Ororama's humble beginning...

 44 years ago, Cagayan de Oro was the typical small city in Northern Mindanao which had the regular establishments around – a public market, hotels, banks, bake shops and several small grocery stores.  Back then Cagayan de Oro was a laid back city, very peaceful and yet slowly developing into being a major city in Northern Mindanao.

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.

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 44^th 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.