New Mall In Bangkok

[utapaortnab]

For those of you that don't already know about it, on Dec 14th, there was yet another new shopping mall that opened in a very uncrowded, unpretensious location with many perks.

Esplanade Mall: Ratchadalai St. (west of Petchaburi) where Soi Asoke again becomes Ratchadalai St. (If you are coming from Sukhumvit, via Asoke, when you cross Petchaburi St. you'll be half way there. It will be on the left, first building complex after the National Cultural Center MRT exit 3.

MRT subway exit NATIONAL CULTURAL CENTER exit 3, turn left, it's right next door.

6 stops from Lumpinee MRT station (26 Baht) (about 77 cents U.S.)

3 stops from Asoke/Sukhumvit MRT station.

Distinct advantages of shopping there. New Mall - has done almost NO advertizing, no one else knows where it is or how to get there, therefore the shops, theators (14 theater movie complex), food venues are near empty of customers so far. The secret won't last but even once everyone finds the advantages of shopping here, it will remain a favorite for me because, since I always stay in the Lumpinee/Rama IV/Soi Ngam duplee area, I can walk to the subway station at Lumpinee, and NOT have to ever take a cab again........ No rush hour traffic, no problems...

Now even though they had their grand opening on Dec 14th, about half the store space is still in the development stage or empty. I've listed a few of the stores/shops/restaurants I'd visit. Yes, they have loads of clothing stores, optical, dental, shoe stores etc. but I have no interest in any excepting Adidas for casual men's clothes. Just drop in at the Esplanade mall and check out all the "shops" for yourselves.

Basement Floor:

MK Restaurant

Tops Supermarket (not completed yet)

Noodles Bar

Famous Amos (not completed yet)

Scoozi Pizza and Italian

Miss Saigon Restaurant

Whittards of Chelsea (not completed yet)

BBQ Plaza

Uomasa Restaurant

KFC S&P Bakery

Auntie Annies

Wine Collection - Wholesale Prices

Ootoya Restaurant

Fuji Restaurant

Tayoi Japanese Restaurant

Ground Floor:

Starbucks

Caffe Nero Black Canyon Restaurant

Hay Cafe (not completed yet)

Adidas

McDonalds

Gardian Pharmacy

Coffee World

Mixx Dining

Mezzanine:

Health stores, vision, dental, health stores etc.

2nd Floor:

Cafe Kaldi

Tohkai Esplanade (not completed yet)

Bangkok, and many other banks

Theater Box office

3rd Floor:

Shabu Five (not completed yet)

Wasabi Restaurant

Nokia Shop

Book & Music B2S store

IT connect

Future Now Computers

Forth Floor:

Blu Bowl Bowling (not completed yet)

Sub Zero Ice Skate Club (not completed yet)

Country Hobby (not completed yet)

Country Hobby shop (not completed yet)

Ratchadalai Theater complex (14 screens)

Now as I said, there are many shops, stores, etc. I didn't mention because they have no interest to me. If this new mall sounds like something you'd be interested in, just drop in and enjoy it. I certainly was very favorably impressed.

Ken Bower

Chiayaphum Thailand

(spend 6-10 days/month in Bangkok however)

[Ijustwannateach]

Despite the obviously spam-mish character of this OP, I'm going to allow this because it is an interesting mall and it is newsworthy. Have enjoyed a few evenings there already. I wouldn't call the location (near Ratchada's busiest disco zone) "unpretentious," though!

[bkkmadness]

Some pics of the Esplanade.

The bowling is open by the way.

Overall I didn't think it was anything much special when I popped down there the other day. Though it's not fully packed out with shops yet what they had was pretty basic and the shops didn't seem to have a great deal of selection. Apart from an OK bookshop I think I would still rather travel to MBK/Siam way for shopping. Gonna be using the Fujis and cinema though.