Papier Tole Shop

As The Only "All paper" Themed Shop

in Intramuros

Submitted by:

Christine Nathalie M. Balmes

BSA 2-1

Submitted to:

Prof. Orense
 Introduction

The Papier Tole Shop, a souvenir store established on 1668 and one of the oldest shops in

Intramuros, exactly located in Plaza San Luis (in front of San Agustin Church) Gen. Luna Street,

owned and managed by Mrs. Ruby Lee. Paper Tole is actually a form of art where you make 3D

images from flat, 2D pieces of paper. The Papier Tole Shop offers these paper tole artworks and

is literally overflowing with all sorts of hand made paper crafts like miniatures, figurines, toys,

notebooks etc. The Paper Tolé Shop is the perfect place to shop if you’re looking for a unique

souvenir from Manila. Paper was the overall them of this little shop and indeed a perfect place

for paper tole and origami enthusiasts.

When roaming around the admirable street of Intramuros, there is a lot of shops, cafes

and restos to stop on. The Papier Tole Shop, being one of a kind souvenir shop that can be

found in the place, offers exquisite products that will surely be loved by many especially, vintage

lovers and paper tole enthusiasts.

Last May, the researcher first discovered the shop, and had a sensible conversation with

the owner. Despite of being a peculiar store, the owner stated that they are experiencing a lot

of disadvantages with regards to its distinctiveness. And to be able to make the action paper

possible, the researcher contacted an acquaintance, Nica Alvarez, working near the place to ask

for more information. The researcher was able to gather data that will definitely be able to

elaborate the information she managed to get, though not in purpose, last May.

Objectives
1. To be able to identify the disadvantages of being a distinctive store that caters "all paper"

themed products, inside an exquisite place like Intramuros.

2. To be able to determine the factors that give rise to these disadvantages.

3. To be knowledgeable about the possible ways they can do to control or minimize the

effects of such disadvantages.

Problems

1. What are the disadvantages of being a distinctive store that caters "all paper" themed

products, inside an exquisite place like Intramuros?

2. What are the factors the make these disadvantages rise?

3. What are the possible ways they can do to control or minimize the effects of such

disadvantages.

Null Hypothesis: There are no disadvantages in placing a distinctive store at an admirable place.

Discussion
 Papier Tole Shop, as one of the distinctive stores inside the admirable place, Intramuros,

is also experiencing disadvantages. The researcher was able to identify such disadvatages that

an "all paper" themed store encounters and the factors that make such disadvantages rise.

The first disadvantage is the underrated products. Most of the visitors see their products

as bunch of scraps, since not all people appreciates handicrafts, especially paper toles. Unlike

the other mainstream souvenir shops that sells products that are made from synthetic materials

or fabrics, the Papier Tole Shop offers hand made crafts that is solely made out of cut and folded

papers. The best possible reason behind this problem is that, custumers appreciates shops that

offer products in variance. Customers also tend to choose crafts that is made from variety of

raw materials than these "all paper" products.

When visitors went to the shop, it's quite not as spacious as other souvenir shops inside

Intramuros. Also, different types of products such as miniatures, figurines, toys, dolls etc. can be

found available and customers demand cheaper prices for the products since it was solely made

out of paper. They used recycled papers on some of their products. Customers assume that

those only requires low cost of production, since all of them are only made of purely papes and

some, of recycled papers.

All products in the Papier Tole Shop are one hundred percent hand made and these

require a lot of labor time. For example, a simple framed eight by ten inches paper tole can be

finished in one to three days, since the details, from cutting to folding should be accurate. Even

the journal notebooks are hand threaded. The shop maintains its distinctiveness from other

souvenir shops inside the place through its machine-less products. It is indeed a time
consuming labor, unlike other shops the prints out details in some kind of fabrics or any

synthetic materials.

Distinctive shops like Papier Tole Shop, were outnumbered by the mainstream shops

inside Intramuros and the visitors or tourists tend to focus on shops that are guaranteed by

many and offer normal products which have low risk when purchased. Visitors often look for

cafes, milt tea houses, antique shops and botiques. A shop full of paper toles will be likely the

least to be included in someone's checklist.

The shop offers hand made art products and these requires high creativity. The last

disadvantage of this kind of distinctive shop is when their artisans run out of ideas on what to

make. Since it is inevitable that products like this need creativity as well as originality, they shop

tends to experience this kind of disadvantage. Also, some customers look for a certain design

that is not available on the shop. They do not always cater the demand of the customers

because they only have limited ideas.

The following are the possible ways that the owner can do to control or minimize the

effects of the disadvantages mentioned above or totally eradicate them. The first one, about the

problem on underrated products. One of the main reason of this is the lack of appreciation in

paper tole industry. The owner should enhance their products, following what are the current

trends so that it can be catching not only to the paper tole enthusiasts but to those who are not

knowledgeable of what paper toles are. The paper tole products will be less underrated if many

people would appreciate them. Conducting a small tutorial sessions on how to make simple

paper tole would likely make non paper tole lovers to appreciate the products.
 The next one is the problem about the customers demand for cheaper prices. Since

economically speaking, they can not just sell their products at lower prices since it will affect

their business profitability. The smart thing to do is to make products that is simpler than those

they offer, which require low cost and shorter labor time, which can be able to cater at a lower

price as possible. In this case, the customers who have limited budget for souvenirs will still be

able to avail their products. Not so high profit is still better than none.

