University Mall

by Hadrian Tiu

University Mall is the building connected to the Vito Cruz LRT Station along Taft Avenue. From DLSU's South Gate, it's quite hard to miss; it being the only 3-storey structure next to McDonald's. Nicknamed "UM" by most denizens of the Taft community, it contains a number of shops and restaurants that cater mostly to the needs of the community at large, if not primarily for the students.

Com Cyber Cafe	Alva Computer	Netopia	Max 3D

Internet cafes are abundant in the area and UM is no exception to that. There are several of these shops in the building alone, with most of them on the second floor. Among these are Com Cyber Cafe, Max 3D, and Snap n' Play. These net cafes more or less provide the same services (gaming, internet usage, printing) at various prices.

	There are also ink refilling stations on the ground floor. These shops also sell a select number of ink cartridges as a bonus.
Ink for Less		InkTec

	In addition, there are two shops, both conveniently situated on the third floor, that answer the media storage needs of any student, namely CD-R King and CD Corner. These stores provide blank CDs, DVDs, disc cases, and many more at affordable prices.
CD-R King		CD Corner

Other services within the building include:

Soliman Dental Clinic


A dental clinic on the second floor of UM that provides general dentistry services by appointment:

Dr. Majella C Barba-Pablo
Contact Number: 09175290204
9:00am to 8:00pm (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Dr. Gerardo C. Soliman
Contact Number: 09178223231
1:00pm to 3:00pm (Monday to Saturday, except Thursday)

Super King Photography

A photo studio on the second floor for taking studio pictures, photo editing and printing, and other such services

A1 Driving

A driving school on the third floor that provides training courses for would-be motorists.

Mirror Studio

A studio where amateur student bands can practice for gigs. It is located on the third floor, near A1 Driving

Regal Salon

A beauty salon for men and women located on the third floor.

EGI Taft Towers

by Janelisa G Tugcay

EGI Taft Towers is located between De La Salle University's Gokongwei Building and Velasco Building. It offers the public, mostly students, residency in hotel rooms or condominium units for lease and also houses a number of establishments on the Ground Floor of the building.

Netopia Internet Cafe

Yet another branch of one of the most popular internet shops in the Philippines found a good location at the Ground Floor of EGI Taft Towers in Taft Ave., Manila. Netopia Internet Cafe offers a wide selection of services which include internet surfing, web conferencing, internet & network gaming, international calls, and advanced printing services. The shop charges the customer per minute use of the computer and though the establishment does not have the cheapest prices when it comes to their products and services, they assure the public of excellent quality.

Speedbytes Internet Cafe

The two branches of Speedbytes Internet Cafe at the Ground Floor of EGI Taft Towers offers services such as printing, scanning, photocopy, cd/dvd burning, fax services, LAN and online games and desktop publishing. They currently offer a promo of a Php10 rate from 6pm to 12mn.

Microsmith Internet Cafe

Microsmith Internet Cafe has two shops at the Ground Floor of EGI Taft Towers to be able to attend to more customers. The computer shop offers different computer services and products and is well-known to the students for its Piso-printing promo for black & white text printing and a cheap Php5 up colored printing rate. The establishment charges Php25/hr to a customer for using the computer.

BPI Express Banking Center

Office hours : Monday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm

BPI Express Banking Center stands right on the Ground Floor of EGI Taft Towers. It provides financial services for the public and gives the costumers access to their bank accounts through the ATM located infront of the office.

Speak Up

For inquiries : Contact No. 303-1665 / (0920)4227273 / (0919)3516014

or Email at inquire.speakup@yahoo.com

Speak Up is one of the unique establishment located at the Ground Floor of EGI Taft Tower. The shop offers tutorials of different foreign languages including Nihongo,

Mandarin, Fookien, French, Spanish, Italian, English, Filipino, German and Korean. They also offer academic tutorials for subjects like Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Algebra, Calculus, Trigonometry and History and review classes for JLPT, IELTS, TOEFL and the like.

