It isn’t SM or Ayala. But Puregold can definitely hold its own ground as an aggressive hypermarket and retail chain now expanding in the provinces. When Puregold Tanza opened in October 2010,?it killed the cows. Okay, joking.
With the last expanse of dried untamed grass in front of the municipal hall turning into a giant green lego block… it gave the town a feeling that Tanza is no longer outside or away from the city.??By city I mean Metro Manila and surrounding build-up like Bacoor and Imus, Cavite.
The establishment features the town’s first Banco de Oro (BDO) branch, first Mang Inasal restaurant, and an additional Mercury Drug. Inside there’s an arcade, optical shop, Japan Home Centre, and mini food court. There’s space for a few more tenants.
Wait, why am I writing about Puregold?
You can’t help but feel a bit sentimental when you see patches of open land start turning into buildings, roads, and subdivisions. I’ve been a resident of Tanza for the past fourteen years and I’ve seen it slowly evolve from a quiet suburban town to an aspiring city.
I remember when the town’s first and only McDonald’s opened in 1999 around the same time my family moved to the Philippines. A year later the town’s first Jollibee opened. Then almost at the same time the first KFC and Chowking. Since then, the KFC closed down and was replaced by a furniture store. Next to this furniture store is a new Chic-Boy scheduled to open soon.
If you’ll take my impression of Tanza, I believe the infrastructure is quite good. Today, the roads and bridges are wider. Tanza’s large public market (palengke) is frequented by people from neighboring towns. The municipal hall added a third floor recently.
Gone are the days of having to go all the way to SM Bacoor to do groceries. That was back in high school when I’d ask my family to line up for the midnight advance screening of Star Wars Episode II in that same mall.
Gone are the days of shopping in neighborhood mom ‘n pop grocery stores. For those familiar in my part of Cavite this meant doing groceries in the eternally crowded Emilu’s (Think of this as Cavite’s?Cherry Foodarama or Hi-Top). I remember loading my Emilu’s basket with Yakee! sour gum candy and boxed Sunkist Apple.
It feels great to reminisce. It’s like that scene when Marty McFly ends up in the 1950s and sees his whole neighborhood as an open field with a newly paved road in the middle.
Marty McFly visits his neighborhood in 1955.
I’ve realized I write much about my travels but barely anything about my own hometown. I’ll try to think of other things in Tanza worth writing about.?Maybe this town will be a city faster than what most would expect or think. And those crazy cows that walk along the highway? They’ll be memories. Like how my dad recalls the horses in town.
Location.?Find Puregold Tanza along Antero Soriano Highway in Brgy. Daang Amaya. The location is near the town’s Jollibee, Chowking, McDonald’s, and Chic-Boy (opening soon). The hypermarket sits almost directly opposite the Tanza Municipal Hall.
Related malls. Puregold Tanza’s nearby competitor is SM City Rosario (about five to ten minutes away) which opened in 2009. A sign was put up a few months ago indicating that a new Robinson’s Mall will open in Tejero, General Trias (about three minutes down the road).
Other noteworthy malls in Cavite:
- SM City Bacoor (first SM in Cavite)
- SM City Dasmari?as?(recently expanded with a new annex)
- Robinson’s Place Imus (first Robinson’s in Cavite)
- Robinson’s Place Dasmarinas
- Summit Ridge Tagaytay
- SM Marketmall Dasmari?as?(first of its kind; located at former spot of Kadiwa public market)
- SM City Rosario (closest SM to my house)
- Ayala “The District” (Cavite’s first Ayala mall, under construction in Imus)