Collecting toys and looking for a hangout might just be the best way to hone your entrepreneurial skills. That’s Business 101 from Fresh Manila, a crossed-reference group of Xavier High School friends and their families. Fresh Manila are High school friends John Tiu and Alvin Yap, the latter’s cousin Big Boy Cheng, with Rey Sanchez and Nicca Arboleda handling store management and inventory respectively.
Rabid toy collectors, but responsible adults nonetheless, Tiu, Yap and Cheng have day jobs from family-owned business. Fresh Manila sprouted when the trio wanted a hangout where they could just escape the daily grind and just play with their toys. The location was scoped while driving around. In turn, word-of-mouth, Multiply, blogs, peer-to-peer, eBay and a few influential clients, turned the store into a happening place. From walk-ins and drive-bys, from artists and students, families and friends. What started with play, became display, and on to pay. Pay them, that is. Business turned around in only six months.
“These toys are collector’s items, coming from different artists, each toy having a story behind it. Each toy caters to different people,” said Tiu. As diverse as the toys, so is the shop’s clientele. From six year olds to the very old, artists and advertising people who find toy collecting extremely fun, even moms bonding with their sons and becoming collectors themselves, they form the bulk of Fresh Manila’s customers.
Fresh Manila is the digital generation Sanrio. Majority of the toys appear Japanese-influenced, perhaps because they are. Despite being U.S. goods, the designers are more often than not American-born Asians. Foreign icons in the toy collection industry that visit the shop add to its marketability.
Recently, graffiti artist and toy designer Buff Monster created a toy exclusive to the Philippine market that was launched with toy signing and live events. The toy is a special edition in Fresh Manila green, a deviation from his trademark pink. A mere three inches and at US$30 a pop should give one an idea how humungous the toy collection trade is.
Collectors and fans at heart, the merchandise is from artists whose toy designs Fresh Manila are really passionate about and would love to meet. Visiting artists are amazed at how strong the Philippine market is, without fail. “There is not much profit. The business is good in the sense that we are bringing the [toy collection] culture into the country,” revealed Tiu. “It is a source of wonder for me because before, you never heard of a toy shop where people lined up for the stuff. Or a place where people go just to see the toys, where there’s a graffiti wall outside open to everybody,” he added.
Selling from P500 to a whopping P18 grand, to say the toys are expensive is an understatement. But these toys are designer pieces, exclusive and limited editions. As Tiu explained, “What do you do with paintings? You don’t play with them. You take care of them. You put them on display.”
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