Ukay-Ukay in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu: 12 Thrift Stores Across the Bridge

Every guide to thrifting in Cebu is really a guide to Cebu City. Fair enough. That’s where the sorted shops opened and where the TikToks get filmed. But when we counted every thrift, ukay and pre-loved shop in Metro Cebu this September, 42 were in Mandaue and 36 in Lapu-Lapu, against 129 in the city. A third of the region’s second-hand clothing is across a bridge, and almost nobody has written it down.

So here it is. A dozen shops across Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu (Mactan) worth the trip, from the chain everyone’s tita swears by to a barangay ukay run from a house in Tawason. It goes with our Cebu City ukay guide and our top five, and it’s the one to read if you live north of the Mahiga Creek or fly in and out of Mactan.

Why cross the bridge

Prices, for one. Without the boutique premium, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu ukay runs cheaper than Mango Avenue and often cheaper than the Osmeña strip. Crowds, for another. No Saturday-night scrum at Carbon. A Fabulosa branch at 10am on a weekday is you and the staff. And the shops themselves, which do the classic form of ukay properly: sorted by type, hung, air-conditioned where it counts, and run by people who’ve done it for years. What you won’t find is much vintage-and-streetwear boutique culture. For that you go to the city, and our vintage guide covers it.

Mandaue City

Mandaue’s ukay follows its roads. M.C. Briones Street and its continuation toward Consolacion carry the general shops. A. Del Rosario Street in Mantuyong has the Fabulosa mothership. M.L. Quezon Avenue through Cabancalan and Casuntingan has a second Fabulosa and a string of small preloved shops. And the Banilad and Hernan Cortes corridor, where Mandaue meets Cebu City, has a cluster within a jeepney stop of the Cebu City shops.

Fabulosa De Fashion, the chain

Ask a Cebuano where to buy ukay and, more often than not, you’ll hear Fabulosa. Cebu Insights: “Many Cebuanos would agree that the best ukay-ukay in Cebu is at Fabulosa de Fashion. It has a typical secondhand store setup, but is better organized than others. It has multiple branches in the city, each air-conditioned with clothes organized in hangers.” The original is at 238 A. Del Rosario Street in Mantuyong, open 9am to 8pm daily, 4.2 from 39 reviews, with a second floor one reviewer calls “the bargain area, less price, still nice collection.”

Google Maps lists five branches in September 2026: Mantuyong, M.L. Quezon Avenue in Mandaue, Talamban on Governor Cuenco Avenue in Cebu City, Opon Merkado in Lapu-Lapu, and Mactan Marina Mall. A Minglanilla branch now trades as Fashion Street. Cebu Insights also mentions branches near the Skywalk at Robinsons Fuente and at City Time Square, which we couldn’t find on Maps, so treat those as possibly closed or moved.

The stock is everything. Men’s, women’s, kids’, bags, shoes, sorted by type and hung. Regular prices sit above a market stall. Cebu Insights says the stock “can be a bit more expensive than others, but they won’t break the bank.” The loyalty comes from the sales, when several pieces go for ₱100, and the Facebook page posts new-batch photos and sale days. That post is your cue.

Fashion Street, The Preloved Shop, GNK, Banilad and Tawason

Fashion Street RTW, M.C. Briones Street

On Mandaue’s main road in Guizo, Fashion Street RTW has the best rating in the city that isn’t a chain: 4.8 from nine reviews. It’s a plain used-clothing shop, racks and bins, open 9am to 6:30pm, and the reviews say the same thing in different ways. Fair prices, fresh stock, nobody hassles you.

The Preloved Shop, Casuntingan

An online-first seller of “thrifted and preloved clothes for all sizes and of all ages,” based in Casuntingan, with a 5.0 from eleven reviewers. Message first. Pickup and delivery are arranged by chat. It’s a good example of the Mandaue model. No shopfront on Instagram, no TikTok, just a Facebook page and satisfied regulars.

GNK Preloved, Cabancalan

A small boutique in the Zerep Commercial Center on M.L. Quezon Avenue, open 9am to 7pm. More sorted than the ukay around it. Pieces are chosen, steamed and hung.

Banilad: Thrift & Trendy Collection and Cebu’s Preloved Apparel

Where Mandaue meets Cebu City, two women’s shops within a few minutes of each other. Thrift & Trendy Collection in the Vencz Ouano Compound and Cebu’s Preloved Apparel Shop on Hernan Cortes. Both are a short ride from Wear Xol and Giella’s on the Cebu City side, so they extend the Banilad afternoon in our top-five guide.

