The retail success story of the Gaisano family started with the family matriarch, the late Doña Modesta Gaisano. She started the retail chain in the 1970's on the ground floor of a rented house turned small restaurant-cum-shop in Colon, Cebu which later became the White Gold Store, the predecessor of the Gaisano Malls. After the death of Doña Modesta in 1981, her sons David, Stephen, Henry, Victor, and John decided to split the corporation and went separate ways. Hence, today’s five different Gaisano companies.
David then put up the clan’s flagship company, the DSG Sons Group, Inc is a privately owned family corporations engaged primarily in the retail business, using the GMalls brand. In the late 1980's, the company opened branches. With an experience spanning more than 30 years in the Philippine retail industry, it currently has a portfolio of 5 large shopping malls (GMall of Davao, GMall of Tagum, GMall of Toril, GMall of Digos and GMall of GenSan), 7 department stores, and 8 supermarkets. All establishments are named and marketed under the GMalls brand.