Elsa's store: A slice of the Philippines

Filipino merchandise can be found here at Elsa's store. 

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

It is meant to be a retail store even if by its appearance it looks like a typical sari-sari store back home in the Philippines.

While Fil-American customers and the recently transplated Pinoys in the US may think of Elsa's Asian International Food Mart that way, the fact that it sells American and Filipino merchandise by the dozen certainly makes it a bonafide retail store.

At Elsa’s Asian International Food Mart, customers flock to buy goods and merchandise by the bulk from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m everyday, said Angelina Magcaleng, storekeeper confidante of Elsa Pepito-Laffite who owns and manages the store.

“Nanay” (mother) Magcaleng who tends the store in Elsa's absence, said the store is patronized by Fil-Americans, Americans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indians and Thais. 

Those looking for a particular food item would place an order and come back days later. Magcaleng explained that American customers are fond of Filipino barbecue, while the Chinese and Vietnamese look for soy sauce and Indians buy tofu.

Snack fare
At first Magcaleng said she was astonished by the daily turnout of customers who buy by the bulk or dozen. Back home, Pinoys usually buy a cup of cooking oil, sugar or vinegar so this was something new to her at first, she said.

Elsa's store sells ready to cook barbecue, siopao (Chinese meat bun), ice cream and Filipino snack fare like otap, dingdong, torta and polvoron. 

Magcaleng's husband, who also works at the store, said he was surprised there was an American male customer who looked for “Dingdong” and “Boy Bawang”, snacks consisting of fried corn kernels mixed with nuts.  

They asked the American if he is married to a Filipino and he answered that he tasted these snacks when he visited the Philippines and developed a taste for it.

Elsa's store also sells all kinds of noodles, spices, fish like bangus (milk fish) and galunggong, the latter being a best-seller among their customers. It also sells rice, a Filipino and Asian staple, by sacks and packs in different sizes. 

Adopted country
The store is also a veritable pharmacy of Filipino medicines with products like Alaxan, Efficacent Oil and other lotions believed to relieve upset stomach or trapped air in one's extremities. 

Filipino beauty items are also on sale, like Likas Papaya soap, Belo's beauty products and glatatione, the skin-whitening cream. Its continuing presence is proof that Fil-Americans still believe in homegrown products. 

Of course there's the home staple food of canned sardines like Ligo and 555 endorsed by actor Cesar Montano and dried fish that are packed in accordance with US standards. Even Star margarine is available. 

As early as June Christmas lanterns were sold out. The store is fast becoming a hangout for Fil-Americans who bring their children and food there on weekends.

At the store, Fil-Americans and their American friends swap stories of experiences back home in the Philippines and of life adjusting to their first few days in their adopted country. For them, Elsa's store is a piece of the Philippines transplanted in the US.

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