A jukebox lords it over in this roadside antiques shop. (Photo by ENRICO JOSE)

For those who love going to Bangkal in Makati and to Kamuning in Quezon City, thrift stores make for nirvana shopping.  Other people’s junk could be someone else’s treasure, and the idea of scouring these stores for finds is always filled with serendipity. 

For those who are willing to do scavenging and traveling at the same time, there are stores that line Crisologo Street in Vigan, Ilocos Sur for vintage pieces of furniture. If this is too far for you, there is a wonderland of second-hand and export-quality furniture in Sta. Rita, Guiguinto, Bulacan which is 40 minutes north of Manila via the NLEX. 

Take the Sta. Rita exit in Bulacan and before you reach Tabang town proper, you will find a host of stores specializing in vintage furniture.  The thrift stores of Sta. Rita are actually treasure boxes just waiting to be opened! You will find items ranging from decorative awnings to post-war soda bottles as well as wooden beams from ancestral homes that were already demolished.

One Saturday, we visited these stores in search of a jukebox.  For those who were born in the 90s, a jukebox is a contraption similar to a nickelodeon where instead of getting a motion picture, you get music played from vinyls. Again, for those who don’t know vinyls, it is like your modern day CDs but instead of silvery discs, vinyls are bigger and are analog in format. 

During the mid-part of the last century, jukeboxes were really popular. You would find them in soda fountains, restaurants, clubs, even in sari-sari stores and they were endless sources of popular songs of the day. The popularity of most recording stars during the time would be gauged based on the number of times their songs would be played on the jukebox, thus earning for them the moniker Jukebox Kings and Queens. This trend, however, died with the advent of the portable Magic Sing as well as the popularity of other forms of entertainment.

We scoured the stores and even found century-old pieces of furniture, tables known as “Tinipaklong” given that they resemble a grasshopper with its four-legged wooden base, vanity cabinets belonging to homes of the distant past, huge cabinets that can now be used as an armoire for your DVD/home entertainment systems. 

Also, you may look for a store called TWD, just in case you love modern Filipino furnishing popularized by Kenneth Cobonpue.  Yoda chairs and other rattan-made conversation pieces can be bought or you may place your special order, just bring a reference and TWD will make those furnitures.  Rattan and wicker as well as PVC-woven outdoor sets are available.  TWD has stores in Market! Market! as well as in Tiendesitas but of course, the price difference when you buy them in Sta. Rita is quite big.

Just be careful when shopping in Sta. Rita thrift stores since they are basically adjacent to a national road. Big provincial buses bound for Cabanatuan and as far as Cagayan Valley traverse the main road so traffic as well as dust and fumes are normal occurrences.  Just bring a bottle of water, wear comfortable clothing, and yes, use a face mask when shopping.