Bookshop thrives with humanistic approach to business

MANAGING Director Gerardo Cabochan Jr. and son Jacob.

A retail store may not exactly be the first place one thinks of whenever the word “heroism” is mentioned, but in Pandayan Bookshop, that’s exactly the case—its employees have been known to go the extra mile for its customers, especially in the countryside where most of its branches are located and where there is a lack of material and financial resources.

One time, bookstore clerks pooled their own money upon overhearing two young siblings who didn’t have enough to pay for an item they needed. There was another instance when a store executive offered to subsidize the purchase of a good-quality scientific calculator for a cash-short teacher about to take her licensure exam. Managing director Gerardo Cabochan Jr. says there are many more stories like these in Pandayan Bookshop, where generosity is prevalent among employees, spurred by malasakit (concern for others) and a sense of empowerment to help solve other people’s problems.

The enterprise was originally conceived with the vision to help forge the minds and hearts of young people—hence, the word “pandayan” which refers to a blacksmith’s shop. The bookshop was started in 1993 mostly as a greeting card store, an offshoot of the Cabochan family-owned CVC Supermarket in Caloocan City. Today, Pandayan Bookshop tries to have “total appeal” by nurturing physical needs as well. Aside from school and office supplies, books and magazines, the store also offers gift items, home décor, greeting cards, and arts and crafts products for special occasions, plus school bags, fashion accessories, and personal care items. The bookshop even outsells some supermarkets when it comes to chocolates and flower arrangements on special occasions such as Valentine’s Day.

If a customer needs an item that is not available in the provincial outlet, Pandayan will source it in Metro Manila for the buyer. A community board inside the shop manifests a civic closeness unseen in other bookstores and retail chains—students post their greetings for their teachers, and customers write notes describing how they found friendship, even romantic relationships, inside the store.

Growing a business together with stakeholders

From its original staff of eight workers, Pandayan Bookshop employees now number around 500. The regular and permanent employees comprise around half of the entire workforce, “which is a large ratio if you look at other retail and food service establishments,” explains Cabochan. “You can’t keep on changing employees every five months and expect great service. You can only build up intimacy with customers when a large part of your workforce is regular and permanent, because they’ve been here for years and they know the faces of the customers.”

As a matter of fact, at the entrance of Pandayan Bookshop’s distribution center is a plaque that proudly bears, in alphabetical order, the names of all the members of the workforce. “I would say because of the sense of ownership in general, the workforce pulls together,” adds Cabochan. “I would say that at least 80 percent of the good ideas circulating in all our stores come from the workforce, not from top management.”

Pandayan Bookshop also encourages and enables employees to grow and achieve their dreams by means of monthly bonuses and a profit-sharing scheme, and cooperatives that augment the employees’ income through dividends. Apart from vacation and sick leaves, Pandayan employees are paid a maximum of 30 days if they need to stay in the hospital to take care of a sick child. Also, employees can attend family day at their child’s school and receive full payment for the day.

Indeed, Pandayan Bookshop has come a long way, bringing its customers and employees along its journey of success and growth. Cabochan recalls that the bookshop’s first distribution center was just housed in two small offices of the CVC outlet. “When you have one store, the bodega is sometimes inside the store premises. But when you start developing a chain, to reach volumes you start needing larger bodega space,” he further explains.

From renting a 500-sqm. space in the renowned 1,000-sqm Plastic City property in Valenzuela, the flourishing bookshop needed its own bigger distribution hub. A few years ago, the owners set their eyes on a 3,000-sqm. property with a building in the same city. This was where a loan from Plantersbank was most instrumental. Prior to this, Pandayan Bookshop’s expansions had been funded internally. Cabochan acknowledges that the bank loan enabled the bookshop to grow in a way that was no different from their own humanistic approach toward their customers. “Plantersbank has a genuine inclination to help SMEs [small and medium enterprises],” he says of the bank.

Now on its 20th year, Pandayan Bookshop advances toward the next decade with the goal to establish stronger nationwide presence. There are currently 57 Pandayan Bookshops in Luzon, with the focus this year on spreading from Pangasinan to Ilocos Norte, and plans are underway to reach Region 5 in 2015 and the Visayas by 2016.

“We’re on an expansion mode,” affirms Cabochan, happy with the success of Pandayan Bookshop thus far that illustrates the possibility of a pro-people business model that works and that can be sustained. “A business can be designed not just for profit and still be profitable,” he concludes.

Managing Director Gerardo Cabochan, Jr. explains the family’s decision to name the store “Pandayan”: “Why the name? Because in a blacksmith shop we shape metal, we forge metal. In Pandayan, we think we are shaping the minds and hearts of young people.”

Father Gerardo and son Jacob are managing the operations of Pandayan Bookshop, which started in 1993 as a greeting card store.   Today, Pandayan Bookshop strives to have “total appeal” by offering items that include office and school supplies, books, home décor, personal care items, and even chocolates during Valentine’s season.

Managing Director Gerardo Cabochan, Jr. and son Jacob who serves as Operations Manager are optimistic about the coming decade. Through the assistance of Plantersbank, the Pandayan group acquired a 3,000-sqm. land with a building in Valenzuela City to serve as its distribution hub, further improving the bookshop chain’s distribution management.

From just 8 employees in its first branch, the bookshop’s workforce now numbers about 500. “Part of the company’s core mission is that regular employees are supposed to end up with a house and lot, send their children to good school, eat nutritious food, wear decent clothing, and spend leisure time once in a while.” Photo shows Managing Director Gerardo Cabochan, Jr. (right) with a bookshop employee referred to as a kapwa panday.

Pandayan bookshop maintains a house brand since the owners believe that it’s a good way of attracting customers and serving them with good products. School and office supplies account for 60 percent of the company’s total sales.

The oriental-themed Pandayan logo features a dragon, symbolizing individual power, and a phoenix, representing self-renewal. The company is working towards having nationwide presence and envisions to be “Pambansang tatak para sa kapwa.”