Lizmorasch Salon for Men & Women

Burgundy Transpacific Place

by Erin Grace I. Yap

Right in front of DLSU, Burgundy Transpacific Place is a condominium and hosts mostly students as residents. They also have shops and services for your basic necessities.

Fix Bench Salon



Open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

Contact Number: 5211224, 5210769

Bench Fix Salon is a salon for men & women. They offer haircut, styling, hair rebonds, color, makeup, and many more. Most of their customers are students that live along Taft during weekdays. You may contact them inquiry and appointment schedules.


Enchanting Waters



Open from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm

Contact Number: 5223788, 5257030, 0928-7451880

Enchanting Waters is located in the 1st floor of Burgundy Transpacific Place. They are a water refilling station and also sells water containers. They offer to deliver your water too. You may contact them for inquiry.

Malditas



Malditas is located at Burgundy Transpacific Place's ground floor. They are a mini mart that is open 24 hours a day. They sells snacks, drink, liquor, and other basic necessities. They also offer cellphone load.

Archer's Nook

by Erin Grace I. Yap



Just in front of DLSU, Archer's Nook is a dormitory for students. A rent per person would cost P3,500 water and appliances like air conditioner, television (w/cable) and microwave are included. They also provide cabinets, bed & matting, internet access, and regular cleaning by their janitors. Electricity would vary depending on tenant's use.

Archer's Nook also hosts different shops, services, and restaurants.


Laundry Station



Open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
(Monday to Saturday)

Contact Numbers: 0921-9832700, 0919-3416239, 5239856

Laundry Station is located in the first floor of Archer's Nook and right in front of Flaming Wings. They provide services like dry cleaning, pressing, etc. They also handle pick-up and delivery.
Price per kilo is P26 exclusive of pressing. Pressing of clothes also vary per kilo.


Portal 1.618



Open from 10:00 am to 12:00 am

Rates: 45/hr, 30/hr for members
Membership: 100php

Located in the 2nd floor of Archer's Nook, Portal 1.618 provides Internet access and PC Rentals but no one really comes here to do research and assignments. People who come here often play World of Warcraft and Online Games like Ragnarok. This place is usually filled during the night and during guild wars in Philippine Ragnarok.


Calliope Book Depot



Open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
(Monday to Saturday)

Located in the 2nd floor of Archer's Nook, Calliope Book Depot sells school books and offers to search a book and deliver it to you or for pick-up. They also sell school supplies and offer 2GO delivery.


JARS Travel

Copytrade Digital Copy Systems

by Erin Grace I. Yap



Open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
(Mondays to Saturdays)

In front of DLSU and in between Tapa King and Nitronet, this is the first Copytrade in taft. The second one can be located below the LRT station on the side of DLSU. Copytrade provides Xerox copying, book binding, and rush ID photos. You can leave books and papers to be copied and pick it up after, depending on how long they will be able to copy it.

Nitronet / InkMore

by Erin Grace I. Yap


Open from 7:00 am to 2:00 am
(Mondays to Saturdays)

Rates: P30/hr, P15/hr for members
(For Membership, Inquire inside shop)

In front of DLSU and in between Figaro (soon to open) and CopyTrade, Nitronet provides Internet access and PC rental. They also offer book binding, Xerox, printing, and also sells some school supplies.

InkMore



Nitronet also houses InkMore on the first floor. Open from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, InkMore provides Ink Refilling Services to all kinds of ink brands.

Daily Blossom

by Erin Grace I. Yap



Location: 2456 Taft Ave. Malate, Manila

Open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm
(Mondays to Saturdays)

In front of DLSU and beside Metrobank, Daily Blossom sells flowers for occasions and provides flower arrangements for bouquets. A rose costs 80 php flat, while a half dozen roses would cost around 400 php. They also sell shirts and offer cellphone reload if you need it.

