But among all the small grocery stores,
only Ororama, which was established on July 6, 1969, continued its business and
now, after 44 years, still remains, as one of Cagayan de Oro’s best performing
retail business.
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| The photo on the right side shows the old Ororama Store along Osmeña street. |
The owners of Ororama started
with a vision of wanting to give the
people of Cagayan de Oro a new kind of shopping experience – a little of the
Manila shopping experience. At that time, Cagayan de Oro was still relatively
small and Ororama also started as a little store along Osmeña St. -- as a 300 square-meter store selling grocery
items, fresh food and a few glassware.
Compared to other existing grocery stores
at that time, Ororama had more assortments, more variety of stocks. Ororama
also had the advantage of having Manila stocks. At that time, one of the
difficulties was the shipment from Manila since there were no container vans
yet and stocks were delivered loose so there were a lot of damages and goods
were not hauled by third-party distributors yet but Ororama had the advantage
of having a Manila office.
The business indeed grew, especially since
it served the higher end market because even back then Ororama 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 and moved to Cogon area around
JR Borja and Mortola Sts. 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. Of the 500, around 20 employees have tenure of more
than 30 years; the most senior is in her 44th year of being an
employee.
After Cogon, Ororama opened its Carmen
branch and later the Ororama Megacenter in 1990 which reinvented shopping for
Kagay-anons since it just didn’t have your usual grocery and department store
but it also had 3 Cinemas, a bowling alley and a variety of tenants.
Now despite the challenges Ororama has
faced all these years, it continues to serve Kagay-anons by providing quality
products at competitive prices and excellent customer service. What started as
a little store now offers a wide variety of grocery items from basic needs to
various commodities and household items. Its department store also prides
itself of an extensive selection which includes ladies and men’s fashion and
accessories, children’s wear, shoes and bags, plastic and glassware, home
furniture, furnishings, appliances, decors, toys, sporting goods and gift
items, all of which assures high quality yet with value for their customers’
money.
After 44 years, Ororama remains focused on
its mission: to create a shopping environment where absolute customer
satisfaction is our highest priority.
