Where to buy toys in Manila: Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas

Comic Odyssey: Robinson's Galleria

Where to buy Toys in Manila:Robinson's Galleria, Ortigas Avenue cor. EDSA, Quezon City.

While the Toy Mecca of Manila will, in our opinion, always be that wretched hive of scum and villainy called Greenhills (Seriously, it used to be a real hive of scum and villainy); time, circumstance and company sometimes prevent us or visitors from going to Greenhills - especially with the traffic.

So we've decided to start compiling alternate places where you or visitors to our country may find toys.

Presenting: Robinson's Galleria, Ortigas. Wikipedia defines the Robinsom's Galleria mall as: "...a 5-level shopping mall and a landmark along, EDSA and Ortigas Avenue with more than 400 shops, dining outlets, entertainment facilities and service centers. It is located within a mixed-use complex composed of two high-rise office towers namely the Galleria Corporate Center and the Robinsons-Equitable Tower, the Holiday Inn Manila and Crowne Plaza Manila, the Galleria Regency and the historic EDSA Shrine."

John Gokongwei purchased the land where Robinsons Galleria now stands from the government in 1987 following the miracle of People Power that led to the fall of the Marcos Dictatorship - yes it was a dictatorship, and he did not stand down to prevent bloodshed (God knows he's spilled enough already), he was ousted and ran with his tail between his legs He is no hero. The Catholic Church purchased the land at the very corner where now stands the EDSA shrine. The mall opened in 1990. 

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Unfortunately, Robinson's Galleria has been unable to properly zone most of its toy stores. It used to have one or two more, but renovations have seen to the closing of those stores (Including a concept restaurant that displayed and sold toys). The mall - one of the oldest  in the country - is currently undergoing massive rehabilitation works. 

The Gift Factory

1) Gift Factory is found on the second floor of the East side (The side away from EDSA) of the shopping complex. It  

Gift Factory sells some really cute stuffed toys - some of them revolving around characters from popular cute cartoons and video-games (You can clearly see the Pokemon in the photo). 

They are probably not licensed copies given the low prices, but are cute, durable and safe enough to give as gifts to children or loved ones. 

It's technically a souvenir shop.

Not to be confused with another Gift Factory that can be found on Facebook. 

No they don't have t a social media page. 

Robinson's Department Store, East mall entrance

2) The Robinson's Department Store We actually DO NOT recommend the Robinson's Department store Toy section - which is an extension of Toys R'Us - for the reason that it always smells funny there. It smells like the methane filled parking area of the mall but this is on the second floor of the East side  of the mall.

Why it smells like that has always bothered us. So we weren't surprised when this particular section caught fire in 2013 - which resulted in a 2 day shut down of the mall - and a to-die for literal burn out sale after.

However occasionally - and we stress, occasionally - when new toys are released and the major Toys R'Us in Galleria has already been raided by the scalpers, you might find a rare item floating around in the Department store. So its worth checking out every now and then.

They also have two small extensions: The first at the Department store entrance at the East side of the mall, and; the second one in the East side basement level where all the tech stuff is. These normally feature items that are too beat up to return to their manufacturer or just simply refuse to move even when they are on sale.



Their website can be found here.

And this is their Facebook page.

A gem of a store

3) Comic Odyssey We do not understand why Robinson's Galleria would put this gem of a store at the very basement of the complex (West side), next to the service establishments when a store like this should be next to Toys R'Us. They don't directly compete and at the end of the day, more money for this store is more money for the mall.

It's almost like the mall rejects the Geek market.

Anyway, this is one of THE nicest comic book stores in the country: You can pre-order comic books via E-mail - just get on thir mailing list - and; They carry not just comic books, but collectibles and a few action figures.

But the best part about Comic Odyssey is the owners. If they are there - which they usually are, especially Sandy - you can have a great conversation with them about Comics. These guys are not just sellers, they know what they are selling.

This is their website - which is pretty neat - and here is their Facebook group page that you can join.

Toys R'Us Robinsons Galleria

4) Toys R'US  There are currently 27 Toys R'Us stores in the Philippines and if we  remember correctly, this was the first one.

It used to be bigger. They've downsized a bit since then and it's still pretty much one of the go-to-stores for toys in the Metro.

We have a lot of good memories from this store.

Their Facebook page can be found here.

And here's their website.