Contact: Anne Perez
610-2658, 0918-4172062

Metrobank

by Erin Grace I. Yap


Open from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

In front of DLSU and beside Yellow Cab, this Metrobank does whatever normal bank does. This branch has one ATM on the left. You should be careful when withdrawing money during the night because there are already a lot of cases of people getting mugged right after.

Banco De Oro (BDO)

by Erin Grace I. Yap


Open from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Located in front of DLSU, this Banco De Oro (BDO) branch offers Express Padala and is a Philippine OFW Remittance Center. Express Padala is a way for BDO clients to send money directly to their homes and offices. This is useful for OFWs that send money to their families or companies that need to receive money straight to their offices to ensure that the money gets to the receiver's hands. This branch also handles OFW Remittance which means that clients also get to receive their remittance in the branch or have them delivered Express Padala.

You may contact BDO through:
BDO Call Center: 631-8000
Domestic Toll-free: 1-800-10-6318000
International Toll-free: (IAC)+800-8-6318000

Arena Gaming Station

by Marcelo Marlon



Store Hours: 24 hours

Location: 2510 Taft Avenue Manila 2nd Floor

Rates: Php 25 / hour (morning rate)
Php 20 / hour (night rate)
Promos: Php 100 per six hours
Php 150 per ten hours
Php 200 per twenty hours


The Arena gaming station is the haven for gaming aficionados from all over Taft. The station has 120 pc’s separated by four rooms. A, B and C rooms are for non-smoking customers while Room D is for smoking. Games played here varies from simple MMORPG’s (Massive multiplayer online role playing games) to LAN games such as the very popular Counter Strike and Warcraft III. The gaming station has its own lounge and a mini restaurant to cater all the possible needs of a gamer.

Elorde Boxing Gym

by Marcelo Marlon



Gym Hours: 7am to 9pm

Location: 2510 Taft Avenue Manila 3rd Floor

Membership Fee: Php 500.00
Session Fee: Php 200.00
Non-membership per session: Php 350.00
Gold Package: Php 2,500.00

The Elorde Boxing Gym is a venue for boxing wanna bees and professionals alike.In this gym you can try to learn boxing the Elorde way. Once a Filipno boxing legend Gabriel "Flash" Elorde won the WBC Junior Lightweight and WBA Super featherweight titles in the 60's. He is considered one of the greatest Filipino Boxers of all time. Students from DLSU usually flock here in groups. They come in an average of 4-8 people, the main reason is that boxing and working out in the gym is much more fun if they have the numbers. Bring your friends if you want to box in this gym.

Sleek’s Men’s Fashion Place

by Marcelo Marlon



Address: Estrada Street, Manila
Tel No: 525-68-33/ 523-54-72
Store Hours: Monday – Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Rates: Varies from Php 300 – Php 1,500

Sleek's is the one stop solution for guys when in need of smart casual to semi formal clothing. (Great for prom dates and other formal gatherings) They have different clothes ranging to semi-formal polo’s to the very manly and formal tuxedo. What’s good about Sleek’s is that you can ask them on your preferred wardrobe and they will adjust it to your liking. Custom made clothes and even repairs from your old ones are also welcome here

Video Editing @ Madison Condominium

by Marcelo Marlon



Address: Unit 904 Madison Condominium 2574 Taft Ave. Malate, Manila
Rates: Php 350.00 per hour

Editing Videos for projects and presentations can be done here. The common clients of the video editing shops are students near Taft (DLSU, DLSU-CSB, St. Scholastica) who are either cramming for their report or project submissions and has no time to edit it. The rate is by far high if you will compare it to other video editing services (300 to 250 per hour). Nevertheless the service is of high quality that paying 350 pesos is a good deal.

