Our Family's Epic S&R Sale Experience

7 am, lining up at the parking lot.

How far are you willing to go to buy stuff at discounted rates? How much discomfort are you willing to suffer? And what would motivate people to brave long lines and huge crowds? I soon found out my new threshold for "shopping pain tolerance" when I took a shopping "stress test" of sorts, at the recently concluded S&R Member's Treat sale.

My family (and by that I mean the family I was born into) has enjoyed S&R Membership since it opened a decade ago, and when I was still single, I had pleasant shopping trips with my mom and sis, getting stuff at S&R sales always towards the end of the sale, when lines are no longer crazy, and the crowd is no longer vicious.  That was our paradigm - avoid the crowds, and enjoy the experience.  We didn't think in terms of what we missed, or what items were grabbed early by shopping savvy early birds who got there before us.  We savored what discounts were still available without the stress! We tend to see the glass half full instead of half empty, I guess.   So imagine my culture shock at my family (this time I mean the one I married into), at the extent to which they were willing to expend energy and effort to exploit a sale.

Guijo and Narra on a shopping "research" trip at S&R (with their Ninang Rina)

It started with research trips. A week before the sale, my husband Oliver, and his sister Rina, together with my Mom-in-law Mama Rubi, met up at S&R Fort Bonifacio branch, for a focused scan of what items were needed for our family business. They methodically scoped the warehouse, row by row, deliberating carefully. Weeks back, they've done their tour of other shopping hubs, from various warehouse Depots to Divisoria - they know the going rates for stuff, so they know which kinds of bargains are pounce-worthy. Models were chosen, prices were noted, discounts were projected, quantities were decided, and a shopping plan (division of labor) was designated. Oliver and I were assigned to go to S&R Pasay branch, near our house; My sis-in-laws Rina and Ging were going to take S&R Fort Bonifacio branch.  Part of the plan was the preparation of staff to assist us, and vehicles to transport our projected purchases.

The queue closer to the entrance. 2 hours more of waiting.

On the day of the sale, we got up early and made it to S&R by 7 am - and to our surprise (or dismay!) the huge parking lot was almost full and the line to the entrance already snaked its way halfway around the lot, with a few loops to boot!  Other shoppers had the foresight to bring umbrellas. I took a mental note for the next sale! So while our staff lined up, I crossed Macapagal hiway to buy a few essentials: snacks, candy and gum, water, and coffee. We had breakfast while in the queue.  When we approached the entrance, we found out that each member was entitled to one shopping cart only, and we had 3 membership cards, so we planned out how to deploy our 3 carts. By 9:30 am, we were at last admitted inside the shopping warehouse. Oliver immediately queued up our carts on one of the check-out lanes, and we began our fatiguing trips, back and forth, to load up our carts. Our bigger items, we ordered separately for pick-up outside the warehouse. 

Our carts on queue, and our assistant's stool to sit on.

It took us another 3 hours of queueing up at the check-out counter. That gave us ample time to buy and claim big stuff, and have Oliver and our driver make one trip to our house to unload, and come back for us, for a second trip. I had enough time to scour the warehouse without having to negotiate congested lanes with a heavy and bulky push cart.  It was very tiring though, to lug stuff back and forth countless times. Oliver was on the phone coordinating with his sister, and to our delight, we all got exactly what we were assigned to purchase - everything on the list they made was successfully acquired. 

Inside: "Bumper to bumper", just like Manila's traffic.

Now, you'd think after 6 hours of punishing queueing, the Carsi Cruz family would feel inclined to rest - haha, NO. Oliver decided to go to the gym right after (with me in tow). Surprisingly, I did a pretty good workout. I guess I had a lot of leftover adrenaline from our olympic shopping experience. While we were at the gym working out, Oliver's sister Rina, went back for a second round of everything! She spent the morning shopping for our joint business; and the afternoon for her other business and her personal stuff at home.  And that's not the end of it, after such a long day, the siblings met for dinner and had a marathon meeting that lasted until midnight.

Batch 1 of our purchases. 

While it was a challenge for me to keep up with my husband's pace, I did manage to do my share of the day's work AND care for my kids in between errands. I fed Guijo and Narra throughout the day, and brought Narra with me to the family meeting, without her yaya, so I was able to feed her dinner, change her, and lull her to sleep while the meeting took place.  Somehow too, I was able to continue to breast feed Guijo despite my busy sched. I don't know how it works out, but it does. I feed him before I leave, and as soon as I return, and when everyone's already resting, Guijo and I enjoy our precious bonding time as I feed him throughout the night.

Someone had the gall (a man) to tell me once, that I'm lucky not to be doing anything because I am a housewife now, that I am not "working". Sigh. It's just sad that only remunerated work gets acknowledgement, that's the sad, sad truth for women all over the world. I swear, though, that on a day like this, a crazy sale day like this, I'd be happy to give that ignorant fool the chance to be in my shoes and let's see if he'd last through the night, and fare with as much grace, and give as much tender care as I did! Hah!