citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message national book store type private industry retail founded manila philippines 1930s founder socorro cancio ramos jos ramos headquarters manila philippines key people socorro cancio ramos chairman products books office supplies school supplies office furniture number of employees 2 500 2015 1 subsidiaries anvil publishing metrobooks hong kong powerbooks website www.nationalbookstore.com national book store abbreviated as nbs is a bookstore and offices supply store chain based in the philippines . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 expansion and recent history 2 subsidiaries 3 brand image 4 references 5 external links history edit early history edit the history of national book store can be traced back to the 1930s . 1 before the japanese occupation of the philippines during world war ii jos ramos and socorro c ncio ramos rented a small corner space of a haberdashery situated at the foot of escolta bridge in santa cruz manila . with a starting capital of 211 equivalent to 15 047 in 2015 the ramoses set up their first retail bookstore selling gi novels text books and supplies . during world war ii the store shifted to selling sold candies soap and slippers due to stringent book censorship . the store experienced success but was burned down during the 1945 battle of manila rebuilt again and reverted to selling textbooks and stationery the opening of the rebuilt national book store at the corner of soler street and avenida rizal coincided with the first academic schoolyear after the war . in 1948 the store was destroyed by a typhoon gene but a new two storey building with a mezzanine was built to host national book store . 2 3 national book store began selling greeting cards in the 1950s depicting philippine subjects to showcase local culture and traditions . the book store also launched a publishing program with international publishers such as mcgraw hill prentice hal lippincott addison wesley . in 1955 the ramoses were able to acquire a lot owned by the guerrero family where they erected the nine storey albercer building in 1963 which was named after alfredo benjamin and cecilia where a national book store was hosted . 3 national book store accumulated enough capital after some several years to acquire rights to reprint foreign brand greeting cards for the philippine market . the book store had rights to reprint cards by gibson for a few years . in 1973 outbid a more established competitor for a philippine franchise of the greeting card brand hallmark . 2 expansion and recent history edit national book store sm city san pablo . the ramoses children proposed expanding the scope of national bookstore and a branch along recto avenue was opened an area often frequented by students . in the 1970s branches were opened in shopping malls in makati and cubao quezon city . 3 for the next decades since the opening of the recto branch the book store grew with shopping mall owners approaching the ramoses to set up a store inside their properties . the national bookstore became one of the top 100 philippine corporations in 1988 registering profits of 1 million on gross revenues of 34.7 million . the book store chain also became one of the top 500 of the list by retail asia pacific ranking 308th in 2004 . 2 in 2015 national book store captures the majority of the philippine book market having a share amounting to 80 percent and operates around 127 branches across the philippines . it also operates metrobooks which opened in hong kong in 2007 a subsidiary based in the former british crown colony . 2 with the pending entry of national book store into the philippine stock exchange through the renaming of vulcan industrial & mining corp. another ramos owned company into national book store retail corp. they would now also venture into wholesale publishing printing manufacturing and distribution . 4 subsidiaries edit among national bookstore subsidiaries are powerbooks a specialty store and metrobooks which is based in hong kong . anvil publishing serves as the publishing arm of the book store . 1 brand image edit typical store interior the brand name of national book store was thought by socorro ramos one of the co founders . no marketing research was conducted and was done on ramos impulse taking the book store name from the national cash register machine a brand which was popular at the time of the book store s founding . 2 for fifty years from the book store s establishment the logo designed by ramos herself was used which consists of the name of the store in a white background on a surrounded by a red and white stripe design . ramos first came up with a logo by placing the store s name in a striped wrapper with her children finding the logo satisfactory . 2 a new logo was adopted in 1996 following a proposal from ramos children and grandchildren which features the store s name in a more modern font in a red background . in a voting made within the company 15 voted for adopting the new logo with only ramos herself voting against the change . 2 the new logo design was a commissioned work by a singapore based company which also came up with a new store lay out design . 3 references edit a b c schnabel chris 21 march 2015 . how national bookstore s nanay coring grows a nation of readers . rappler . retrieved 15 april 2016 . a b c d e f g velas mary anne 1 june 2015 . national bookstore an accidental brand . entrepreneur philippines . retrieved 15 april 2016 . a b c d our history . national bookstore . retrieved 15 april 2016 . national bookstore to complete backdoor listing by early next year . businessworld . retrieved 22 november 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to national book store . official website national book store on facebook national book store on instagram national book store on twitter companies portal books portal v t e major bookstore and book superstore chains international book off dymocks booksellers books kinokuniya naiin tsutaya waterstones whsmith eslite bookstore nationwide country barnes & noble us blackwell uk books a million us dokya th eason irl gunung agung ind indigo books and music can kyobo book centre kr libro jp national book store ph polare be steimatzky il suomalainen kirjakauppa fin oxford bookstore in thalia de defunct borders group int l us based b. dalton us dillons uk ottakar s uk polare nl waldenbooks us see also list of bookstore chains including local entities retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title national book store & oldid 742543321 categories bookstores of the philippinescompanies based in manilabookshops of hong konghidden categories articles needing additional references from august 2013all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with 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