4/13/14

Yesterday was all sorts of fun.  I went to a place I've never been before, met people whom I've been talking to only from the internet where I moderate and bought a couple of goods for such a bargain.

Ever since finding out about a thrift shop selling CDs for a low price, I have made plans to visit the place and add CDs to my music collection. The store was in Cartimar Recto, a place that I've never been to. Though I've heard of Cartimar, I only know the one in the Pasay area which I pass by when I take the LRT going to and from college back then but even so, I thought the place only sold mostly pets. It turns out the one in Recto sold other stuff like clothes and shoes.

There were also other people who were interested to check out the place so we agreed to set up a date and meet up to visit the place together. After finding the directions from Google Places, we decided to meet up in the D. Jose LRT station which is the nearest terminal in the area. My two other companions were from the North so they had other modes of transpo. You can also take the LRT 2 and drop off the Recto station or take the bus or jeepneys going to the area.

Our meeting time was at 1:30 PM. We had lunch first at a fast food resto near the area before heading straight to Cartimar. We only walked since it was near the LRT station. Just take a turn at Recto Ave. and go straight. You will pass by Isetann which is a shopping center then right across the other street is another building which is already a part of Cartimar. Keep walking until reaching Sogo hotel. You will already notice that plenty of vendors are in the sidewalks so you can tell that this is a very busy area. It is also very important to secure your belongings for your safety. This was one of my concerns and one of the reasons why I wanted to come with other persons in this trip for additional protection.

The entrance was a small opening right beside the hotel with a Cartimar signage on top so it isn't so hard to spot. We looked for the store which was on the ground floor. There were also other stores but it was mostly for shirts and tattoo shops. There were also other CD selling stores for rock music as well as old cassette tapes, vinyls and DVDs. But they were selling them for a high price so we just stuck to the original store we were looking for.

We finally found this little store with plenty of CDs displayed. There were also other merchandise such as merchandise, tour DVDs and vinyls but the CDs were mainly noticeable.

I was very overwhelmed to see plenty of CDs at such a low price! Not entirely low but still cheaper than how it is priced at malls. They were composed of both old and new releases and also some OPM thrown in as well.

We just started grabbing everything we liked for our own purchase. Since it wasnt really s music store, we had our own mini-Hunger Games style scavenger hunt as some CDs only had 1 copy each especially those that are quite popular. 

We ended up buying a bunch and I personally brought home 12 CDs which were sold at a total of a little over P2K! A bit over my budget but already a small price in comparison to buying those at a regular price. You won't really see these CDs sold at a similar price anywhere else and at such good condition, some of them are even sealed and are brand new.  I had a little disappointment when I didn't see some of the albums I was hoping to find as well as some imported albums but I'm not discontented with what I ended up buying.

Here's what I got:

Yellowcard-Ocean Avenue (acoustic) [I was hoping to find the regular version]
The Academy Is..-Santi
Faber Drive-Lost In Paradise
MKTO-MKTO
The Fray-The Fray
Passenger-All The Little Lights
A Great Big World-Is There Anybody Out There?
Simple Plan-Get Your Heart On...The Second Coming
Panic! At The Disco-Vices & Virtues
Dashboard Confessional-A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Daughtry-Baptized
Bastille-All This Bad Blood

Take note that most of those were just fairly new releases in the local market and to get them at a low price is still surprising to me at this point. There are still many albums I've seen that I want to get so I will definitely come back for them when I save up money. They also buy old CDs and I have a bunch here at home that I want to dispose of.

It was also great to make new friends Though I've been talking to them online for a long time, it is still a new experience to meet them in person. I'm glad to find people with the same interests as mine.