Central Festival opens at 10 am now

[champers]

52 minutes ago, moonseeker said:

Downstairs/Basement open at 10, Upstairs closed, This morning ?  MS>

Treat yourself to a packet of Marks & Spencer Jaffa Cakes.?

[lapd]

On 5/30/2018 at 4:17 AM, MunkyBoogar said:

Where is the Pattaya T21 located? Comparing BKK Malls to Pattaya Malls is like comparing Leo to real beer!

Yea, that comparison is kind of silly.  We don't know what sort of shops it will have or the prices.  It will probably have all the same franchise food places as Central so that is not going to be anything new.   We shall see.  I don't go to a mall for a "spectacle"...lol.  Like I said, that's just a gimick. You go once or twice and the novelty wears off.   After that it's all about what they have that the other mall doesn't.  Their prices vs the other mall.  If you think it is going to be cheaper then you probably believe in fairytales.  The prices may be low at first to bring people in.  Eventually it will all settle down and both malls with adjust prices to whatever the market will bear.  TiT....remember?!  A new mall isn't going to change that.  Prices did not go down at Royal Garden after Central opened up.  In fact I think as business dropped off they raised their prices to try make up for it.  TiT...remember.

Edited June 24, 2018 by lapd

[tropo]

Just now, lapd said:

Yea, that comparison is kind of silly.  We don't know what sort of shops it will have.  It will probably have all the same franchise food places as Central so that is not going to be anything new.   We shall see.  I don't go to a mall for a "spectacle"...lol.  Like I said, that's just a gimick. You go once or twice and the novelty wears off.   After that it's all about what they have that the other mall doesn't.  Their prices vs the other mall.  If you think it is going to be cheaper then you probably believe in magic.  The prices may be low at first to bring people in.  Eventually it will all settle down and both malls with adjust prices to whatever the market will bear.  TiT....remember?!

There's nothing silly about comparing a BKK mall to a Pattaya mall. Of course, the only malls to compare with currently are Central Mall and Harbor Mall, until T21 opens. They all look the same inside. You can compare it to any other mall in Thailand.

 

I'll put money down their food court will be the best and cheapest in Pattaya. It's their calling card.

[lapd]

13 minutes ago, tropo said:

There's nothing silly about comparing a BKK mall to a Pattaya mall. Of course, the only malls to compare with currently are Central Mall and Harbor Mall, until T21 opens. They all look the same inside. You can compare it to any other mall in Thailand.

 

I'll put money down their food court will be the best and cheapest in Pattaya. It's their calling card.

Outside food carts are the best food so I don't care about food courts so much.  If I do get anything inside I usually get it at the Central buffet style pay by weight kiosk.  Rarely get anything at that food court anymore.  Most of that stuff is just mediocre and a bit over priced and always has been.   A new mall won't change that.  Prices only went up at Royal Garden after Central opened up.

 

I am more excited about less traffic around the Central area.  It's kind of a zoo most days.  If a lot of that moves up to T21 I am all for it.

Edited June 24, 2018 by lapd

[janclaes47]

On 5/30/2018 at 5:56 PM, MunkyBoogar said:

The video looks exactly like T21 in Korat.

 

Tourist are going to go to the closest shopping. There will be no need to go to T21 if it primarily has the same stores as Central. Once the "newness" factor of T21 opening rubs off people (non-tourist) will go back to their normal shopping areas. Group tour tourist will most likely get bused over to T21 but that probably will not hurt Central's overall profit level. Central will most likely add some new stores and restaurants to make itself more attractive. This what The Mall in Korat did before T21 and Central Festival opened their doors.

So tell us if T21 Korat is a big success or not.

 

Is it crowded all the time?

[Hal65]

Who is the Korat location catering to? I didn't realize Korat was a good opportunity for a more high end mall (by Thai standards)

[tropo]

2 hours ago, lapd said:

Outside food carts are the best food so I don't care about food courts so much.  If I do get anything inside I usually get it at the Central buffet style pay by weight kiosk.  Rarely get anything at that food court anymore.  Most of that stuff is just mediocre and a bit over priced and always has been.   A new mall won't change that.  Prices only went up at Royal Garden after Central opened up.

 

I am more excited about less traffic around the Central area.  It's kind of a zoo most days.  If a lot of that moves up to T21 I am all for it.

You don't get it. It's not about you and what food YOU like. I also hardly ever eat at food courts, but that's irrelevant. 10 of thousands do eat at the food court at T21 in Bkk. It's a huge area and it's almost impossible to get a seat it's that popular. You have to queue up to get food tickets and queue up again to get change - it's THAT popular... and it was still cheap 5 years after it opened.

 

I have no reason to believe T21 in Pattaya will be any different. As I said, it's their calling card. It gets people up to the top level. It's still cheap about 5 years after it opened. They would be crazy to change their model of good food court food and reasonable prices because it works.

 

Do you have any reason to believe that their operational models will be different to the BKK T21?

