Ororama opened its Carmen branch and later the Ororama Megacenter. Opened in 1990, the Ororama Megacenter innovated shopping for Kagay-anons. It was complete with a department store and grocery; it also had 3 Cinemas, a bowling alley and a variety of tenants. Despite the numerous challenges the chain has faced these four decades and counting, Ororama continues to serve the City of Golden Friendship by unfailingly providing quality products at economical prices and with excellent customer service. The Ororama that once began as a small store in Osmeña now offers a wide variety of products from basic needs to various merchandise and even household items. Its department store prides itself of its broad selection of goods which includes ladies’, men’s and children’s apparel and accessories, shoes and bags, plastic and glassware, home furniture, appliances, decorations, toys, sporting goods and gift items. All the items are of high quality but comes with great value for the customers’ money. Today, Ororama remains focused on the mission it was built on: to create a shopping environment where absolute customer satisfaction is the highest and utmost priority.
mong all the small grocery stores that flourished, only Ororama continued its business and today, after 44 years, still remains as one of Cagayan de Oro’s best performing retail business. Established in July 6, 1969, Ororama was born under a vision of the owners wanting to give the people of Cagayan de Oro a new kind of shopping experience, an experience once only tangible in the Manila shopping scene. During that time, Cagayan de Oro was still a relatively small community and Ororama started out just as small. It was a little store (occupying only an area of 300 square-meters) selling grocery items, fresh produ ce and a few glassware along Osmeña Street. Unlike the other existing grocery stores during those years, Ororama had more variety of their stocks and assorted items. They also had the advantage of having stocks straight from Manila. However, one of the difficulties was the shipment from Manila since there were no container vans yet. Stocks were delivered loose resulting in damages while the goods were not hauled by third-party distributors. Although those caused
Despite the numerous challenges the chain has faced [...] Ororama continues to serve the City of Golden Friendship
and moved towards the Cogon area around JR Borja and Mortola Streets. The area then wasn’t as big as the one now; in fact the area where the grocery section is, used to be a motor shop. From 15 employees in 1969, Ororama now has more than 500 employees to date. Of the 500, around 20 employees have tenure of more than 30 years, the most senior is in
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