Tres Marias closes its iconic grocery store to shift the focus to its growing balikbayan service and expanding import, export and distribution business.
By Mel Fernandez
Tres Marias Trading Limited, a Filipino grocery store in Panmure, Auckland, has served the local Filipino community since 1999. Founded by Oscar and Mercy Catoto in 1991 as a small family-run business, Tres Marias Trading Limited has since become a well-established import and distribution company, specialising in a wide range of home brands from the Philippines such as popular sauce mixes, condiments, snacks and beauty products.
The retail shop operation was strategically located in close proximity to a large Filipino settlement in the Mt Wellington area. Tres Marias Trading Limited was the first Filipino grocery store to ever open on a high street in New Zealand and it quickly became popular among Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike.
In an interview with Filipino News ten years ago, Oscar and Mercy recalled how they went about launching their business. It was a family environment where the mantra was “everybody does everything”. “We started with frozen foods like longanisa, tocino, corned beef and bacon and I myself was making the food,” said Oscar.
“We used our garage and a small extension in front of our house in Mt Wellington and that’s where we started our little sari-sari store in 1994,” explained Mercy. “We also operated a ‘rolling store’ from 1994 to 1996, going door-to-door to supply Philippine products to customers,” reminisced Oscar.
The next stage was to launch a dedicated import business to supply Philippine products to their outlet and the other Asian stores that kababayans frequented. By 2000 the company was experiencing rapid growth.
“Lots of Filipinos started coming to the country from 2003 onwards,” said Oscar. “This was the turning point,” said Mercy. “Before it was just knocking on the doors of Filipino homes to sell the products, but now people were looking for us. We realized that our determination and hard work had paid off.”
As Tres Marias flourished, Oscar and Mercy branched into freight forwarding. Tranfex New Zealand Limited started in 2001, shipping balikbayan parcels to the Philippines. Around this time a second store was opened in Hamilton, which was later sold to other Filipinos.
In 2016 Oscar and Mercy Catoto received the prestigious Filipino-Kiwi Hero Award for Business Excellence in recognition of their courage, perseverance and hard work.
24 years since they opened the doors of their Panmure store, Tres Marias Trading Limited is entering a new chapter of its existence. Sadly, at the end of February 2023, the Catotos are closing their retail operation. The company will now be focusing on its thriving import, export and distribution operation and Tranfex New Zealand Limited – their balikbayan box service, which is based in a warehouse in Pakuranga Heights, Auckland.
“We just want to thank our loyal customers for supporting our business for more than 20 years,” said Mercy. “We loved serving not only Filipinos, but anyone who wanted to try Filipino products. Now that we are in our 70s, for me and Oscar, that will be enough.” This outstanding duo is looking forward to their retirement and to spending quality time with their grandchildren.
“Thank you for being a part of Tres Marias’ journey!“
Tres Marias Trading Ltd and Tranfex NZ Ltd: Transforming and recreating an iconic Filipino business powerhouse.
AUCKLAND – Tres Marias started from humble beginnings and for over 20 years the company has been able to capitalize on opportunities, reinvent itself and establish a comfortable niche in the marketplace. Today it is one of the most successful importer, exporter and distributor of Philippine products businesses in New Zealand, with warehouses located in Auckland and Christchurch.
Joy Mead, (above) the Managing Director and daughter of Oscar and Mercy Catoto, said: “We want to let the community know that it is the end of an era – for the retail store, but we are progressing to something bigger and better.” She further explained. “The retail store has been a focal point for a lot of migrants coming to New Zealand. If you were a new migrant and you didn’t know anyone in Auckland you would come to Tres Marias and it would feel like home. So I know that for a lot of migrants who have been here for a very long time it will be a bit of a nostalgic feeling for them to come back and see the retail store gone.”
According to Stephen Mead, the Sales and Marketing Director of the company: “Previously, the retail store was the hub of the business, but now the focus is on Tranfex NZ Ltd and the import, export and distribution business. We want to focus our time, energy and resources on growing these areas.”
Joy Mead agrees. “For Tres Marias, our focus is now on import, export and wholesaling. We want to support Filipinos in business. We’ve been there and we know how challenging it can be, so if we can help other Filipinos start up a life here and have opportunities, then why not? For Tranfex, we intend to grow this business and offer more products and services that allow Filipinos to connect to the Philippines and vice versa.”
Regarding the company’s exciting plans, Joy revealed. “We opened a warehouse in Christchurch in May 2021 and we are trying to mainstream a lot of Filipino-loved items by putting them into the main grocery stores like Pak’nSave and New World.” She further explains the logic behind this move. “Supermarkets are a one-stop shop. If you want to make sinigang, you can go to Pak’nSave to get your veges and your meat, but you still need to go to an Asian store to buy your sinigang mix. Why don’t we put the sinigang mix in Pak’nSave to save Filipinos time? That is the thinking behind that.”
The Meads envision a bright future for their company, because demand for their products and services is increasing exponentially due to the growth of the migrant population, driven by immigration.
As Joy puts it. “Our objective is to make Filipino products household names in Kiwi homes so that they will ideally become like the Kikkoman brand; most households in New Zealand consume Kikkoman soy sauce. Why can’t it be like that for Filipino brands? That’s our vision.
“If you are interested in selling Filipino products or balikbayan box services, contact us on 09 2747595 or sales@tresmarias.co.nz.”
Copyright: SM Publications Ltd.
