I waiting until the Lidl or Aldi is coming to Thailand, maybe then we can get a better competition.

5 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Apart from Tops, Villa, Foodland and Makro etc

These are in the city mostly.

 

Two are part of huge monopolies

Makro

CP owns Makro, 7ELeven, True Phones, and so much more. Makro is part of this huge CP monopoly in Thailand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand

 

Tops

Tops is owned by Central Group which also owns Robinson, KFC, and a zillion other businesses like HomeMart and 40 hotels. Big C was founded by Central Group. Not sure how it is connected now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Group

 

Independent

Villa

Here's the story of Villas. Good for city people but most of the country has nothing like this.

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/about

 

Foodland

If you live in BKK or a few cities you might have access to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodland_(Thailand)

Aswin Techajareonvikul of Big C is married to one of Thai Beverage's Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi daughters so basically Big C is connected of the Thai Beverage monopoly.

https://smemagazine.asia/magazine/sme-apr-19.pdf

 

 

2 hours ago, zydeco said:

To be honest, Lotus is going that way. Something happened about three years ago and they've been cleaning out what I used to consider the farang aisles. At least at my Lotus. No more canned salmon for salmon croquettes, no more taco shells, no more sour cream, no more white onions, and a reduction in pasta varieties.

2.5 years and I've never seen taco shells or sour cream in either one of the Tesco's close to me I used to get garlic salad sauce that I would use as dip they haven't had it in over 2 months

6 hours ago, manicmike68 said:

There is a lot of Walmart and Costco in China. I wish they would come here to Thailand.

Walmart could also bring in its own ideas of customers sartorial elegance.

Edited January 17, 20206 yr by overherebc

1 hour ago, TooBigToFit said:

These are in the city mostly.

 

Two are part of huge monopolies

Makro

CP owns Makro, 7ELeven, True Phones, and so much more. Makro is part of this huge CP monopoly in Thailand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand

 

Tops

Tops is owned by Central Group which also owns Robinson, KFC, and a zillion other businesses like HomeMart and 40 hotels. Big C was founded by Central Group. Not sure how it is connected now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Group

 

Independent

Villa

Here's the story of Villas. Good for city people but most of the country has nothing like this.

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/about

 

Foodland

If you live in BKK or a few cities you might have access to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodland_(Thailand)

Villa and foodland are the only reason I go to Pattaya I'll go about every 3 or4 months and stock up on stuff I can't get where I live my wife uses truvia and Villa is the only place that carries it and even they will only have 2 or 3 items

7 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Walmart could also bring in own ideas of customers sartorial elegance.

At least some of these Thai girls would look good in their PJ's ????

20 hours ago, Fred white said:

What about the anti Monopoly rules

This is Thailand, and you cannot expect there to be any kind of rules in Business.

If Big C Group acquired the Tesco Lotus Label, that would give them a virtual Monopoly over the whole Retail Sector.

With the Big C brand, Makro brand and Tesco brand under their belts, you can expect to see the price of all the food and such rocket in price, with only their conscience to stop them.

Foodland is best, everything has a price stuck on it and no scumbags with baskets full of cooking oil with brats dressed up as spider man and frozen queuing up. Half the Big C workers are schoolgirls part time, most of the others are hiding looking at their phones. Tops has gone downhill recently with long lines, everyone seems to have a voucher on their phone which does not work, then they insist on sticking paid labels on all purchases, even if you put them straight in your bag. All the checkouts are in the dark ages compared to home, Aldi and Lidil need to come here and show them how it;s done.

Edited January 17, 20206 yr by Orton Rd

So they have been banking money, that’s why their stores look so beaten 

Only read the short version, but why is Tesco less than satisfied with their business here that they would consider taking the cash and run? Are they just doing better in other countries? I like some things about Tesco, for example they have an in-country made granola that's reasonable and ok, and many of their wine imports are a much better deal than Tops--I hate paying those wine taxes to this government.

My biggest gripe, as a user of Costco in CA when I'm there, is that except for Makro, none of these places sell enough large economy sizes. And speaking of CA, when I'm at the north Berkeley Safeway I turn on the video of my phone and give a tour to my Thai girlfriend; it blows her mind, as it does mine if I've been away for a while. The place feels bigger than a city block.