A beautiful beginning
It pays to be adventurous — or should I say daring — in business. And to have a mentor-idol you can learn from.
In 1985, I already had a number of stand-alone Ricky Reyes salons — one on Aurora Boulevard and two in Greenhills — when SM asked me if I wanted to locate my salon at the mall they were building on North Edsa in Quezon City.
I didn’t think twice about joining SM, a move which at that time seemed going against conventional wisdom. The country was in the midst of an economic and political crisis brought about by the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983. Most businessmen were cautious about investing and there was a lot of capital flight.
But I guess I was a very adventurous businessman, and so I quickly signed up to join Henry Sy. More than that, I could see the trend in 1985 — at that time, everything was changing. I observed a marked shift in consumer behavior. The consumer wanted to do everything in one place, and that was what the mall offered. Everything was changing very fast and we had to cope with change.
I was the pioneer-tenant at SM’s first mall, SM City North Edsa, opening our Ricky Reyes branch in November 1985. I opened at the same time that the department store and supermarket opened.
I vividly remember our opening night, which was attended by Henry Sy, Sr., whom many fondly call Tatang, and his children Tessie, Hans, and Harley. I had covered my ceiling with a special fabric to make it look more colorful. During the opening itself, the fabric got filled with water due to a technical glitch. We all had a good laugh, knowing it was part of growing pains so to speak.
I remember Henry Sy, Sr. as a very hands-on businessman and was at his first mall every other day. He would often visit my salon — and I would even cut his hair. Somehow, these interactions would be learning sessions for me, and I was learning from the master.
Tatang was very focused on me. He would ask why my sales were strong on some days and weak on others. I would explain to him that the beauty business really worked that way, and suggested that it could be better to charge me a flat rate rather than a percentage of revenues. I was very grateful that Tatang followed my suggestion.
My first salon was about 60 square meters. I told Tatang that given the mall’s success, the space could no longer handle the number of customers we were having every day. At first he was hesitant, but when he came by one day to have a haircut, he had nowhere else to sit but beside the wall. So, he saw for himself how cramped the place was. That was when he realized I really needed a bigger area.
He gave me another area, which was about 110 square meters, where I transferred the salon. In the old space, I put up the first skincare clinic in SM North Edsa. Later, I thought that I needed a place for men, and Tatang readily gave me my third area in the mall where I put up It’s a Man’s World.
Today, we have 42 Ricky Reyes salons nationwide. We are in almost all SM malls — except those in Sucat, Batangas,
As an adventurous businessman, I like to innovate. This is what I learned from Tatang — that to be a good businessman, you’ve got to be unique, you’ve got to keep on learning, and I’ve learned much from him.
I remember that in 1987 and 1988, we were very big on crazy curls. We also started doing spirals, zigzags, and roofing perms. We like to always offer new things to our customers. We started rebonding, which people didn’t take to immediately because they said it took too long. But, gosh, rebonding is now offered in many shops today, isn’t it? We also started coloring men’s hair at a time when men didn’t like putting color on their hair.
We’re also the first travel agency — Travelpros — who opened at the mall. At the time when most travel agencies were in Mabini, we put up our agency at Megamall. We also pioneered the first Philippine Airlines ticketing office outside of PAL, which also opened at Megamall.
Being a pioneer tenant, I remember taking long walks with Tatang as he would observe business around the mall. I learned a lot listening to him and from observing what he did. I did not go to business school, and am in fact only a high school graduate. But I learned fast, and these sessions with Tatang were priceless, and for me had been my business education.
We really became very close, and he in fact calls me tua haio, which in Chinese means very flirtatious. There is no single occasion in Tatang’s life — Christmas or his birthday — when I don’t greet him. I write him letters, which never fail to make him laugh. And he reciprocates by sending me gifts.
But our business dealings are very professional. I’ve never asked for any special treatment or preferential rates, never talked to him about money. I have never taken advantage of my friendship with Tatang, Tessie and Hans.
I am told that he would often ask about my location in the new malls being planned when he still met regularly with the leasing group. Each time the economy would go bad, he would ask, “How is your business? Is it doing well? Do you need some financial assistance?” I would politely decline, but that concern is very, very important to me.
What I admire most about Tatang is his simplicity. I would always tell him, “You should rest. You already have so much money.” He would always tell me, “Ricky, it’s not the money, it’s the fulfillment — it’s the joy in what I’m doing…that I have done it.”
Tatang even called me up to personally invite me to SM’s 50th anniversary party. “You go to our party later,” he said. During the gala dinner, I told Hans and Tessie that I was so happy that the company had given Tatang a tribute. I thought it was a much-deserved honor for someone who was not only a business icon, but who was also very much like a father to me.
