director Benoit de Clerck;Merlchers Time Pte-Breitlingmanaging directorMikeNeo; Baume &Mercier North East Asia managing director Christian Bartosch; Lucernemanaging directors Emerson and Ivan Yao; Hublot Swiss Prestige Ltd. chair Emil Klingelfuss; Panerai-Richemont Asia-Pacific Ltd. sales manager Vivian Hau; JLC-Richemont Asia-Pacific Ltd. sales manager Gary Ng
Upscale Lucerne marked its 30th anniversary by opening eight boutiques to highlight its eight luxury brands at Bonifacio High Street Central. Welcoming guests to the affair, Treasures: The Art of Time II, were brothers Ivan and Emerson Yao.
Present were hotshot brand representatives of some of the international brands; Benoit de Clerck, IWC managing director; Christian Bartosch, Baume & Mercier managing director; Vivian Hau, Panerai sales manager; Emil Klingelfuss, chairperson of Swiss Prestige Ltd. (Hublot); Gary Ng, Jaeger-LeCoultre sales manager; Mike Neo, managing director of Melchers Time (Breitling).
In his welcome speech, Lucerne president Ivan Yao said, “We at Lucerne are driven by one rule: to pursue what we love in the way we know best.” Thanking the crowd he said, “We couldn’t have made it this far without your constant support. Lucerne owes its success to all of you, that is why we humbly offer these eight new stores of the world’s best and most elegant timepieces to you, our dearest guests and friends.”
TV host Bianca Valerio emceed. Special raffle draws were held.
Displaying watch pieces from their SIHH and Baselworld 2012 collection were Baume & Mercier, Breitling, Hublot, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Tudor and Rolex, which got loads of the guests rushing to pull out their credit cards and make quick purchases, palanggas.
Travel Club turns 20
Would you believe that it has been 20 years since the Travel Club, the very first one-stop travel shop in Manille, opened?
Since 1992, when it opened a small independent luggage store in SM Megamall, Travel Club has grown into a multi-branch outfit found all over the country.
No wonder it was fitting to celebrate its 20th anniversary milestone in its maiden store in Megamall, natch!
The store has grown to carry international brands such as Tumi, Ace, World Traveller, Victorinox, Delsey, Mendoza, High Sierra and Healthy Back Bag.
For its 20th, patrons are offered Travel Club’s Platinum Mastercard, created with Allied Bank, dahlings.
Sandra Uy
Since 2002, Travel Club has received awesome recognition from the annual Ayala Malls Merchant Awards, for Store Operations Excellence, Marketing Excellence, Green Merchant and Store of the Year, no less.
The Department of Trade and Industry and Philippine Retailers Association also gave Travel Club their Outstanding Filipino Retailer award thrice. Now that’s kinda hard to beat, ’di bala, palanggas?
With all the accolades it has been getting, Travel Club has promised to push the limits further “for the betterment of the travel community,” said Primer Group of Companies president and CEO Jimmy Thai.
Ideal Vision Center
When that eye center opened years ago, Ideal Vision Center became the rage of the town.
Today, because of its totally relentless dedication to unparalleled superior service, Ideal has become the go-to place for eyeglasses.
“Hard work, team spirit and a big heart to serve are the key elements behind this bold commitment,” explained Dr. Joy Go, the brains behind Ideal Vision Center.
“To date, the company continues to provide a plethora of eye-care services, cutting-edge testing facilities and top-class products to meet the various needs of its discriminating customers while maintaining its goal to be globally recognized as a reliable top eyewear provider at par with the world’s best.”
Breezing around one shop, I noticed that Ideal Vision not only offers excellent eye-care services and quality products, dahlings, but it is also home to the world’s top eyewear brands such as Cartier, Michael Kors, Givenchy, Salvatore Ferragamo, Lacoste, Escada, Chloe, Calvin Klein, Dior and even the hard-to-find Diesel.
More important, palanggas, Ideal is our very own Filipino company; moi and countless others have tried and are satisfied with its services.
Moi clearly remembered that at a happening in one of our upscale bars, a very married man struck up a conversation with one of the gorgeous invitees and he was coming on très strong.
The woman by then was getting annoyed, especially when he asked her, “Where did you get those big beautiful eyes?”
She answered sarcastically, “They came with the face,” and walked away from him.
Oops, that remark hit him right between his eye, and he left the place shortly after that. Oh well.