The Ukay-Ukay Experience

Do you wonder where your 4th grade basketball t-shirt went or the trendy baby doll dress went? How about all of the leftovers that never sell at the Goodwill? Well they went to the Philippines. Specifically, the ukay-ukay stores. An ukay-ukay is the equivalent of a Salvation Army or Goodwill on steroids. The musty smell is stronger, the clothes are more packed together, the styles are older and the prices are cheaper. Donated clothes from mainly the USA, South Korea and Japan get sent to the Philippines and then tossed into piles for people to pick through. Ukay-ukay stores are the reason why there are so many ice hockey players, Harvard alumni and summer campers in the Philippines. Some ukay-ukay stores have clothes packed on hangers, but those clothes are a little more expensive. A shirt in an ukay pile might be 10 pesos ($0.25), while a dress on a hanger may be 60 pesos ($1.50). And then there is always the option of bargaining if you get a bunch of items.

There are plenty of shopping malls and clothing stores in Legazpi, but they usually have clothes that are unnecessarily expensive, not well made and/or not my style at all.

I hate, HATE rummage shopping. Yeah, you find some good deals, but it takes too long to find a good deal. However, this one ukay-ukay near my house keeps drawing me back in. I've managed to find some pretty good gems in there.