Creative Solutions

by Marcelo Marlon



Address: Unit 710 Madison Condominium 2574 Taft Ave. Malate, Manila
Rates: Regular Filing Php 1,300.00 Rush Filing Php 1,500.00
(Lost) Regular Php 1,900.00 (Lost) Regular Php 2,000.00
Tel No: 526-66-12/524-79-18

Creative Solutions fixes your passport and other travel needs while you wait. It is located in Madison Condominiums business dealings with creative solutions are by appointment or by contacting them thru the phone numbers listed above. Creative Solutions is by far the only passport assistance shop near Taft so expect that a lot of people filing their passports there. Most of the clients of Creative solutions are foreigners or students that are taking a vacation out of town in the trimestral break.

National Bookstore

by Marcelo Marlon



Address: Ground Floor Madison Condominium 2574 Taft Ave. Malate, Manila

Store Hours: Monday – Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday 12:00 a.m – 8:00 p.m

National Bookstore is best known for its wide variety of school supplies that caters for almost all kinds of students be it in elementary, high school or college. In this shop you can purchase books, notebooks, pens, manila papers, rulers...etc. Name it the shop has it. Aside from selling school supplies, National bookstore also has a wide selection of contemporary books, magazines and periodicals that a reader might enjoy. From the very Popular Harry Potter series to some local cooking magazine...National bookstore houses all of this stuff. It is by no wonder that they are the country’s leading school supply chain.

Dental Clinic/ Holie Facial Spa

by Erwin Cacho



The definition of weirdness is this store. The owner thought that combining a dental clinic and a facial spa will cause a rise of interest in the people that comes across it but I’m not sure about that. I think the customers would feel uncomfortable having their face treated and teeth taken care of at the same time. It seems the owner decided to minimize the cost of the rent by offering to services to have two different profits but it in my opinion, it could prove disastrous since personally; I don’t like the combination. If it were a salon and spa or a dental clinic and another store related to teeth, it would be a great idea.

Fredy Hair Salon

by Erwin Cacho



This is somewhat a generic salon. They do not offer anything unique; they go for simple services that get the job done. Don’t let the name deceive you, they do not offer services only concerning the hair but in other parts of the body too. I consider this salon an average one since they are not on the same level as those classy salons you see in television while being above salons you see in squatter’s area where the performance is not likable.

Fujifilm Image Service

by Erwin Cacho



As far as I know, this is the only store in the vicinity that handles film-based camera services. If you are an old school photographer, which means you are still using films instead of digital cameras, you can develop your pictures here. You can also buy accessories for old school cameras here like lenses, films, and photo papers.

The only problem in this store is the location; a lot of shady people hang out near here since there are stores in the area that sell street foods and pirated CDs but if you are that desperate and do not mind the area, you can go here.

Kodak Express

by Erwin Cacho



This Kodak store located in Estrada Street is one of the many branches of Kodak in the Philippines. This branch is an express type which means it mostly offers fast photo developing and printing. This store does not offer photo editing and repair since this takes a lot of time and they only focus on fast transactions. It is only Kodak franchise in the vicinity since the one in UM has closed already so you have no choice but to go to this one.

Cell Care

by Frederick Kenji K. See



Cell Care is beside the old Wendy’s Restaurant and in front of Kenny Rogers and the National Bookstore, they are also near the LRT Station. They do cell phone repairs and they also serve Xerox, at the same time they are selling cell phone parts. Students and professionals alike can have their cell phones repaired here for a cheaper fee than those located in malls. This shop is one of the many Xerox stores there along Taft Avenue. They are located near DLSU-M, CSB, and St. Scholastics University, so most of their customers are students and teachers alike.

CJ’s Zerox and General Merchandise

by Frederick Kenji K. See



CJ’s Zerox is located in front of the University Mall, it is beside CopyTrade, below the LRT Station, and also in front of the College of St. Benilde (CSB) and Taft Avenue. They do Xerox on papers, books, and does book binding, too and many more. They cater mostly to students and teachers of DLSU-M, CSB, and St. Scholastics University, for their services.