JAM Ukay-Ukay, Tawason

Included on purpose. JAM is a barangay ukay run from a residence in Purok Chickos, Tawason, with three reviews and a Facebook profile. This is the form of the trade that exists in every Mandaue barangay and never gets written about. A garage, a rail, ₱30 tees, a seller who knows what you bought last time. Go once and you’ll find the one nearest your own house.

Lapu-Lapu City and Mactan

Lapu-Lapu’s thrift splits between the old town (Poblacion, around Opon Merkado and Lopez-Jaena Street), the malls (Mactan Marina Mall near the airport, City Time Square Mactan in Basak), and neighbourhood shops along the Basak-Marigondon and Pajac roads. A 2024 PeakD post titled “The Largest Thrift Shops in Lapu-Lapu City” is the only other guide we found, which tells you how little the island has been covered.

Poblacion: Opon Merkado and the Lopez-Jaena strip

The surprise of this whole list is that the most-reviewed Fabulosa branch anywhere is not in Mandaue or Cebu City. It’s Fabulosa De Fashion at Opon Merkado, the public market in Lapu-Lapu’s Poblacion, with a 4.4 from 52 reviews and hours of 9am to 9pm. One reviewer: “Visited here again and they offer 50% and got few clothes I wanted.”

Lopez-Jaena Street, the old high street through Poblacion, is the island’s ukay strip. Kaela Ukay-Ukay has a shop here and a second out on the Basak-Marigondon Road, opens at 8am (the earliest in this guide) and runs to 8:30pm. Jhem Online Shop, a few doors along, sells online and from the shopfront with a 5.0 from six reviewers. Axelbert Surplus Trading on the same street is a branded-surplus shop with a mix of new and used, so check the piece. Lopez-Jaena is also where the Poblacion tabo sets up, so a market morning here does both.

One more, unverified. Cebu Insights lists a Sheno RTW Shop at City Time Square in Basak with branded pieces under ₱1,000, Zara and Levi’s among them. We couldn’t find it on Google Maps, so if you go, message the City Time Square Mactan page first.

Pajac, Basak and the airport

Thrift Mommies, on the Basak-Cagodoy-Bankal-Buaya road in Pajac, is a family-run shop strong on women’s and kids’ pieces, the stop to make if you live on the Marigondon side. And for anyone flying: Fabulosa at Mactan Marina Mall is ten minutes from the airport, air-conditioned, and the only real ukay you can hit between check-in and a delayed flight. A reviewer puts the range at “33php and to 300”.

Markets and tabo days across the bridge

• Opon Merkado in Lapu-Lapu’s Poblacion has the Fabulosa branch and the stalls around it.
• Mercado Mandaue has ukay stalls alongside the produce and shows up in Cebu thrift TikTok as a Mandaue destination.
• Ukay ta Bai came to City Time Square Mandaue on 1 to 3 May 2026 and may return. Our pop-ups guide tracks dates.
• Barangay tabo days run across both cities. Ask locally. The Poblacion tabo in Lapu-Lapu and the Tabok and Tipolo markets in Mandaue are the ones people mention.

A half-day route from Cebu City

1. 9am, Banilad. Start on the Cebu City side at Giella’s (opens 9am most days), then cross into Mandaue for Thrift & Trendy and Cebu’s Preloved Apparel on Hernan Cortes.
2. 10:30am, Mantuyong. Ten minutes by Grab to the original Fabulosa on A. Del Rosario. Forty-five minutes, more on a sale day. Check the second floor.
3. 11:30am, M.C. Briones. Fashion Street RTW in Guizo, five minutes on.
4. 12:30pm, lunch and the bridge. Cross to Mactan.
5. 1:30pm, Opon Merkado. The Fabulosa branch and the market around it. An hour.
6. 3pm, Lopez-Jaena. Kaela and Jhem, and whatever the strip has that day.

Reverse it if you’re starting in Mactan, and finish in Cebu City with Wear Xol’s 1pm opening on the Banilad side.

Tips for thrifting in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu

• Cash. GCash acceptance is thinner than in the city. Fabulosa and the mall shops take it. Barangay ukay mostly doesn’t.
• Watch Facebook, not Instagram. The shops here live on Facebook pages. Follow Fabulosa for sale days and message the small shops before travelling.
• Go on weekday mornings. Stock is out, the aircon is on, nobody else is there.
• Transport. Jeepneys marked Mandaue or Consolacion run M.C. Briones from near SM City Cebu. MyBus serves the same corridor. For Mactan, the Marcelo Fernan and Mandaue-Mactan bridges both work. Allow for traffic after 4pm.
• Wash everything. Classic ukay, classic rule. Our washing guide is written for exactly this haul.

And for the days when even Mandaue is too far: the people who shop these racks also sell what they no longer wear, and more of them are doing it on Dara, with a rider carrying the piece across the bridge for you.