Hoskyn’s Building stands at the corners of Guanco and J.M. Basa Streets of Iloilo City. It currently houses Washington Supermart by Iloilo Supermart, Rose Pharmacy, M Lhuillier, Sam’s, pawnshops, and jewelry.
In a post written by and posted via Facebook by Nereo Cajilig Luján, it appeared that Hoskyn and Company opened the first department store in the Philippines in 1877 at the corner of Calle Real (now JM Basa Street) and Calle Santo Niño (now Guanco Street) in downtown Iloilo City. It was a store that sells everything from a needle to an anchor. It was started by Henry Hoskyn, a former employee of the firm Smith, Bell, and Company based in Manila and nephew of Nicholas Loney, British vice-consul in Iloilo.
Hoskyn’s Department Store was the first to introduce the “fixed price” policy in merchandising in the country, offering groceries, hardware, stationery, toys, watches, jewelry, machinery, buttons, and threads, among others.
