A CHOCOLATE store has opened its first VisMin branch in the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
The Cocoa Trees, one of Asia’s chains of chocolate and confectionery brands, has leased a 40-square-meter retail space in the airport’s pre-departure area to market its wide range of international chocolate brands.
It sells popular chocolate brands like Toblerone, M&Ms, Ferrero Rocher and Mars, as well as brands like Starbrook Airlines from Belgium, Geisha and Fazermint from Finland, Valrhona from France, Anthon Berg from Denmark, and Goldkenn from Switzerland.
The store opened last Sept. 3.
Florida Zerrudo, general manager of Sweet Times Merchant Co., Inc., the local partner for The Cocoa Trees in the Philippines, said this is The Cocoa Trees’ first foray outside of Metro Manila.
“We are excited to finally open The Cocoa Trees at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport because we see the growing passenger traffic here, being the second busiest airport in the Philippines. The shop is a chocolate lover’s haven because we have different varieties of chocolates packaged as gift items or for personal consumption,” Zerrudo said in a press statement.
Pasalubong
Prices of chocolates at The Cocoa Trees range from less than P100 for a single chocolate bar to P1,300 for a pack.
“The Cocoa Trees is an exciting addition to the retail environment of MCIA. Filipinos love to buy gifts for their loved ones and this shop offers more pasalubong (homecoming gift) options for travelers,” said Ravishankar Saravu, chief commercial advisor of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC).
GMCAC is the private company that has managed the terminal operations at MCIA since November 2014.
It has renovated the terminal spaces as well as arranged for more flights to and from Mactan, even as it prepares to build a second terminal to serve Cebu’s growing air traffic and tourism and transportation needs.