Small, school and office supplies stores such as Little Town are lifesavers. For when you have no…read moretime to head to a mall to go to those popular office supplies stores and bookstores, these stores will most likely have what you need to alleviate your Oh-noes-I-ran-out-of-bond-paper-while-printing type of emergencies. You might even get sidetracked by all the OMG CUTE THINGS they also have such as erasers disguised as food, sparkly stickers, hair accessories of all colors, and their marker sets in all these fancy types of ink. If you suffer from an addiction with cute stationery items/office supplies (and I'm sure they're part of a collection that's never to be touched, ever!), consider yourself warned.

Little Town is full of stuff that you're likely to need for your paperwork, be it for school,…read moreoffice or hobby purposes. While the selection is nowhere near that of large chain stores, it is surprisingly sufficient for most needs. Ribbons, cards and various writing implements abound in Little Town's shelves, among others. The "others" category is actually pretty well populated, and can keep fans of cute stationery accessories and other little knick-knacks happily poking around for many minutes. Serious fans of writing implements (in other words, pen collectors whose collections carry a daunting value) should be looking elsewhere. People who just want attractive little additions to their pencil cases, on the other hand, are more than likely to find worthy additions to their stuff in Little Town. The price of items here is pretty reasonable.

I have to say that this place is undoubtedly a slice of heaven for anybody's who's remotely artsy…read moreor has the slightest penchant for arts and crafts. It caught my eye because it's colorful, attractive and whimsical. I stepped inside the place and found a wide assortment of stationery, invitations (wedding and fill in invitations), gift tags, different types of cards, notepads, photo cards, notebooks, ticklers, and planners. My personal favorite are the personalized cards as they are so darn classy and tasteful. I enjoy writing people random notes, thank you notes, gift notes, and these really fulfill that purpose. I've attached a photograph here of some of the cards these guys have made for me. I'm so pleased and can't wait to put in another order when they run out!

I took me quite a while to place the correct categories for this place, as there seems to be no…read morecategory called "CUTE THINGS YOU DON'T NEED BUT WILL BUY ANYWAY". Yelp, get on it! I'm a sucker for anything that has animals on it (NOT their skin! Ditch fur and leather, please!). Or polkadots. Or vegetables. Or fruits...Or all! This place is for every girl who likes "kawaii" things --BUT of course, that wouldn't be appropriate to say because this store hails from Korea, so instead, say "gwi-yeo-wo-yo"! Are you celebrating someone's birthday soon? If so, this place has the cutest little party hats (of course, with animals!) to top your dear celebrant's head with, greeting cards, party "gear", and other colorful festive things! If you're a sock collector, then this is the place to get cute silly socks! Pretty notebooks that are too cute to write on? Check! Mushroom lamp? Check! And if you have not outgrown your sticker addiction, they have soft, "pillow-y" ones that are just ~squeeee~! Koreans really know how to make things murderously cute! Take my money!

Finally, Korea's uber cute fashion is finally within reach! Artbox is full of adorable clothing,…read morestationery, mugs, and what-have-yous! I wanted to get so many things that I don't even need anyway. Like a blanket with a hood. Or an unnecessary number of socks. Or storage boxes. (Well, I may need those storage boxes.) If you're a complete sucker for things with cute animal faces, this place is a must-see for you!

Lots of cute and good finds! Definitely a cool place to give gifts for kids / teens and even adults…read morewith a sense of humor or a creative side. I highly suggest giving quirky mugs of different designs for coffee/tea drinkers, and DIY projects for the kids at heart. School supplies look trendy with similar graphic designs one can find in Tumblr / Pinterest or similar social media sites. Downside to the shop is their limit in stock (store is small), and the items can be expensive. :( Overall, Typo is the place to give quality and fun gifts to friends and loved ones with a personal touch.

I've been passing by Tie Me Up Buttercup every time I use the restroom near Banana Republic in…read moreGreenbelt 5, but I don't really pay much attention to it because I never really felt the need to buy ribbons or gift wrappers. That's my wife's job. All that changed one January evening when, as I was on my way to meet my wife in a steak restaurant on the far end of the hall, I suddenly remembered that my gift for our wedding anniversary wasn't even wrapped up yet. It's bad enough that earlier in the day I almost forgot to buy something for my wife. I would only feel worse if I didn't present my gift to her in a traditional manner. Good thing, when I got out of the nearby restroom I saw Tie Me Up Buttercup. Colorful gift wrappers were no longer my problem. Also, I realized that the kiosk didn't only offer ribbons and gift wrappers, they also have various greeting cards, party decorations, and stationery for everyone--kids, moms, dads and even grandparents. I decided to add to my purchases a big greeting card with the word WIFE in big letters on it. The paper products that they sell are made of high quality materials and the designs are a feast for the eyes. Just be prepared to shell out big bucks when buying from this store. Yes, it is just a small kiosk, but their items are a bit pricey.

