One of Manila's most fashionable commercial arcades, Glorietta comprises a central atrium and four shopping malls (named Glorietta 1 2 3 & 4) that house a wide array of department stores specialty shops, name brand boutiques, continental-style cafes, fine dining restaurants, arts and crafts galleries, antique stores and state-of-the-art cinemas. Globally recognized establishments like Tower Records and Hard Rock Cafe are found alongside the Philippines' own market pacesetters. Foreign guests are advised to visit the Customer Information Counter at the atrium to obtain maps and information. Glorietta is the commercial heart of the Ayala Center.

One of the more affluent-looking department stores in Manila, Rustan's is where you encounter such globally known luxury brands as Cartier, Dunhill, Tiffany and Lalique. Rustan's is also worth a visit for its Philippine section which carries a fine selection of native arts and crafts. Opened in the 1970s, Rustan's has been surpassed in size and scale by newer shopping malls but it remains the preferred department store of Manila's rich and famous. The store attendants are attentive yet leave you to freely browse.

For some reason it seems Filipinos cannot get enough of this American brand. There is a Guess shop, sometimes two, in every major mall throughout Metro Manila. It is as if the brand has touched the national psyche and become a kind of status symbol. Teenage girls in particular like to walk around brandishing a Guess shopping bag. As in any Guess shop around the world, on display here are cowboy jeans and lumberjack shirts, T-shirts and sweatshirts, belts and accessories, watches and wallets, and a whole variety of other items. Prices are generally lower than in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and they get slashed by as much as half at sale time.

This posh shopping mall encompasses three department stores (Rustan's Tower, Crossings and Marks & Spencer), name brand boutiques (Armani, Polo and Cerruti, among others), specialty stores, cafes, restaurants, game centers, and the William J. Shaw Theater. Foreign visitors will be pleased to know the mall is located just a minute away from the Edsa Shangri-La hotel and connected to the MRT Shaw Boulevard station by a walkway. Cheap and cheerful dining can be found at the Food Court in the basement.

The window dressing of the first Bench store is a solitary park bench with a pair of jeans nonchalantly draped over it,made an impact as did the clothes. Initially offering only men's T-shirts and jeans, Bench now sells women's wear body/bath items baby/children's collection skin care/cosmetic line stationery and dinnerware. A trend setter in advertising circles, Bench jump-started the modeling careers of unknown adolescents who became instant celebrities. To its many young patrons, wearing a Bench product is a personal fashion statement. Twenty-eight outlets exist in Metro Manila 36 more in other cities and five overseas.

SM City North EDSA (variously called SM City, SM North, SM North EDSA, or SM Northmall) was the first SM mall to be constructed but has been updated in several transformations. Crowds of students from nearby schools and colleges hang out in the air-conditioned comfort of five levels of shops restaurants and cinemas. As with other SM malls be on the lookout for what is called "midnight madness" when prices are slashed by 50 percent or more and the milling shoppers can carry on hunting for bargains until midnight.