A 'NATIONAL'...

You must have that firm determination. Kung gusto mo umunlad, pursigihin mo, que bumaha ‘yan o bumagyo ‘yan o umaraw ‘yan, umpisa uli, ang success ay nasa iyo (If you want to succeed, you have to strive, rain or shine, just start over. Success is in your hands).”

That firm determination, 75 years later, is now housed in 226 National Book Stores around the Philippines, not counting the three Metro Book Stores under the National Book Store umbrella in Hong Kong. And it’s growing still. This year, more stores are scheduled to open in 14 new locations in the country. Where it is impractical to build a bookstore, the National Book Store Foundation was set up in 2004 and it has since built over 500 libraries and distributed two million school supplies in the poorest communities. After all, since the very beginning, Nanay Coring has always made it her mission to make available what is essentially dream materials—books, pencils, pens, notebooks and sketchpads, journals, world maps and atlases, bookmarks, markers, and highlighters—available to many Filipinos at price points as low as possible, even at margins impractical to a businessperson.

Other than a “national” event, the success story that is National Book Store is a family affair, one reflective of the bonds every Filipino treasures, the bond with family. The Ramos children—Alfredo, Benjamin, and Cecilia—have been involved in the business as soon as they learned to read and write and enough of mathematics.

Now, a third-generation Ramos, Xandra Ramos-Padilla, is on top of National Book Store as managing director, but her family is in full support behind her, her father Alfredo as president, her mother Presentacion Ramos as vice president, and her brothers Adrian Ramos as chief financial officer and Anton Ramos as vice president for business development—and, of course, Nanay Coring as a continuing guide and inspiration.

On its 75th anniversary, Xandra made a point to include every Filipino in the celebration and she’s not exaggerating. After all, many Filipinos who ever went to school must have a National Book Store story, even those who grew up in areas without a National Book Store before its nationwide expansion, which started with a Cebu branch in 1987. Many of these Filipinos still cherish memories of flying to Manila every summer to buy stuff for the coming schoolyear. And the books, it must be fair to say that many generations of writers first found whom to emulate in the books that lined the shelves of National Book Store!

Indeed, more than a supplier of books and school and art supplies, the bookstore has over the past 75 years ignited passions and helped dreams transition to reality. How many dreamers have noted down their desires in its journals? How many flights of fancy have we taken between the covers of its books? How many nuggets of wisdom have we bookmarked or highlighted on their pages? How many of our aspirations have been visualized by the power of its pencils, crayons, Pentel pens, or oil pastels? How many of us have wished upon the back of its notebooks, the margins of its books, or sketchpads? On how many of its Posts-It have we written ourselves reminders to keep us straying from the path? How many of our plans took shape and form on its planners? How many of our love stories were written on its Hallmark cards?

Into the future, as it looks back to 75 years ago, National Book Store has launched itself. Four years ago, in partnership with Raffles Makati, it spearheaded the Readers and Writers Festival, an annual gathering of local authors, scriptwriters, playwrights, poets, publishers, etc., with a few international guests flown in, to keep the love of writing and reading aflame. It has launched exclusive collaborations with top artists and personalities, presented countless fun events that are art and learning related, and, just recently, opened new specialty stores—The Art Bar, The Work Station, and Noteworthy.

In an unexpected move, National Book Store has taken its mission to help students by making books and school supplies as affordable and accessible as possible to the next level: It has now formally entered the education industry and created a new tertiary education institution, the NBS College, a modern college on the corner of Quezon Avenue and Scout Borromeo, Quezon City. The college will initially focus on six courses—Accountancy, Accounting Information System, Entrepreneurship, Computer Science, Library and Information Science, and Tourism Management.

To celebrate all these on its 75th year, National Book Store presented “National Book Stories” on Aug. 30 at the Fairmont grand ballroom, a grand occasion for the iconic brand’s partners, managers, and special guests. Nanay Coring’s family, loyal staff, wellwishers, and partners all turned up in full force at the celebratory dinner. The country’s business leaders Emil Yap III of The Manila Bulletin, Tessa Sy Coson of SM Supermalls, Robina Pe of Robinsons, Vivian Que Azcona of Mercury Drug, and Judy Araneta Roxas of the Araneta Group, also came to celebrate the success of the woman who is believed to have singlehandedly changed the landscape of book publishing and retail in the country.

There were many highlights in the evening’s program hosted by Toni Gonzaga. Sarah Geronimo opened the show with an electrifying cover of Destiny’s Child’s 2001 hit “Survivor” as well as a tribute to all the lives touched by the National Book Store Foundation. Piolo Pascual serenaded Nanay Coring with her favorite song, “Dahil Sa Iyo,” an old ballad from the 1930s. Gary Valenciano surprised everyone with the new National Book Store anthem, which he himself composed, and later ended the evening on a high note with a dance repertoire.

“From a small store in Escolta, which my Lolo Jose and Lola Coring started to a strong network of more 200 stores nationwide, the success and enduring legacy of National Book Store was made possible with the help of our beloved partners and passionate customers who we consider as part of the National Book Store family,” says Xandra. “Each Filipino has their own ‘National Book Story’ and, as we look beyond the past 75 years, we hope Filipinos all over the country and the world will have more of such stories.”