Marks & Spencer at Edenwalk. Outside are people bathing under cold summer sun.

My cousin and I would regularly visit the town centre in Kingston, a 15-minute drive from the house with no traffic and a few blocks away from Kingston University (where Prince Caspian lead star, Ben Barnes, attended college) and Kingston College. We were regular customers of Marks & Spencer. That’s where we would buy clothes for my nieces and a bunch of things and do grocery shopping.

Marks & Spencer, Rustan’s elite brand in Manila, is one of the most visited shops in London. People call it M&S. It’s like SM Department Store and Supermarket, making it a common place for shopping. I think even the poorest among the British could buy food there.

Bianca is trying on a witch hat inside M&S. She’s wearing her primary school uniform.

They carry their own extensive brands of clothing line, home decors and probably some home theater furniture and surprisingly, a wide variety of food and delicious pre-cooked dishes, too. Quality is at its best. And their prices during sale months drop to as low as a P100. During their autumn sale, M&S almost gave away their swimwear line for a pound each. (Who in his right mind would go to their freezing beaches anyway? Their swimming pools are even covered.) My cousin bought me swim wear for 2 pounds and ended up buying all swimwear in the sale rack for a total of 17 pounds which I gave as pasalubong for our cousins here. I even got two utility bags for 2 pounds.

M&S is not just clothes. People go there to buy food.

It’s so unlike Manila’s M&S which only get foot traffic during Christmas season and frequented by the upper class on regular days. It intimidates common people with their staggering high prices. But who can blame them for the high cost of importation and low income levels of the majority of Filipinos?