Hey guys, Ralf here, I’ve been having so much fun with my new friends these past few weeks! to celebrate one of my friends birthdays, we went to Ever!
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Ever is the nickname for the Ever Gotesco Commonwealth mall, which is the only surviving Ever-branded mall left.
The first shopping complex to be associated with the Ever brand was the Ever Emporium, launched in Recto Avenue, Manila in 1972, opened by an entrepreneur named Jose Go.
The first Ever Emporium mall was built in 1975 in Monumento, Caloocan.
The Ever brand would continue to expand and diversify. New malls like Ever Gotesco Grand Central, Ever Center Las Piñas Go opened soon after the original Ever emporium mall was opened.
Jose Go opened up a new company, Ever Gotesco Resources and Holdings, in 1994. This company soon went public in 1996.
Something else opened up in 1994, albeit this time it isn’t a company.
You guessed it, it was the one and only “Ever Gotesco Commonwealth” mall.
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For me, Ever’s been a core part of my youth. It's a place I've been going to since I was a young kid. It was one of, if not the first mall in my life, and it has given me so many treasured memories.
We commuted via jeepney to the mall, via commonwealth avenue and back then, the traffic was fine, it wasn’t too much and we were able to get there safely.
As we passed through a path surrounded by small stores selling food and drinks, I felt…. cool? it was as if the soul of Kim Gyuri from KARA herself possessed me and made me feel like i was in the pretty girl MV. I just couldn't shake off the feeling that this day might just be... cool?
After entering through the gates, we roamed the store frantically, asking ourselves and each other “where do we go?”.
We decided the rational route was to go to the uppermost floor. Now, as someone who’s been going to ever since childhood, i knew what this place was, it was the ever equivalent of SM’s Cyberzone store, A floor filled with gadget repairmen who were more than eager to repair your phone, and not too far off from their booths are a bunch of tech stores filled with the latest phones and tablets, but, fate decided to make us turn to the left, and when we did, my face FROZE.
“WAIT THEY HAVE A TOM’S WORLD AND A BUNCH OF PHOTOBOOTHS OVER HERE?”
I said to myself.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, all this time, these wonderful gems were just hanging out in a corner of ever that i hadn’t bothered checking.
So, for those who don’t know, Tom’s World is a chain of arcades in Metro Manila that forms core childhood memories.
My first years of life were spent playing in these places so you already know that when I went into the arcade, I felt a joy I haven't felt in so long!
I remember paying 100 bucks for like, 20 something tokens to spend on rigged crane games, kiddie rides, and basketball and bowling arcade machines that never really gave us the tickets we were promised…
I also remember looking at the girls in karaoke booths with envy, wishing I was them, and I also came to the rude realization that I am no longer 7, I am now 17, 77 kilograms and 5 '11 after trying to squeeze my body into the tiny toddler sized rides.
and then we went down to eat at Mang Inasal, which sells BBQ chicken, Halo-Halo ( think shaved ice, condensed milk, ube ice cream, coconut shavings, jelly cubes and a bunch of other stuff).
I ordered a small plate of palabok thinking that I won't be THAT hungry, but, you know, turns out, I really was THAT hungry…
I devoured my friend's leftovers just as we were about to leave the restaurant without thinking twice about my social status and reputation. i really wanted to eat more and i didn’t want to pay for more, because i had just gotten a cup of cookies and cream yogurt from yogkatta like it was 2013 or something, and it cost 80 something pesos, and i really didnt want to let them waste that much food.
so yeah, we then went to watsons and window shopped for a bit, me and my friends browsed through the store and one of them was having multiple lifetime-altering long term decisions at the skincare isle, while i bought a coin-sized container of vicks vaporub and fell for a buy 1-get 1 free deal for Enchanteur scented baby powder knowing it has talc in it .
We rode a jeepney to the street that’s closest to our homes, and we went our own separate ways.
It was a nice day out.
Anyways,see you on the other side!
-Ralf