The very first Bata shop with shoes and accesories was oficially opened by Thomas Archer Bata, Chief Marketing Officer and the grand-grand-son of the founder of the company. The opening of the first store was witnessed also by Jaroslav Olša, jr., Ambassador of the Czech Republic and John T. Holmes, Ambassador of Canada as well as high ranking representatives of Bata´s strategic partner in the Philippines, SM Prime Holdings Inc.

Bata returns to the Philippines after a decades long hiatus, as it had its production facility and retail stores in the Philippines already before the World War II, their property was destroyed during the battle of Manila, and many of their Czech and Philippine employees died during the war after volunteered to fight the Japanese.

Bata (in Czech Baťa) - also known as Bata Shoe Organization - is a family-owned global footwear and fashion accessory manufacturer and retailer established in a small city of Zlín (now Czech Republic) in 1894. Until the World War II, Zlín was its global headquarters, but due to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany and post-war nationalization programme of then Czechoslovak communist government, the new headquarters of then already global brand were established in Canada. Since 2004, the headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and the company is run by 4th generation of Batas. Organized into three business units: Bata Europe, based in Italy; Bata Emerging Market (Asia, Pacific, Africa and Latin America), based in Singapore, and Bata Protective (worldwide B2B operations), based in the Netherlands, it serves more than 1 million customers per day from Australia to Zimbabwe, employing over 30,000 people, operates more than 5,200 retail stores in 76 countries and manages 27 production facilities in 18 countries.