Robinsons Retail Marks Founders' 25-Year Milestones as It Runs 2,700 Stores

Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. honored 85 employees with at least 25 years of service, including chair Robina Gokongwei-Pe, who joined Robinsons Department Store in 1984 as a receiving clerk on a daily wage of P60. The Inquirer reported the awards on November 8, 2026.

Robina Gokongwei-Pe's P60 Start at Robinsons

Gokongwei-Pe was 23 when she became a "bodegera," manually counting inventory delivered to the store. She said the P60 daily wage was equivalent to P600 in today's prices, and that the average daily minimum wage in Metro Manila in 1984 was around P34 to P50.

Her brother Lance Gokongwei spent summers tagging women's underwear and received a monthly wage of P2,000 when he joined the retail business in 1988, equivalent to P15,000 today. Their uncle James Go joined in 1964 with a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was paid P600 monthly, equivalent to about P75,000 today.

James has logged 46 years of service, Robina 41 years and Lance 38 years. "Very few people know that it wasn't a planned business," Robina said, recalling that Gokongwei group founder John "Big John" Gokongwei Jr. built a commercial center in Ermita and decided to run a department store himself when no existing operator would lease the space.

"As a receiving clerk, I had to count every piece that was delivered to the bodega," she said, crediting lead receiving clerk Ruth Tillano with teaching her to process documents. Lance said of his summer job: "And the lesson is: every role matters."

Robinsons Retail's Store Network and 2025 Sales

According to akta.pro company records, Robinsons Retail is the Gokongwei Group's multi-format retail arm, operating 2,763 locations after adding 94 new stores organically and 216 stores from the Premiumbikes acquisition. The same records show full-year 2025 net sales of PHP 210.4 billion, a 5.7% increase year-over-year, and a target of 130 to 170 net new store openings for 2026.

The Inquirer reported that RRHI now operates over 2,700 stores and more than 2,100 franchised TGP The Generics Pharmacy outlets nationwide, spanning food, drugstores, department stores, hardware, appliances and electronics, toys, mass merchandise, beauty, pet retail, lifestyle sneakers and motorcycles.

Delisting and BPI Rollout Before the Awards

The Philippine Stock Exchange approved Robinsons Retail's voluntary delisting, with shares removed from trading on August 31, 2026, following a tender offer by largest shareholder JE Holdings, BusinessWorld Online reported in August 2026. In July 2026, BPI partnered with Robinsons Retail to enable barcode-enabled cash deposits at over 1,000 retail outlets across the Philippines by the end of 2026, The Times of India reported.

What Comes Next for Robinsons Retail

Robinsons Retail's company records list a planned rollout of the BPI barcode-enabled cash deposit service to more than 1,000 RRHI stores by year-end 2026, and a target of 130 to 170 net new store openings for 2026.