One of the reason that made the shop distinctive is its hundred percent hand made paper

products. In this instance, they can not just decide to switch from hand made to machinery. The

alternative thing to do to minimize labor time in each product is to hire more skilled artisans in

order to maximize production in a specific labor time. They can departmentalize the laborers so

save more time and have faster and higher production.

The shop, with is unusual products and small store structure, was always overlooked by

the tourists in Intramuros. Commonly, when people go to a certain place to have a tour, they

would do pre-browsing about the availbale stores located in their destinations. Papier Tole Shop

does not have any website nor pages in any social networking sites, so people that visits the

place do not have any idea that such kind of shop exists. They should enhance and strengthen

their marekting strategies and advertisements.

The shop slightly focuses on a semi vintage designs that results to running out of ideas.

They should add varieties in their existing design themes. The smartes thing to do is to follow

the latest trend. In this way, they can cater the demands of their customers. Also, aside from
miniatures, figurines, stationaries, toys etc., creating gadget accessories would be really

effective since a lot of people nowadays are engrossed in their gadgets.

Critical Analysis

Digging more on the disadvantages encountered by the Papier Tole Shop, the researcher come up

with these key points of principles and theories about the factors that give rise to these disadvantages.

The first ine is the lack of variety. Consumers always want choices. The main disadvantage of this

distinctive shop, being a one-themed store, is that, customers do not have choices. It is located in a place

where people visit because of its exquisiteness. They will easily overlook a shop that plainly offers one-

themed products. Papier Tole do not need to switch in variations that much, but enhancement of the

products offered will definitely make a difference.

Consumers usually criticize the things that are visible. The principle of material over labor can be

applied in the second disadvantage. Since the potential customers only see the product as things made

out of papers, they can easily disregard that the labor cost are much higher than the materials itself. That

is the main reason why they tend to demand lower prices for the products.

As mentioned above, the labor cost of the products offered by Papier Tole Shop is higher than its

material cost. This became possible when the shop stick to pure hand made products. Also, this made

the shop to be distinctive from other shops inside Intramuros, aside from its "all paper" theme. With its

machine-less production, the number of outputs is low and rhe labor time is long, resulting to some

dissatisfaction of customers' demands. If they do not want to switch in modernized methid of

production, hiring more skilled laborers would be a better option.

 People always want to spend their money to something that can satisfy them. Tourists that visits

the place tend to choose the shops that are guaranteed by many through online reviews or those that

they found on the Internet as they are browsing shop details about the place they want to visit. Since

Papier Tole Shop lacks in the aspect of advertising and marketing, one of their main problem are the risk

averter consumers. "How can I guarantee that my money will be spent wisely by availing such products?"

That is the question they need to work out finding the answer.

The shops main vehicle in creating products is arts and crafts. The disadvantage in this kind of

business is the phenomenon called "artists' block". There are times that they ran out of ideas about

what they will produce and can meet the demands of the customers. They should at least be

knowledgeable about the latest trends that can capture all types of consumer.

Conclusion

1. Papier Tole Shop, a distinctive store inside Intramuros, still have disadvantages, especially in unusual

products they are offering to the customers. Being made out ouf recycled papers, their products are

underrated. Also, customers demand for cheaper prices but they can not just make their product price

lower since its labor cost is a bit higher than its material cost. It s time consuming labor in every output

adds to the disadvantages since they can only make low production at a specific time. Tourists in the

place always overlooked the shop because of its small store structure, lack of marketing scheme and lack

of advertisement. Artisans that are responsible in producing sometimes ran out of arts ideas. Also, their

lack of knowledge about the trends results to dissatisfaction of customers' demands.

2. Adding varieties to the products they offer would definitely eradicate their problem about their

underrated products. Out of the simple papers, with their skilled artisans, they can definitely create
fancy things, that can cater the diverse tatstes of the consumers. Since the customers are demanding for

cheaper products, they can think of the alternative ways to create simple yet eye-catching crafts with low

labor cost which can be able to be sold at a lower price. The more laborer is, the shorter the labor time

is. They can hire more artisans in order for them to have higher production at a particular span of time.

Also, in order for their shop to be the "tourists' number one souvenir shop", enhancing their marketing

scheme would be a lot of help. Creating website or online pages will also be a very effective way of

advertising. Lastly, in order to avoid artists' block and dissatisfaction from customers, they should follow

the latest trend in enhancing their product ideas and design.

3. Being a distinctive store in a place like Intramuros, though comes with a lot of disadvantages, is indeed

a smart way of putting up a busniness. The sense of

originality, when enhanced and worked out, would bring

a lot of success to the business.

Documentation