How is T21 doing?

[thaibeachlovers]

Don't get on TVF much these days, so if I missed the thread about it, apologies.

Anyway, I gather T21 is finally open, so wondering how many of my forecasts came true. Is it much, much more popular than Central, and has Central's customer base dwindled to minimal?

Is it as good as the Bkk one, and is it the place for burd watching now?

Perhaps one day I'll get to see for myself, but don't know when that'll happen, if ever.

[AlexCanada]

Busy on weekends but not so much on weekdays so avoid weekends if possible. Food choices excellent. Prefer Bangkok T21 small shops and the basement floor. Seems like every 2nd small store in Pattaya T21 sells diffusers. I get it since the mark up on them must be over 1000 percent. T21 should have limited the number of the same types of stores. Worth visiting to get out of the hot weather. 

 

Baht bus wanting to be taxis a huge issue. They sit in the bus stop not letting legit 10 baht buses pick up and drop off passengers. There is also one motorbike taxi driver there who is very rude to people who walk by him and don't take motorbikes. Huge turn off for tourists. 

[morrobay]

3 hours ago, AlexCanada said:

 

 

Baht bus wanting to be taxis a huge issue. They sit in the bus stop not letting legit 10 baht buses pick up and drop off passengers. There is also one motorbike taxi driver there who is very rude to people who walk by him and don't take motorbikes. Huge turn off for tourists. 

? You seem to be confusing T21 with Central at the beach rd. bus stop where these taxi and songkow jerks double park/park. By the way the yellow taxi have no license to park in these zones. There are also "brown pickups " that hog that zone too. T21 is clear on Pattaya Nua for songkows in front of gate 4. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by morrobay

[dotpoom]

Slightly off topic.

I visited the "Harbour" shopping mall yesterday to see how it was doing (was at the opening).

  It was devastating...a very beautiful mall with all the latest "gagets" for adults and children. I went through every floor ...not a sinner of a customer. The place was like a morgue. Staff all bored silly. It has the facilities to be a wonderful mall....the whole experience was simply depressing...so so sad 

[topt]

Went today and had a quick look round and then had lunch in the foodcourt on the 3rd Floor - Pier 21.

 

The food court I thought was very busy for a Tuesday and I would hate to be there at the weekend with all the tables being so close. Some of the other restaurants had a few patrons and others were completely empty but there are a huge number of restaurants - especially seemed to be a lot of Japanese style.

 

Generally a fair number of people, but spread out, and few shops with customers in that I noticed - but maybe they were all eating 

 

Overall did not appear as busy to me as Central usually is but there is a lot more space so difficult to say and not been to Central for a few weeks to compare.

[balo]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Anyway, I gather T21 is finally open, so wondering how many of my forecasts came true. Is it much, much more popular than Central, and has Central's customer base dwindled to minimal?

No , Central is still popular and will always be. 

 

But there is a market for both malls, I see a lot more Thais inside T21 than foreigners, also more Asians like Chinese and Koreans because of all the great food choices for them. 

 

I live nearby so I visit almost daily during my exercise , and it's never been empty , seem to be a lot of people walking around. But if they buy something is another matter.  

Some restaurants are always busy , others are empty. Foodland seem to be doing well. 

 

 

[topt]

13 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

a very beautiful mall

This only proves to me that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

I went there just after it opened (and a couple of times since) and could not see any point to it personally. I feel sorry for the people working there and wondered then if it would survive. 

[newnative]

   Was at Festival today, Tuesday.  I should think one of the slower times for a mall.  Nice amount of people around, plenty of cars in the parking garage.  Festival was getting to be too busy, today it was a delight.  Walked right in to Fuji for lunch, sometimes we have had to wait. There were a few empty tables but doing a good business.  As Balo said, Central Festival is still popular and will always be.  With T21 now open, perhaps we can even venture to Festival on a weekend; they complement each other nicely and should both do well.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, topt said:

I went there just after it opened (and a couple of times since) and could not see any point to it personally. ...

If it's all so pointless, why the two successive visits?

