THE SM Store of SM City Cagayan de Oro is known to have everything the shoppers need, be it for fashion, gadgets, entertainment, sports, bags and accessories, and others.
With almost everyone preferring to stay at home to avoid falling victim to the deadly coronavirus, they opted to utilize SM's Call to Deliver services. This time, the SM Store has more to offer its uptown consumers with the recent opening of the Ace Hardware Express.
According to Fidencio Ryan Laplap, Ace Hardware's area manager for Northern Mindanao, the Ace Hardware Express has almost all of the products displayed at the big hardware store.
Laplap said part of the reason they decided to put up the express store inside SM uptown's department store is due to the number of requests from clients, especially for the Call to Deliver.
"Call to deliver is really the department store's initiative and it has helped a lot, especially last year when the pandemic hit," Laplap said.
"The smallest of things like light bulbs or even the insect repellants, sanitizers, disinfectants, every time customers will call, its part of the items that they are looking for. That's the reason why the company decided to really come in and also help," he added.
When the threat of the novel coronavirus hit Cagayan de Oro City, Laplap said Ace Hardware was one of the fortunate businesses that was able to continue its operation as it is under the category of essentials. However, this does not mean they were not affected by the pandemic.
"It really dropped [the sales] but we tried to find ways to adjust our operations, our organizations, so that we will still be able to survive," Laplap said.
Among the items available at the Ace Hardware Express are the foldable tables which demand has increased due to a number of individuals working and taking their online classes at home.
"Most of our customers have houses that were not designed to accommodate extra tables for work from home and the children na mag online classes," Laplap said.
"Ang advantages ani, foldable sila tanan. mahipos sya. Human nimo sa imong pag work, online classes, imo ra sya i-fold, set aside then okay na," he added.
Apart from the foldable tables, the Ace Hardware Express also has a selection of home decors and equipment as well as disinfection materials.
Meanwhile, the SM City Cagayan de Oro will be holding a three-day sale on May 14 to 16 where shoppers and mall goers can enjoy up to 70 percent discounts in participating stores. One can also be the lucky winner of a brand-new Suzuki S-Presso MT.