Gaisano Mall and Lechon Street in Bacolod, plus thefts at Auntie's sari-sari store

Gaisano Mall and Lechon Street in Bacolod, plus thefts at Auntie's sari-sari store

In one line
The couple tour Gaisano, an old local mall in Bacolod, and Lechon Street, then hear about repeated thefts at Auntie's sari-sari store along with local prices and the credit culture.

💡 Key takeaways

[Around Gaisano Mall]
• Gaisano is a local mall chain also found in Cebu. Bacolod has 2–3 of them and they're all similar, they say.
• It's an old mall where foreigners rarely go, they say. The 3rd floor has a government office for processing documents — in the provinces, offices rent upper floors of malls because there's no budget for separate buildings.
• The kids' cafe charges an entrance fee and had only one child. Local kids still mostly play outside, they say.
• The nearby Grand Regal Hotel has been closed for a long time.
• Nearby is 'Lechon Street', lined with lechon shops. The two say they don't enjoy lechon much because you tire of it quickly and the skin isn't crispy unless freshly roasted.

[Thefts at the sari-sari store]
• At dawn, a thief came in through the kitchen window several times, taking alcohol and cigarettes a little at a time. Auntie only noticed recently as stock kept running low.
• The thief removed the window glass panes one by one, came in, and reassembled them on the way out so nothing looked wrong (per the creator's comment). That window was the only one without bars.
• The CCTV was broken and the dogs didn't bark. The family thinks it's someone from the neighborhood.
• Stolen: 2 cartons of Mighty cigarettes (over 1,600 pesos per carton), Camel (roughly 1,800+ pesos per carton) and more.
• They say reporting it is useless, and the creator says bars are a must in local houses. His in-laws have blocked every gap in 2–3 layers and haven't been robbed.

[Neighborhood store prices and credit]
• One cigarette 10 pesos (used to be 4–6 pesos), one fried banana (turon) 10 pesos (used to be 5), one super jumbo double-yolk egg 13 pesos.
• Auntie's daily sales dropped from about 10,000 pesos to about 5,000 pesos, and the mother's store once sold only 200 pesos in a day, they say.
• Buying on credit (utang) is common. Auntie charges no interest and sets no due date, collecting when people have money; in Manila they set a date, she says.
• In the evening, regulars line up for Red Horse beer and cigarettes.

⏱ Chapters
00:00 Heading to Gaisano Mall
01:02 Lechon Street
02:03 Looking around Gaisano Mall
05:06 Arriving in Auntie's neighborhood
06:06 The sari-sari store theft story
10:17 Turon prices and credit culture
12:23 Egg prices and the window the thief used
14:24 Evening customers and heading home

💬 What viewers said (78 comments)
• Many sympathized with Auntie and suggested replacing the CCTV, adding alarms and installing bars.
• Viewers shared local petty-theft stories, like thieves pulling items out with long sticks or tongs, and sari-sari stores tying lighters on strings.
• Others reminisced that the Gaisano area looks the same as 18–20 years ago, and agreed lechon gets heavy fast.