 

3 hours ago, topt said:

I feel sorry for the people working there... 

You feel sorry for people working in a clean, air-conditioned and busy workplace to make a living?

 

3 hours ago, topt said:

...and wondered then if it would survive. 

Are you one of those that reckoned Central Festival was doomed or going to collapse just after it opened?

[Caine]

Just what Pattaya needed another shopping mall, selling the same old garbage. Be another white elephant in 3 years.

[Briggsy]

1 minute ago, Caine said:

Just what Pattaya needed another shopping mall, selling the same old garbage. Be another white elephant in 3 years.

I rather like these malls when they have progressed through a few stages to the white elephant stage as you said. The bored vendors, usually clustered around the doors on the ground floor, swathes of upper floors completely devoid of activity and musty, no 100 decibel PA system banging away, escalators not working. I like to ghoulishly watch the economic decay.

[dallen52]

4 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Slightly off topic.

I visited the "Harbour" shopping mall yesterday to see how it was doing (was at the opening).

  It was devastating...a very beautiful mall with all the latest "gagets" for adults and children. I went through every floor ...not a sinner of a customer. The place was like a morgue. Staff all bored silly. It has the facilities to be a wonderful mall....the whole experience was simply depressing...so so sad 

Rents too high.

Electronic section is a RIP off. 

Wanted a laptop keyboard. 

Asus. 

1500 he said. 2100 installed. 

Would not sell it to me as a part.

Same connection ribbon. 

Worth 40 baht ex China. 

600 baht but he had to also fit it.

 

The whole joint has got a bad reputation. 

Top floor closing.

Hard to get customers back once they go. 

Yes it's sad really. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by dallen52

[janclaes47]

4 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Slightly off topic.

I visited the "Harbour" shopping mall yesterday to see how it was doing (was at the opening).

  It was devastating...a very beautiful mall with all the latest "gagets" for adults and children. I went through every floor ...not a sinner of a customer. The place was like a morgue. Staff all bored silly. It has the facilities to be a wonderful mall....the whole experience was simply depressing...so so sad 

Though I recall that when Harbour opened there were several posters who ridiculed everyone who said it was a white elephant.

 

They seem to very quiet lately, although at least one of them is active in this thread

[topt]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

If it's all so pointless, why the two successive visits?

After I wrote that I thought someone would nit pick..........Good of you not to disappoint me 

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

You feel sorry for people working in a clean, air-conditioned and busy workplace to make a living?

You got to be trolling...........????

 

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Are you one of those that reckoned Central Festival was doomed or going to collapse just after it opened?

No - see posts following yours 

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, topt said:

After I wrote that I thought someone would nit pick..........Good of you not to disappoint me 

...

Glad to be of service.

 

Still doesn't explain why you keep going back to visit something "pointless" though.

[KittenKong]

27 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Still doesn't explain why you keep going back to visit something "pointless" though.

Places can change. It would be foolish to write them off forever.

 

[Jingthing]

I've been going very often.

Weekends are still super busy.

Weekdays are busy too.

Focused on the restaurants. 
The mass market for Thais chains are doing very well.

Most others seem to be doing OK.

Then there is a bottom tier that are visibly struggling.

The food court of course is booming.

I'm hooked on the shrimp woonsen for 60 baht place.

Funny thing -- the escalator system is so efficient that I haven't been on an elevator there once and don't really plan to. 

So far as I predicted the "excitement" about the new mall is persisting longer than the first week, unlike when Marina opened. 

Speaking of Marina that new front restaurant building is like a ghost town.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Jingthing

[balo]

I agree it  does not look good for Harbor mall now , but they have several malls , the one in Chonburi seem to be doing just fine. The weekends at Harbor are more busy with all the entertainment for kids upstairs. 

But the rest of it is not looking good. 

 

[chicowoodduck]

T21 will be the death of Harbour Mall just like I predicted a loooong time ago......it is not rocket science.....maybe they will turn the joint into some condos?   55555 ????

[digbeth]

The floors of office space on top of Harbor mall is still empty. There's hardly demand for office space in Pattaya. The shipping companies seem quite content around Sri Racha.

