National Book Store was founded in 1942 by Maria Socorro Cancio-Ramos and her husband Jose Ramos with only ₱211 pesos. They opened a small 4x15 meter store and faced many challenges over the years, including having their store destroyed three times during the war. However, Socorro and Jose worked hard to rebuild each time and grow the business into the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines with over 200 branches. Today at 93 years old, Socorro still acts as General Manager and credits her success to constantly learning, active involvement, adapting to changes, and perseverance through challenges.

2. NATIONAL BOOK STORE STORY
1942 - 1996 1996 - Present

3. Maria Socorro Cancio- Ramos

4. Nanay Coring or Maria Socorro Cancio born in Sta. Cruz,
Laguna
On September 23, 1923 she grew up in an entrepreneurial environment
one of the six children born to entrepreneur parents and grandmother. Her
parents used to ran a store selling a lot of stuffs from slippers to clothes and a lot
more while her grandmother had a market stall where the young Socorro got
used to seeing customers withdraw items on credit. Unfortunately, her
grandmother did not manage the business carefully not maintaining a list of those
items availed on credit and their business fell.
After graduating from Arellano High School, she worked as a salesgirl at
Goodwill Book Store owned by the family of her present husband Jose
Ramos.
Jose Ramos took over it and asked Socorro to work on him in that branch. They
renamed it as National Book Store.

5. Their love story began but her parents were against with it as Socorro was just 18
years old back then. She was told to stay in the province to keep away from
marrying Jose Ramos. But as they say, true love never dies, the young
Socorro with just 11 pesos in her pocket, struggled to went back to Manila to marry
Jose. Because of this act, her family was so furious and angry that they
considered her dead already. It was short-lived though lasting only until Socorro
gave birth to her twins named Alfredo, who is now the President of National
Book Store and Benjamin, now the Vice President.
National Book Store named after the National Cash Register, our second-
hand caja. National Book Store was very, very small (a tiny 4 x 15-meter space
inside a haberdashery shop) during the Japanese time in the 1940s. With a
starting capital of ₱211 (equivalent to ₱15,047 in 2015).

6. VISION AND MISSION OF NATIONAL BOOK STORE
Vision
We will be a globally competitive Filipino company delivering excellent customer
experiences through its profitable retail and learning centers and brands.
Mission Statement
We commit to:
Our Customers • Provide the highest standards of customer service
Our Products • Offer wide range of relevant and quality products
Our People • Create programs for the development and advancement of our
highly productive employees.
Our Shareholders/ Partners • Develop mutually beneficial relationships for the welfare
and growth of our company, partners and shareholders.
Our Community • Undertake community projects that aim to bring knowledge and
learning within reach

7. The business National Book Store faced a lot of challenges as it was built and
rebuilt three times from scratch!
First, Socorro admitted that it was not easy to start the business from scratch.
She recalled that during the Japanese occupation, they would look on each and
every book title on sale. If they found questionable books, they would just tear the
pages off leaving them useless. So instead of selling books, Socorro and Jose
decided to fill their bookshelves with stuffs from candies, soap, slippers, papers,
and cigarettes. During the war, she would transfer goods to her smaller stores.
Second, when the Japanese were driven away, it was now the time for the
Americans. Their National Book Store stall in Escolta was damaged in the war.
They recovered a bit by selling unused greeting cards and uncensored books,
which they had hidden in their home.
Third, in 1945, they relocated their National Book Store previously located at
Escolta Bridge in Santa Cruz Manila to Avenida. The business is doing quite
well during first few post-war school years but unfortunately, three years after, a
typhoon blew the roof of their store and they were left with soaked books and
stuffs that were worthless. Again, for the third time, they have to start from zero.

8. They struggled hard to rebuilt National Book Store for the third time. But since
then, every centavo that they earned were used to buy the lot where the Rizal
Avenue Branch of National Book Store stands to this day.
Today, National Book Store is considered as the largest chain of bookstores
in the country and havingover 3,000 employees in over 200 Branches
nationwide They have ventured into several businesses already such as a
convenience-type store named NBS Book Express, publishing companies
named Cacho-Hermanos printing press, Anvil Books and Capitol-Atlas
Publishing, another book store named Powerbooks, music store named Tower
Records and Music One, Gift Gate, the home of Hello Kitty and Swatch, and
a department store named Crossings department store. Socorro’s children and
relatives ran all these.
Socorro Ramos’ life, success and the challenges that she faced with her business
National Book Store business was recognized when she was chosen as the
Ernst and Young’s Philippine Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005.

9. Today, at the age of 93, Socorro Ramos or Nanay Coring acts as the
General Manager of National Book Store. And she told that the core values in
her success are to keep learning, being actively involved in
the business, being able to read changes and act on
them immediately, and most of all, never give up!

10. THANK YOU!
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