I can't begin to describe how cute The Paper Stone is. And no, I don't mean it's in any way ugly…read moreyet appealing. Appealing yes, but by no means is it ugly! I loved browsing the shop and asking about every single product they had. They offer a wide range of stationery, from magazine holders, to pens, to gift wrappers, to journals! They may be a bit pricey though, which breaks my heart because they all have such adorable designs! The stickers are my favorite. I remember spending around 15 minutes (or more) just looking at every sticker design they had, trying to choose which to purchase. (I settled with cute bunnies). For those, like me, who can't resist cute things, you'll probably spend the same amount of time I did browsing their collection. The Paper Stone is a good place to buy gift items for your girlfriends, or your nieces. Trust me, boys.

Cute items and this is the store I never fail to visit whenever I'm at UP Town Center but the sales…read moreassistants are too clingy! I wish they'd give shoppers more personal space.

I have never seen a store with so many writing paraphernalia! Seriously, this is a writer's…read moreparadise. In the last couple of years, I've gone from handwriting to the old-fashioned (read: not electronic) typewriter and finally to a laptop. I've been trying to recreate the art of hand-writing everything from love letters to my daughter to postcards. I don't get to do this often for lack of a good pen to write with. When I came across Scribe, I was overjoyed! Fountain pens, ball point, brush pens, quills and ink jars and so much more. It's been years since I've had a Parker Pen with my name on it. Scribe made me want to get one - and of course, I did. Oh, and they've got some beautiful notebooks and journals, too. This store helps rediscover a lost art and maybe even start me on the path to Calligraphy since they do have the materials for it.

Calligraphy has been such a big trend in Manila now! Left and right you will see so many…read morecalligraphy workshops by so many artists. You will also see stores that add calligraphy related merchandise in their stores! Scribe is actually one of those stores that opened up when the calligraphy trend was just starting. But they they don't just sell calligraphy stuff (they're just really known of that). I went on a shopping spree here once because I even so pretty magnet boards! They've got pretty notebooks as well! One thing I love here is the collection of brush pens! Although I get bummed out most of the time because they don't usually have stock anymore of the basic colors like black. For some reason, someone is just always hoarding (I think)! For some reason also, I end getting someone here (even if I don't need)! So for the calligraphy lovers like me, check this store out!

Paper Stone is a newly opened kiosk in Glorietta 3. This company is originally from Singapore and…read moreit sells different paper products, stationery, bags, mugs, and pens. From the looks of the place, one could tell that the main target customers of the store are young students. Even so, some of the items being sold can be great gifts to older folks. Here's a little secret. Whenever I go to National Bookstore or Powerbooks, I buy a notebook while my wife buys pens. We don't really intend to collect these things but it's like an addiction for us. Besides, we just appreciate good pens and paper products. So when we passed by the Paper Stone kiosk for the first time, we naturally felt compelled to buy something. I wasn't able to find a notebook that suits me because most of the designs on display are either too bright or too girly for my taste. As for my wife, she got a pack of three fancy pens for PHP 89.00. It's not bad considering she intends to give the pens to her niece.

I come from a family who loves art and literature, so growing up, writing and arts and crafts…read morebecame 2 of my favorite past times. I would usually go to National Bookstore or Fully Booked to get special writing supplies but ever since I discovered the beauty of Scribe, I never looked back. Scribe is a heavenly one-stop-shop for high end reading and writing supplies. It's guaranteed that what your buying is of great quality. All the items have a pre-possesing quality too and would help in channeling your inner Jane Austen or F. Scott Fitzgerald when you're old-school writing using paper and pen. I do calligraphy sometimes, something I learned from my dad when I was a little girl. I love their selection of calligraphy pens as well as their beautiful journals that have a romantic and old world feel. Definitely a store I come back to when I run out of writing materials!

I try my best not to buy pretty notebooks because they're just so darned nice that I find myself…read morenot writing in it, because I don't want my ugly chicken scratch handwriting ruining the perfection of the notebook. That's why I stick to writing everything digitally on Evernote or something. But whenever I pass by a place full of notebooks, I can't help but go in and admire. Scribe is like a writer/doodler's paradise. They have all sorts of writiing paraphernalia, from fountain pens to ink to notebooks with specialty paper. They also sell these certain kind of notebooks that look and feel exactly like Moleskines but sell for about a fourth of the price. During January they even have Moleskine-like planners! I never end of buying anything because the stuff is just too damn nice, but if you're an unabashed notebook hoarder, this is the place for you.

In my own small way and whenever I can, I try to help out people who try to help themselves. I…read morebelieve in the dignity of work so I buy from and support organizations that empower the less privileged or disadvantaged members of our society. One store in Market! Market! that I support (and also promote) is the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan. I have no personal relation to any member of this organization, but I am inspired by the hard work and dedication of those involved in this advocacy. Besides, the workmanship of the items sold in this kiosk is tops, export-quality even. So you won't feel cheated after buying something from the shop. Tahanang Walang Hagdanan is known for their educational products. Instead of buying imported puzzles for my godchildren, I choose their wooden instructive puzzles. Other popular products to buy are Christmas cards, hand-made paper novelties, needlecrafts, house and kitchen wares, and religious items. Whenever you patronize Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, remember that you are helping people with disability to become self-reliant and economically independent.