[ToddinChonburi]

Just new and shiny with Thai's coming to take a look. This is the feed back from the Thai side.  Food court full of local people daily that work in the area.

[NanLaew]

8 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Places can change. It would be foolish to write them off forever.

 

Indubitably. But 3 visits in as many weeks to a 3 week-old enterprise that has no perceivable use?

 

I reckon he's just after the cool, clean air like everyone else.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, chicowoodduck said:

T21 will be the death of Harbour Mall just like I predicted a loooong time ago......it is not rocket science.....maybe they will turn the joint into some condos?   55555 ????

The original Harbor Mall in Sri Racha had the same white elephant stigma attributed to it by the all-knowing farangs for a long, long time. It's doing really well these days... despite only having maybe half a dozen farangs drop by on a good day.

 

Another one is the 'pointless' Avenue on Second which admittedly has seen more retail churn that most others but it's still there, still evolving, still existing. The farangs wander in, suck cash from the ATM out front, turn their noses up at the prices in Villa and hit the 7-eleven out the back on the way to nursing a Chang in some Chaiyaphoom pensioner trap.

 

How's this for a 'pointless' expansion? Villa Market opening up on the short stretch of SSCC between Sukhumvit and the railway tracks. I guess, just like The Chilled on Boonsampan, these are all doomed because the farangs that some here still consider they have been expressly built to cater for, are (thankfully) a dying breed.

[KittenKong]

38 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

But 3 visits in as many weeks to a 3 week-old enterprise that has no perceivable use?

He was talking about Harbor Mall.

[bert bloggs]

We went to t21 again the other day as i wanted to buy something i had seen , still seems full of "tourists" walking around and taking pics,food court is great and cheap ,but packed ,Central seemed as normal the other day when we were there , same amount of people as usual , as for Harbour Mall ,as i said when it opened ,its in the wrong place , only locals go up there , we pop in to go to the supermarket ,they always have loads of stuff half price ,

signed

Cheap Charlie ????

[NanLaew]

48 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

He was talking about Harbor Mall.

And I stand, very humbly, corrected.

 

My apologies member topt.

[elgenon]

On 11/12/2018 at 7:25 PM, AlexCanada said:

Busy on weekends but not so much on weekdays so avoid weekends if possible. Food choices excellent. Prefer Bangkok T21 small shops and the basement floor. Seems like every 2nd small store in Pattaya T21 sells diffusers. I get it since the mark up on them must be over 1000 percent. T21 should have limited the number of the same types of stores. Worth visiting to get out of the hot weather. 

 

Baht bus wanting to be taxis a huge issue. They sit in the bus stop not letting legit 10 baht buses pick up and drop off passengers. There is also one motorbike taxi driver there who is very rude to people who walk by him and don't take motorbikes. Huge turn off for tourists. 

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a diffuser? And why are they so popular?

 

In all malls there seems to be many Japanese restaurants. i know that my Thai friends like Japanese food the best for a change from Thai.

[Peterw42]

5 minutes ago, elgenon said:

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a diffuser? And why are they so popular?

 

In all malls there seems to be many Japanese restaurants. i know that my Thai friends like Japanese food the best for a change from Thai.

Glad its not just me, I have no idea what a diffuser is either, lol.

[AlexCanada]

16 minutes ago, elgenon said:

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a diffuser? And why are they so popular?

 

Aromatherapy oil diffusers.  Not sure if they are popular or just have incredible markup making it a popular item to try selling in Thailand.  Most are under 2000 baht but they can run up to 5000 baht and you have to buy expensive oils to use them.  

[janclaes47]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

The original Harbor Mall in Sri Racha had the same white elephant stigma attributed to it by the all-knowing farangs for a long, long time. It's doing really well these days... despite only having maybe half a dozen farangs drop by on a good day.

 

There is no harbor mall in Sri Racha, but there is a Tukcom instead, and the last time I was in there about 2 weeks ago it was deserted, asimilar to all the other times I was in there previously