TAKE ALL OF THIS INFORMATION WITH A BIG GRAIN OF SALT!
if you've been to the urban areas of manila, you likely know about SM malls. from what i have seen, they are very prominent. and i mean very prominent.
the jeepneys going to SM North are typically very crowded, especially on weekends.
in june of 2025(saying this because they might be out of sale or removed after a few months), at the SM store of SM North, i found Smiggle bags (a brand i like) in the stationery section,
although they were 1,000 pesos-3,000 pesos, even for a pencil case. a Smiggle backpack cost 999 pesos, but a smiggle pencil case cost around 1,200-1,300 somehow. weird prices.
these stores are the ones i regularly go to. the savemore i go to is the one at west kamias / nepa. i'm still looking for the branches of puregold and robinson's, so let's assume i'm talking about puregold and robinson's groceries in general, i guess. all three stores meet the minimum & are your typical grocery store. savemore and puregold have stationery sections, along with savemore selling pencil cases & whole, ½ & ¼ papers for back to school. puregold has hair accessories, backpacks umbrellas, & rain boots as well. they also have crayons, specifically crayola. i bought my umbrella & crayons there!
my answer on which one is the best is probably very biased. i'd choose puregold any day, because they sell yogurt pouches and tubes. and i scoop a ton of 'em into my cart every time i go there. so yeah. puregold.