It was a Christmas day and my niece had not yet received her present. We wanted to surprise her by bringing her to a shop that sold K-Pop merchandise here in Manila. Fortunately, I was able to come across CNA's well-updated Facebook page after Googling the term "K-Pop stuff".
Aside from the Korean Pop merchandise and products CNA is selling, they also have tons and tons of cutesy stuff such as fancy rings, earrings, bracelets, clips and scrunchies. |
I didn't have as many pictures to show since I was prohibited in taking them so please bear with these. Of course, that would've been probably my fault because I didn't mention how I wanted to post about them in this blog. And it's not exactly a blog when I hardly take care of it, anyway.
My niece's reaction was priceless. She was in disbelief... but we weren't able to capture it because picture taking was prohibited. |
Which brings me to my next concern. Yes, I understand that the owner is just cautious to not let anyone take pictures of his products, but for bloggers it's perfectly fine. Nonetheless, it's possible that someone could come in their store, pose herself/himself as a blogger, take pictures and actually copy their marketing strategy. And besides, one simply needs to visit their Facebook page (or any blogger's page that features them) to take a look at what they're selling.
See what I mean about the sucky pictures? Of course, a true k-pop fan would probably be able to identify the faces on those notebooks/sticky notes |
And another thing, since normal people cannot take pictures in the store, CNA also misses out on the opportunity of Facebook micro-advertising through tagging, don't you think?
Just another one of my sucky camera pictures. But it is evident that CNA has a lot of K-pop stuff to choose from. They even had phone straps for couples starring Psy. |
One more concern, my sister mentioned that there was this really really "scary" young sales lady who watched her like a hawk (which is perfectly understandable) sporting a not-so-friendly face and "radiating" bad vibes (I couldn't help but laugh when she mentioned the latter). My sister talked to her and gave her a nice smile and she didn't budge at all!
Feel free to click on the photo to view its original size. Total damage... 3000+ php. |
Lastly, the time we went there, they were offering free gift wrapping for purchases above 200 php. So my sister asked whether it were alright to have the three K-Pop albums (EXO, BAP and TVXQ- U-Know + Max) costing 630, 700, 990 respectively wrapped separately. At first, the cashier lady objected but my sister told her that if that were the case, she could pay for them separately since they were worth more than 200 php anyway. She eventually agreed to the request.
Fancy earrings from CNA located in Malate, Manila, Philippines |
Bottom line: There's no question that CNA sells some of the best K-Pop merchandise here in the Philippines. They have the latest K-Pop albums, K-Pop merchandise, and K-Pop poster and stickers freebies available. The prices are also reasonably cheap and affordable (equivalent to online prices based in other countries).
In addition to their K-Pop stuff, they also have a wide range of cute women accessories (fancy earrings, rings, necklaces, wigs, clamps, scrunchies and more) that it's quite a surprise to find out that the owner is a young Korean businessman. Heck, we were lucky that they were open in the 24th and 25th of December.
However, I couldn't help share my experience with them. Somehow, I am also bothered by the way bloggers and normal customers are treated differently.
Drop by C.N.A. at the G/F Unit D University Tower, Malate, 1004 Manila, Philippines. They also have a branch at Farmers, Cubao.