[johng]

Downstairs/Basement open at 10, Upstairs closed, This morning [emoji20]  MS>

Only the "Tops" is open at 10AM not the whole basement floor, everything else is opened at 11AM.

[moonseeker]

Thank you for this. I did not even go down. Needed to go go to Power Buy and was mislead by TV post.... 5555555

Best regards.... MS>

[adammike]

19 hours ago, tropo said:

You don't get it. It's not about you and what food YOU like. I also hardly ever eat at food courts, but that's irrelevant. 10 of thousands do eat at the food court at T21 in Bkk. It's a huge area and it's almost impossible to get a seat it's that popular. You have to queue up to get food tickets and queue up again to get change - it's THAT popular... and it was still cheap 5 years after it opened.

 

I have no reason to believe T21 in Pattaya will be any different. As I said, it's their calling card. It gets people up to the top level. It's still cheap about 5 years after it opened. They would be crazy to change their model of good food court food and reasonable prices because it works.

 

Do you have any reason to believe that their operational models will be different to the BKK T21?

 I get a 1000 BAHT on a card and get my change at the end of my trip so I only queue two as I eat there twice a day when I am in Bangkok.

[digbeth]

The food court at T21 in Bangkok is rent free to the vendors, the management selected a few 'household name' street food shop to be in there to attract crowds.

 

Not sure there are many well known street food brands in Pattaya, the basement food court in front of Central Food Hall had seen some Local Well known shops there when it first opened year ago, (Nang Nual from Walking Street, Dang Dum Noodles are few that I recall) but most had left by now and might not even go to T21 even if the it's rent free.

 

Even a well to do restaurant already established in Pattaya were offered to be in the FoodCourt at T21 rent free, some might even turn it down, how're they gonna find the staff, how would their buying operation scale with another location?

 

The foodcourt in Terminal 21 in Korat is also not as popular as the one in Bangkok, it all depends on what's available locally. 

 

 

[tropo]

1 hour ago, adammike said:

 I get a 1000 BAHT on a card and get my change at the end of my trip so I only queue two as I eat there twice a day when I am in Bangkok.

Good idea. The card credit is valid for 30 days. Don't leave it sitting on the table when you eat though... one time I had a card loaded to 300 baht snatched right under our noses at Big C Extra.

Edited June 25, 2018 by tropo

[rhodie]

22 minutes ago, digbeth said:

The food court at T21 in Bangkok is rent free to the vendors, the management selected a few 'household name' street food shop to be in there to attract crowds.

 

Not sure there are many well known street food brands in Pattaya, the basement food court in front of Central Food Hall had seen some Local Well known shops there when it first opened year ago, (Nang Nual from Walking Street, Dang Dum Noodles are few that I recall) but most had left by now and might not even go to T21 even if the it's rent free.

 

Even a well to do restaurant already established in Pattaya were offered to be in the FoodCourt at T21 rent free, some might even turn it down, how're they gonna find the staff, how would their buying operation scale with another location?

 

The foodcourt in Terminal 21 in Korat is also not as popular as the one in Bangkok, it all depends on what's available locally. 

 

 

Story I heard is that the food vendors in Pier 21 were street food vendors on the original site and in order to appease them to build the centre a rental (free) arrangement was made. That is why the food court is so cheap. Not sure if T21 Korat food court is so cheap, and not sure if the same arrangement will happen in Pattaya. It sure is hard to beat! And a big drawcard in Bangkok since it opened.

[digbeth]

There was nothing on the original site in Bangkok, it was a row of shophouses, the streetfood vendors in T21 Bangkok are really big name famous brands from all over town and their price at 20-30 baht is really unheard of.

 

There's a lot of article in the press discussing their strategy of letting in free tenant who can then pass on the cheap price to draw in the crowd, of course since they are giving it away they can select only the shops that'd draw in the crowds.

 

Not sure what the arrangement was when the Foodcourt in basement at Central beach road when it first opened, but the local Pattaya names left pretty soon, usually it's either fixed rent or a percentage taken on top of sales, plus Central never do cheap, they have another 'high-end' food court 'Food Loft' on the higher level, the only location that seems to work for that 'Food Loft' is Chidlom in Bangkok where the Hi-SOs don't cringe at 100-300+baht a dish on offer there

 

Central Beach Rd. Food court on the lower level seem to be a tourist trap most of the time, us local know the cheap charlie hangouts is Big C Extra on Klang.

[DrTuner]

22 hours ago, tropo said:

10 of thousands do eat at the food court at T21 in Bkk. It's a huge area and it's almost impossible to get a seat it's that popular. You have to queue up to get food tickets and queue up again to get change - it's THAT popular... and it was still cheap 5 years after it opened.

One of the main reason I never eat in food courts. Too much hassle with the whole find a seat, pick stuff up and so on. It seems to be a certain crowd that uses the food courts, those who don't mind crowds. Will very likely be hugely popular with the Chinese, they are happy to crowd in stacked five high.

[balo]

T21 Pattaya starting to look like a real mall now.  

