Gaisano Mall Davao Supermarket

I’m sure that I’ve visited the Gaisano Mall or GMall before, though I do not remember doing so before my most recent trip. This is the larger Gaisano Mall in Bajada, not to be confused with Gaisano South City Mall on Ilustre Street. No, I’ve been mainly going to NCCC, SM Mall and of course the new Abreeza Mall. Seemed like everything you could want was available at those fine malls.

Was I ever mistaken.

I spent quite a bit of time roaming the various groceries, supermarkets, wet markets, and health food stores (Healthy Options) trying to locate various items that I wished to eat and/or use as ingredients in dishes that I plan to prepare. I actually had fairly good results, though it was not easy. Some things were available in the wet market (garbanzo beans), others at the health food store (chia seeds, grain cereal) and few at the regular grocery and supermarkets (spinach, coconut syrup). Overall I didn’t fare too badly.

Before I go further, for those of you not familiar with the Philippines, the malls there are similar in many respects to the States, but quite different in others. One of the biggest differences is the fact that the major grocery stores or supermarkets are located in the malls. I’m not typically one that spends time in the malls here in the US. In fact I can not remember the last time I visited one in Spokane. In the Philippines it’s a different situation. The mall truly is where you will do most of your shopping. Yes, even the hardware stores are located there.

Anyway, I had another reason to visit Gaisano Mall, as I was meeting a friend there for lunch. It was a friend I met online, but not had the pleasure of meeting in person and we had decided on a nice little place right outside the supermarket. As I got to the mall quite early (haven’t adjusted to filipino time yet, or the unknown of the jeepney), I decided to take a quick look through the store. I also remembered that another friend had suggested I might find the dried garbanzos there. So I was interested if that was in fact true, as those proved difficult to locate.

I was absolutely shocked at what I saw as I walked down the aisles of this supermarket. So many imported goods with brands that I recognized from my local health food stores, as well as items that were “Kirkland” branded, Costco’s internal brand.

There were things like soups, cereals, sauces, drinks, etc. They even had Classico spaghetti sauce, and while a health food by any means, is a decent brand we’ve used here for years on our pasta. There were brands like Amy’s, Eden Oraganic, Bob’s Red Mill, Knudsen, Muir Glen, Imagine, Bearitos, Health Valley and lots of others I can’t recall. It was truly a gold mine for me, especially comparing it to anything else I had found in the region.

Obviously I was thrilled to have found this, and wondered why I had not known of this previously. Okay, I guess most pilipinos would not be that interested in this stuff, and so why did they go to all the trouble to import all this? Is there really that big a market in Davao for these items. If so, how come I wasn’t aware?

Questions I can’t answer, but I can just hope they continue to stock these items. I plan to support them as much as possible once I move there, though I still expect the bulk of my food will come from the market and what I prepare for myself. Overall prices weren’t much different than I’d pay here at the health stores.

By the way, I did find some dried garbanzo beans, as well as cans of organic. Salamat kaayo.