For most of us, if not everyone, balik-eskwela or back to school is synonymous with the National Book Store (NBS). This school supplies, stationery, and books retail store is the go-to place for parents and students whenever the new school calendar comes.

And as the new generation comes, NBS, spearheaded by its president Adrian Ramos, wants to bring back that exciting and fun shopping experience through new programs and deals that are hard to miss, especially since this would be everyone’s official return to a physical school year, after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is the first back to school where everybody’s in [the physical school] for four years. In 2022 it was gulatan, nobody was ready mentally,” Adrian tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle in an interview. “We prepared for this the whole year. The pandemic did hurt us a lot and we had to rebuild. We rebuilt the stores, the inventory, we had to relayout a lot of things according to our new philosophy—making everything easy to find.”

NBS was founded back in 1942 by Jose and Socorro Ramos. Eighty-one years later, the family still owns the company and has opened hundreds of stores nationwide. From his surname himself, it is obvious that NBS’ DNA runs in Adrian’s blood. Prior to being the president of the company, he’s always been part of it. After graduating from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) he already started working for the company. Now that he’s the head of the iconic school supply store, Adrian wants to make shopping easy and fun for everyone.

When it comes to making everything easy to find, he says it covers a broad scope from accessibility to availability—making sure customers find what they are looking for, from basic school supplies to educational materials, across their 238 stores nationwide.

“For National Book Store customers the most important things are the price and value, range and availability of products, and accessibility of the stores,” he shares. “Making sure all price points are clearly labeled for customers. Availability is making sure the range of merchandise that people are looking for is going to be ready for this back to school season, and of course. Accessibility has to do something where our stores are located.”

Across their stores nationwide, NBS is implementing changes based on their new philosophy, while new branches will showcase the revamped and new aura the store is aiming for. These changes are also rooted in Adrian’s experience as a father of two who wants to give his children the best when they visit the store.

“Number one, we improved the navigation signs to make it a lot easier to find everything. Number two, every product will have its own space in the shelves according to the category it's supposed to be in,” he says. “And number three, we have large color coded signs, it is supposed to help people find products based on their budget.”

To excite everyone, customers can sign up for free via Laking National QR code—NBS’ new rewards program and earn sulit coins with eligible purchases in-store or online. If they shop for participating brands at any branch nationwide, they can get double the coins.

On top of all of these, NBS also dropped the Balik ‘Skwela Super Sorpresa Raffle” promo, where three winners at every branch nationwide will get a chance to win any of these three prizes: a 55” smart TV, air fryer, and smartwatch. Shoppers can get a raffle entry with every P100 spent until Sept. 15, 2023.

To get more chances of winning, customers can shop at multiple branches. Falling in line to the cashier is also more rewarding, as they can participate in fun activities and receive free samples of various products from participating brands.

“Welcome back to the National Book Store. Our stores are ready for you. It’s so awesome to see families together again in our stores. The energy is so great to feel. Thank you for coming back and we hope you find everything you need at affordable prices,” ends Adrian.