VILLARICA Pawnshop, now in its 60th year, is proud to pave the way for a lot of innovations in the industry.
It is among the first to open multiple branches, to professionalize the system, and to highlight its “Safe, Sure and Special” brand of caring to customers. Add to that, it was able to expand to more than 500 branches that are not only offering regular pawnshop services, but also offering money remittance, bills payment, cash-withdrawal service and e-loading, among others.
While lawyer Henry R. Villarica, president of Villarica Pawnshop and also a Bar topnotcher with a grade of 92.4 percent in 1971, is the gentleman behind the growth of the pawnshop chain, it was Paz Villarica, the family’s first-generation matriarch, who pioneered a humble business model that became one of today’s highly successful service-oriented enterprises.
Paz and her husband Quirino opened the original Villarica Pawnshop in 1954 at 616 P. Paterno Street in Quiapo, Manila. At the time, pawnshops were traditionally family-owned—usually with only one to two outlets.
“First-generation pawnshop owners were not keen on opening branches, as it is their way of keeping the business management within the family,” Villarica said. To pursue income growth even with limited funding, he vividly remembered his mother’s astuteness and creative business sense.
Paz, who was once a councilor in the Villarica’s Meycauayan hometown, navigated through it all, juggling her responsibilities as a wife, a political figure and a mother to three children.
“I credit my mom, she was the valiant spirit, the ‘brilliant diamond’ behind the pawnshop that many Filipinos have grown to trust. She was a pioneer woman-entrepreneur at a time when women were not given much opportunity. It’s from her guidance and example that I learned greatly and developed my passion for the business,” Villarica recalled.