I’m publishing here the complete interview with Bong Salaveria, owner of the now-closed curio store in Cubao X, Vintage Pop; Coni was fortunate enough to chat him up just as his doors were closing last August. Vintage’s closing is a touchy topic for me, since Bong was one of my first interview subjects when I started out in Real Living five years ago; Bong eventually became a friend, and the store itself turned into a place to hang out in with my very close friends on crazy Fridays and weekends in Cubao. An excerpt of this interview with more photos can be found in the October 2009 issue of Real Living. Anyway, read on.
Words: Coni Tejada/Photos: At Macalungan
Right in the center of what was left of his retro shop Vintage Pop, filmmaker-turned-shopkeeper Bong Salaveria sits on a chair of his own design. His eyes are dry, and on his face is his usual bright smile. Nothing in his manner reveals any sign that his shop’s stint is coming to end. But turn your head and his jolly state is in direct contrast to what’s around. Vintage Pop’s trademark red walls are stripped of all quirky retro pieces. There are chalk drawings on the walls and floors where certain items used to be, very much like the body outlines at a crime scene.
Bong gamely answers our questions, very much like our very first interview with him way back in December 2004. And as it was then, he is ending a chapter of his life and is ready to start writing the next.
FIRST OF ALL, WHY ARE YOU CLOSING SHOP? Bong: “My family has to migrate. We applied for migration to Canada and the papers came through. About four years ago, five years ago, even. Before we opened the shop, we already applied. Otherwise, it’s just useless to apply for something because I am enjoying this. Why would I want to give it up for Canada?”
PEOPLE THOUGH IT MIGHT BE BECAUSE YOU WERE LOSING MONEY. “We [were] doing very well, mind you. We never had to sell something in order to keep on pretending that we are a shop. For a small shop like vintage pop and that for it na pumasok sa consciousness ng karamihan, that I never expected. I am totally amazed. Which was good. But if you have to close…it’s a sad, bittersweet feeling I guess.
I think, it’s a perfect exit for me. It’s about time Vintage Pop had to take a rest. It’s tiring. It consumes you. A place like this doesn’t really need to last that long. I said, I see us happening or lasting just up to two years and that after two years, it’s gone. It’s closed. But we were fortunate enough to last five years so the three years were bonus for us. It’s like my philosophy in life—try everything. This [is] like my second life in a sense. I was a filmmaker back then, and then I became a shopkeeper. And I would like to think that for both runs, I did good. So, wouldn’t you want in a very short lifetime, you’d have three, four, or even five lives? Wouldn’t you like that?”
IT’S THE END OF AN ERA. YOU’RE ONE OF THE PIONEERS OF CUBAO X AND HELPED MAKE CUBAO COOL AGAIN. AND LO AND BEHOLD, PEOPLE FOLLOWED. DID YOU EXPECT THAT TO HAPPEN? “Not at all. I realized along the way, I had a clear vision of what I want, since I was here, the first guy crazy enough to think of what could possibly be in Cubao where I can set up my shop, I realized that it should be some sort of community. And you can only accomplish that if you can inspire people.”
IS THAT WHAT YOU DID? INSPIRE PEOPLE? “I guess the contribution of Vintage Pop to the rest was it inspired to do whatever they want. ‘Yun ang feeling kong contribution namin. And they did! ‘I want my gallery. I want my shop.’ Obviously, these guys have their own minds. And I respect them. And these are the guys who make Cubao X. It takes more than one person, it takes a community. More than anything, that is how I see Cubao X.”
WHAT WERE THE HIGHS OF RUNNING VINTAGE POP? “The high is definitely meeting very very good, very very interesting, very very crazy people. Generally, creative types—whether they are into music, design, arts, film, literature. Which I realized later on that Vintage Pop, was like creating little stories. And for it to be interesting for the people to come in, you have to make a tableau or montage. This shop was not just a form of expression but was also another way of telling stories indirectly. And a lot of people saw that. That’s also another high. They would come in and they would appreciate and really see the essence of what we are doing, that is not just a shop. So may split personality rin kami—are we a shop or are we a gallery? I don’t know. It’s really up to the people to figure out what we are. We don’t want to box ourselves, to be categorized.”
ON THE FUTURE OF CUBAO X “I think ‘di dapat magbago yung original intention of what Cubao X wants to offer, which is diversity and a refuge as well—refuge from what is happening out there. If you want another experience, it should be Cubao—that was my idea. If there’s a place that gives a bit of a difference it is Cubao because nobody really offers anything like this. So if starts to evolve and becoming to look like one or two of the places then suddenly you realize that there is nothing really in Cubao anymore. It’s not happening now, but it’s inevitable. Some people would say to me, ‘Oh this is such a cool place. It’s like Malate.’ And I would always say, ‘No. We’re never like Malate because precisely we don’t want to be just like a Malate or was like a Malate. This is Cubao.’”
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS? “My plan is, because I don’t know what I am going to do there [in Canada], put everything together what I have now, put them into a container and ship it there. Hopefully reopen Vintage Pop there. Then again, that is such a grand plan. But who knows? Here we are. We thought we wouldn’t last but we’ve lasted for five years. For me, it was a pretty good run for us. A lot of people appreciated that the shop was here, at least.”
PIECE OF ADVICE FOR ASPIRING SHOPKEEPERS/BUSINESSOWNERS:
“First, you have got to have the heart. But in the end of the day, it has to be a business for the primary reason that you are paying for your rent, your electricity, for your gas. It’s a business, first and foremost. So no matter what you want it to be, it has to earn for it to survive another day. The concept is pointless, no matter how good a concept it may be, if it doesn’t survive, it’s a bad concept. You have to attack it in a way that you have a lot of heart because if not, you are going to give up easily. If you have the heart, you’ll do everything that’s possible to make the concept work. You have to make it thrive.”
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