About Alala

Alala in Tagalog roughly translates as “memory” or “recollection”. In many ways, this shop is just that - it’s a place of memory, remembrance. It is a place to find and be reminded of home - whatever that may mean to you. Perhaps it might be to teach a little one a language you never learned yourself, or rediscover a Mother Tongue and stories that have been silent for too long.

Alala provides Filipino/a/x-Canadian families a centralized, alternative bookstore experience, one where its patrons can relate to the range of books and products instead of trying to find the one or two that might. It is a place to show a child’s image, culture, and language reflected in plots, pictures, and words. Alala's mission seeks to capture and share the voices and narratives highlighting the range of migration experiences that make up our unique and ever-evolving collective identity.

Primarily inspired by the owner’s toddler, this shop is a tribute to a new way of forming identity - through storytelling, community building, learning and celebration of oneself both shaped by the past and present. Perhaps our next generation will struggle a little bit less and not as long with the key questions of Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my story? What is my past? What is my place in the future? May they have more answers than questions, and may they remember more than us.

A Note on Pricing: As some of our items are sourced from US, Philippine, or other international publishers, prices reflect these factors in addition to shipping, duty, and exchange rate. We stand for providing fair and ethical pricing to do our part to support the publishers, authors, artists and other partners we work with.