 

 

[tropo]

31 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

One of the main reason I never eat in food courts. Too much hassle with the whole find a seat, pick stuff up and so on. It seems to be a certain crowd that uses the food courts, those who don't mind crowds. Will very likely be hugely popular with the Chinese, they are happy to crowd in stacked five high.

A very busy food court also sends a lot of business to the other restaurants nearby. People like you and I that won't be bothered wandering around getting tickets and trying to find chairs. Nearly everytime I promise my wife we will eat at the food court we end up somewhere else LOL. I hate busy food courts. I also don't like them much if they aren't busy.

 

[bkk6060]

On 6/24/2018 at 11:36 PM, lapd said:

Outside food carts are the best food so I don't care about food courts so much.  If I do get anything inside I usually get it at the Central buffet style pay by weight kiosk.  Rarely get anything at that food court anymore.  Most of that stuff is just mediocre and a bit over priced and always has been.   A new mall won't change that.  Prices only went up at Royal Garden after Central opened up.

 

I am more excited about less traffic around the Central area.  It's kind of a zoo most days.  If a lot of that moves up to T21 I am all for it.

It will be much worse.  All the people and tourists from Central area, south Pattaya, Pratumnak, Jomtien,  etc.will be traveling thru to T21.

The traffic at central/2nd road will be much worse when T21 opens.

Good luck to those in the Nakula/Wongamat area.  Mostly a parking lot I bet at peak times.

 

[balo]

21 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Mostly a parking lot I bet at peak times.

It is already a parking lot , so that will not change, and the Chinese buses takes up most of it.  Anyway I hope they are building a big underground parking at T21.  

[lapd]

On 6/25/2018 at 9:43 AM, digbeth said:

 

Not sure what the arrangement was when the Foodcourt in basement at Central beach road when it first opened, but the local Pattaya names left pretty soon, usually it's either fixed rent or a percentage taken on top of sales, plus Central never do cheap, they have another 'high-end' food court 'Food Loft' on the higher level, the only location that seems to work for that 'Food Loft' is Chidlom in Bangkok where the Hi-SOs don't cringe at 100-300+baht a dish on offer there

 

Central Beach Rd. Food court on the lower level seem to be a tourist trap most of the time, us local know the cheap charlie hangouts is Big C Extra on Klang.

2

BigC Extra Klang is not the same since the little swarma place left.  Never really liked any of the other food places there.  I usually go upstairs to the BigC grocery store and get a barbecued salmon and salad and eat it down in the food court. 

 

Doesn't Royal Garden have a Food Loft on the top floor?  I go up there to the Starbucks sometimes because it's always nice and quiet with hardly anyone around.  That food court is almost completely empty every time I go up there.  Don't know how they manage to keep it going.

Edited June 27, 2018 by lapd

[balo]

12 hours ago, lapd said:

I go up there to the Starbucks sometimes because it's always nice and quiet with hardly anyone around. 

Food Loft is still there , but the nice Starbucks with terrace outside has gone. They moved downstairs near the beach entrance. 

[newnative]

On 6/26/2018 at 6:35 AM, bkk6060 said:

It will be much worse.  All the people and tourists from Central area, south Pattaya, Pratumnak, Jomtien,  etc.will be traveling thru to T21.

The traffic at central/2nd road will be much worse when T21 opens.

Good luck to those in the Nakula/Wongamat area.  Mostly a parking lot I bet at peak times.

 

     Actually, those of us living in the Wongamat beach area should be ok.  We can and do use back streets and avoid getting on Naklua Road.  My partner and I use side streets with usually very light traffic and come out by Dusit and Dolphin Circle.  From there we can take Beach Road down to Festival, Beach Road and cut over to Marina and T21, or go around the circle to T21 if that ends up being a better way to get in.  Even being at the end of Soi 16 it only takes about 10 minutes to drive to Marina and 15 to Festival--although weekends getting IN to Festival parking garage once we get there can be a long wait, hopefully shorter once T21 opens.

[digbeth]

That right turn from North Rd. into the back of Marina could be interesting as that'll be where T21 car park exit, 

How easy you can go from Naklua to Beach road depends of if they'll keep the dolphin circle half blocked off, making you make a u-turn in front of T21 or open it up like a proper roundabout 

[bkk6060]

1 minute ago, digbeth said:

That right turn from North Rd. into the back of Marina could be interesting as that'll be where T21 car park exit, 

How easy you can go from Naklua to Beach road depends of if they'll keep the dolphin circle half blocked off, making you make a u-turn in front of T21 or open it up like a proper roundabout 

I guess people can keep hoping.

But, I guarantee it will be a major CF.

Just wait and see....

The traffic around Central Festival is tame compared to what is coming there.

[Hal65]

Dolphin into beach road has always felt overbuilt to me. On the other hand, 2nd road into dolphin has slowed down a lot just due to 1 lane of construction.

 

2nd road around Central Marina doesn't seem like much of a drag.

 

Pattaya Nua near dolphin, now there is a place that may have a day and night change.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Hal65