Floating ‘sari-sari’ stores to tend to your snacking needs at sea

Floating convenience stores are a thing at the Manjuyod Sandbar in Negros Oriental. Image: Melo Villareal / outoftownblog.com
Floating convenience stores are a thing at the Manjuyod Sandbar in Negros Oriental. Image: Melo Villareal / outoftownblog.com

Sari-sari stores (neighborhood convenience stores) are dime a dozen, but at the Manjuyod Sandbar, off the coast of Bais in Negros Oriental, you’ll find a most unique variety: floating convenience stores.

Melo Villareal of Out of Town Blog snapped photos of one such boat during his trip — which he dubbed “Sea-ven Eleven” — that plies along the coast as they cater to tourists who visit and sail across the white sand beach.

This floating convenience store in Negros Oriental mainly caters to tourists sailing across the sea. Image by Melo Villareal / outoftownblog.com

Boat vendors peddle an assortment of products such as chips, instant coffee, biscuits, soda, and yes — beer and liquor for visitors’ island-hopping needs.

While the sight of this boat may be novel to visitors, Melo told Coconuts that there are at least three other floating stores that make the rounds along the sandbar’s coast.

Called the “Maldives of the Philippines,” the Manjuyod Sandbar features a strip of pristine white sand along Bais Bay in Negros Oriental.

With cottages on stilts in the middle of the ocean and ample opportunities for dolphin watching, the Manjuyod Sandbar has long drawn crowds of tourists to its attractions.

READ: Department of Tourism launches digital magazine ‘7641’



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