SARI-SARI stores serve as the very fabric of the country's retail landscape. They're as embedded in our culture as finding a store run by a local family on practically every street corner, even squeezed into skinny alleyways. If you're lucky (or maybe not if you're over it), you might see some kids gathering around and playing with the TikTok-popular clacking 'lato-lato.'

Around 1.3 million sari-sari stores are operating across the country, serving as the primary source of daily essentials for around 94 percent of Filipinos.