Sure Straight Salon

by Frederick Kenji K. See



Sure Straight Salon is located beside Kassel Condominium and it is beside the Taft Avenue. In front of it is a small parking space for customers. It services haircut, hair color, hair rebonding, etc. for a cheaper price than some famous salons. Most of their customers in this salon are tenants and visitors of Kassel Condominium. Their employees sometimes stand near 7-11 or Tore Lorenzo to give flyers to people, to lure in more customers.

Interworld Café Corporation

by Frederick Kenji K. See



It is an internet café inside the Burgundy Tower 2. It is right beside PS Bank and in front of Torre Lorenzo. It caters printing jobs and rents its computers for a small fee around 30 pesos per hour. This café obviously advertises its games through their posters of their available games in front of their door. They also do photocopying, scanning, typing jobs, and many more. Most of their customers are online and LAN gamers, and tenants of Burgundy Tower 2 who want use the internet.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, Family Savings Bank (BPI)

by Frederick Kenji K. See



BPI is beside the Burgundy Tower 2, it has its own parking space in front, and it is in front of the Torre Lorenzo, beside Taft Avenue. This branch of the BPI has 3 ATM machines beside it. As for its history, it’s a well-known bank, and it’s one of the oldest banks here in the Philippines right now. People can never be too cautious here when they are withdrawing because there are lots of “tambay” near this place and u can never know when holdapers and snatchers will strike.

Planning on getting a Tattoo?

by Jino Victor S. Ontog



Want to have a tattoo like Dennis Rodman or the Undertaker? Well then, this is the place to be. Located in Estrada St. and just a couple of steps from Tapa King, this shop offers tattoo, piercings and henna.

D'Students Place

by Jino Victor S. Ontog & Wesleigh Fenix



D' Students' Place is located infront of DLSU, and beside CSB. This is where students hang out. The building provides different services from health and beauty, food and snacks, internet and gaming, and most importantly residence for students. The establishment is manly built for the residence of the students due to high demands for internet shops and food. The second floor houses different shops for student’s need this includes net I.T. Log and MF, these are computer rental shop which provides internet, gaming, printing,xerox, scanning, and renting services. Figure-up, provides service for Cosmetic surgery and skin care .Dr. Zarate Dental Clinic, provides dental services. and a barbershop.

I.T.log



A computer rental shop which provides internet, gaming, printing,xerox, scanning, and renting services.This shop has high quality specs like wide screen lcd monitor, optical mouse, up to date computer specs.One good advantage in this cafe shop is that their log-in system, You register. Paying after you play is not a hassle because you pay for a particular load like cellphone so that you can log in and logout whenever you like. There is a mix of dlsu and csb students who plays during their free time but sometimes there is also some other student from other universities who plays. "you use a pc, you pay"

Hourly rate: 30 php/hr
Promo rate: 200 php = 10 hours
100 php = 6 hours
15 php/hr during 12am-8am
contact no.: [02] 41-444-00

Figureup



It provides service for Cosmetic surgery and skin care. Services: Lyposuction, breast enlargement, whitening, mole removal, face lift, nose lift, and butt enlargement.

Contact number: 5220088

DR. JK E. ZARATE (dental clinic)



Provides service for dental care for different kinds of customers . As you can see in the video the clinic can only accomodate one patient at a time. So, appointments are needed if you are planning to have a dental service..

Contact no.: 526-0115

Barbershop

The Barbershop renders haircut service. It is located at the D’ Students Place beside CSB and In front of north gate of Lasalle. This place is somehow hidden in a way that it is at the farthest corner of D’ students place, I can conclude that this barbershop is not profitable because it’s hidden. The only existing barbershop near Lasalle.

MF CYBERTOWN



MF CYBERTOWN renders computer rental service. It is located at the D’ Students place beside CSB and In front of north gate of Lasalle. This place is where students spend their leisure time. The shop has also a beanbag for customers, which you can sleep if you want to. This shop has a high quality specs and a good sofa set. They have the traditional login system where customers would pay after they play.


D'Students Place Videos