Hoskyn's Department Store was a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Established in 1877, it was the first department store in the Philippines. It was also the first to introduce the “

fixed price A fixed price is a price designated for a good or a service that is neither subject to bargaining nor bartering. The price may be fixed since the seller has placed it, or given that the price is managed by the authorities under price regulati ...

” policy in merchandising in the country, offering a wide range of products including groceries, hardware, stationery, toys, watches, jewelry, machinery, buttons, and threads, among others. The department store was succeeded by Washington Supermart in 1948, and is located at the Hoskyn's Building on the corner of historic Calle Real and Guanco Street in downtown

Iloilo City Proper Iloilo City Proper, also known as Downtown Iloilo or simply Iloilo among locals, is an Districts of Iloilo City, administrative district in Iloilo City, Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of the island of Panay in the Western Visayas ...

History

Hoskyn's Department Store was founded by Henry Hoskyn, a former employee of the firm Smith, Bell and Company based in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

and nephew of

Nicholas Loney Nicholas Loney (, Plymouth, United Kingdom – , Mount Kanlaon, Negros Island, Philippines) was an English businessman and the British Empire's vice-consul in the city of Iloílo. Early life The younger son of Admiral Robert Loney, of the ...

, a British vice-consul in

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

. It was also managed by J. C. Hoskyn, Herbert Peter Hoskyn, George Medhurst Saul, A. Ponce de Leon, E. Garcia, and Gregorio Manuel Loring Sr., Loring was the son of Wright Boott Loring of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, the first American vice consul in Iloilo. The entrance of Hoskyn's Compound in the area bears the name "Galerias de Comercio Loring" in his honor. By 1925, Hoskyn & Co. was incorporated. After World War II in 1948, the Que Family acquired the company, and renovated and reconstructed the Hoskyn's Building, where the department store was located, on a larger scale. Hoskyn's Department Store was replaced by Washington Commercial, becoming the Que Family's second store after the Washington Grocery on

Iznart Street Iznart Street, officially known in parts as Fermin Caram Avenue and Ruperto Montinola Street, is a major commercial thoroughfare in downtown Iloilo City, Philippines. It runs north–south through the district's center, stretching from the Casa ...

. Subsequently, it was later renamed Washington Supermart. In its succeeding branches, it became known as Iloilo Supermart and grew to become the largest supermarket chain in

Western Visayas Western Visayas (; ; ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. The region comprises the islands of Panay and Guimaras Island, Guimaras. It consists of five Provinces of the ...

References

{{Iloilo City Proper Department stores of the Philippines 1877 establishments in the Philippines Defunct department stores 1948 disestablishments in the Philippines Shopping malls in Iloilo City Buildings and structures in Iloilo City Proper