Christmas at Rustan’s
Christmas has begun as the Tantoco family behind Rustan’s Commercial Corporation (RCC), headed by CEO Zenaida Rustia-Tantoco, threw a Christmas lunch worthy of Noche Buena yesterday, replete with angels ushering in guests, silver bells ringing, Santa Claus, and the Sisters of Mary Girl’s Town handbell ringers playing beloved carols.
The halls of the five-level Rustan’s shopping complex at Ayala Center in Makati City have been decked with boughs of holly, as well as candy canes, Christmas stockings, charming little snowmen, snowy owls, pine cones, and mistletoes, representing this year’s holiday themes that
range from traditional, even nostalgic and old-fashioned “Christmas in the Woods,” abloom with snow-encrusted trees with icicles dripping from the frosted branches, to “Glimmer & Glamour” decadent with silver, gold, and crystal. As they do every year, the whole team of Rustan’s traveled far and wide around the world in search of what Tantoco described in her opening speech as “thoughtful and attractive gifts for the family and the whole spectrum of friends,” from Nóvita ceramic dinnerware from Florence to Lladro’s glass and porcelain tabletop figurines from Valencia, Spain, from Rosenthal flatware and vases from Germany to Swarovski home accent pieces from Austria.
Christmas in the Philippines, especially in Manila, is a phenomenon that causes major traffic congestion in the streets, not to mention the cashier counters at the malls. The Philippines is also acknowledged for its celebration of the longest Christmas season, beginning September, the start of the ber months or brrr, referring to the chill once associated with the Christmas holidays, briefly interrupted by Halloween and the observance of All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2.
Rustan’s is a chain of upscale department stores, now running on its 63rd year, with branches in key urban areas in Metro Manila and also in Cebu, as well as the exclusive retailers of the biggest names in world luxury, from Cartier to Mikimoto. Apart from Zenaida Tantoco, in the center of yesterday’s pre-Christmas celebration was Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., who founded the company with his late wife Gliceria Tantoco in 1952. Also present at the lunch were Donnie Tantoco, president of RCC; Anton Huang, president of Stores Specialists, Inc.; Michael Huang, VP for Store Planning and Expansion; Dina Arroyo Tantoco, RCC marketing communications head; Marilen Tantoco, VP for Merchandisinghome division; Maritess Tantoco Enriquez, RCC member of the board, and Paolo Lobregat, senior buyer for men’s division at RCC.