National Bookstore

National Book Store

Type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	Manila, Philippines (1930s)
Founder	Socorro Cancio-Ramos José Ramos
Headquarters	Mandaluyong, Philippines
Key people	Socorro Cancio-Ramos (Chairman)
Products	Books office supplies school supplies Office furniture
Number of employees	2,500 (2015)
Subsidiaries	Anvil Publishing Metrobooks (Hong Kong) Powerbooks
Website	www.nationalbookstore.com

National Book Store (abbreviated as NBS) is a bookstore and office-supplies store chain based in the Philippines.

The history of National Book Store can be traced back to the 1930s. Before the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, José Ramos and Socorro Cáncio-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.

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.

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.