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This Bestseller is One for the Books

Selling came so naturally to Socorro “Coring” Cancio Ramos that it must have been in her blood. Ramos first learned to sell at the young age of five, when she helped in her grandmother’s wet market stall in Sta. Cruz, Laguna in 1928. However, their customers often bought on credit but failed to pay, leading the family to close shop. This setback, coupled with the death of her father, forced the family to move to Manila in the hope of alleviating their plight.

Life in the city, however, continued to be harsh. It was the 1930s, and the Great Depression did not spare the Cancio family. Ramos worked with her sisters in a local candy and bubblegum factory. In the following summers, she worked in shirt and cigarette factories to help put food on the table.

It was during these years when she first showed the entrepreneur in her. While working in the cigarette factory, Coring ingeniously hired the children in her neighborhood to help her salvage tobacco leaves from moldy cigarette packs and paid them 5 centavos for every two packs. She herself was paid 5 centavos for every pack. She was only 10. With her earnings, she was able to pay for her own schooling. She eventually graduated from high school but could not afford to pursue a college education. She had dreamed of becoming a medical doctor.

Socorro Ramos poses with the Woman Entrepreneur Of The Year award presenters David Loh, Deputy to Mr. Akbar Shah, Managing Director of the Citigroup Private Bank; and Ms. Myla Villanueva, 2003 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year

In 1940, when Ramos was approaching 18, she began working as a salesgirl in Goodwill Bookstore in Escolta. The store was owned by her brother and his wife. It was located on the ground floor of the building that housed Panciteria Nacional. Later on, because of her selling skills, she was put in charge of the store. She married Jose Ramos and together they started National Book Store.

National Book Store started out selling school supplies and textbooks. However, during the Japanese occupation, all foreign literature suspected to be subversive was censored and could not be sold. With a growing family to feed, the Ramoses shifted to selling soap, candies, slippers, jewelry, and even whisky. Business improved, but as fate would have it, the modest store burned down during the American Liberation.

Hoping to ride on the post-Liberation boom in 1945, the Ramoses reopened National Book Store at the Avenida-Soler corner. Disaster again struck in 1948 when a typhoon leveled the store and soaked all merchandise. The Ramoses worked even harder until they were able to acquire land for their own building on Avenida Rizal. Their nine-storey building was completed in 1965. From then on, National Book Store’s growth was unstoppable. It has lived up to its name, selling school books, office supplies, and even greeting cards. In the 1973, Ramos successfully obtained licenses to reprint Hallmark greeting cards. She also convinced publishing giants like McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall and Addison-Wesley to allow National Book Store to reprint textbooks, making them much more affordable to Filipinos.

Today, nearly 65 years after the Ramos couple opened the first National Book Store in Escolta, the red and white colors of the company’s brand are seen in over 70 locations nationwide.

At 81, Ramos does not intend to stop doing what she does best—sell quality goods at the most reasonable prices. She also continues to inspect the inventory of the branches, and negotiate with suppliers and publishers. Her knack for selling has even rubbed off on her children, who now lead various arms of the family business. Alfred, her eldest son, is now president of the company. Benjamin, Alfred’s twin, takes care of publishing. Cecilia, the only daughter, handles the greeting card market and is responsible for creating the “Best Buy” brand and store incentives such as the “Laking National” program. In 1996, the family opened Powerbooks to address the reading public’s need for specialty books at affordable prices.

When asked to what she attributes her success, Ramos’s answer is straightforward: “I work hard, and remain responsible to my public and employees.” She is aware that her company must continue to address the nation’s literacy, education, and continuous learning needs. To this day, she personally inspects the stores, observes the buying behavior of customers, and takes time to read any feedback contained in the “suggestion boxes.”

“Nanay Coring,” as she is fondly called, also deals with her 2,500 people with motherly concern, and has been rewarded with the loyalty of her employees and a relatively low turnover rate. Among her awards are the Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship (1991), and the DTI Outstanding Filipino Retailer Award (2001).

In the next five years, Ramos and her family plan to increase their stores to a hundred. Many communities still lack access to affordable books and school supplies, and Ramos’s goal is to widen National Book Store’s reach to the Visayas and Mindanao. Being a part of the education of millions of Filipinos for the past seven decades will be her legacy for generations to come.

But in spite of everything, Ramos continues to refer to herself simply as a salesgirl.