Foodland, especially Foodland Sukhumvit Soi 5 in Bangkok - why is it so empty?

[JimTripper]

27 minutes ago, marin said:

I have not found that to be the case at all. Avocados are always available, Along with Pok Chee or corriander leaves, onions both red a white also. They have Mission wraps which are the best flour tortillas you will find here. They carry dried pinto beans, along with cumin and Mexican chili powder.  Tomatoes both tinned and fresh are always there and they carry more than one kind of tortilla chips. What more do you want. You have guacamole, salsa cruda, and tacos, burritos or enchiladas to your hearts content.  Few days ago whipped up this carnitas pork, perfect with some cheese topped refried beans along with fresh salsa.

That looks delicious and you should open a restaurant.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

41 minutes ago, marin said:

What more do you want.

For starters, they're totally lacking in any selection of decent salsas, whereas Villa carries a wide range of locally produced good brands like El Sapo and El Charro.

 

[marin]

Had one on Samui a really long time ago. Now just cooking for friends. Too old and too damn hot. Thanks so much.

[marin]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

For starters, they're totally lacking in any selection of decent salsas, whereas Villa carries a wide range of locally produced good brands like El Sapo and El Charro.

 

Make your own as I did. Tomatoes very ripe, red bell pepper, chili peppers to your liking, onion, coriander, lemon juice and salt. 15 minutes job and keeps for say 10 days in the fridge. You learn to make do with what you have. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

57 minutes ago, chubby said:

My idea would be to buy the types of food that usually require less, elsewhere the clean 15 vs the dirty dozen, don't know if that applies though in LOS, otherwise just only buy UK frozen Waitrose from TOPS?

 

If you dig into the details of those kinds of reports from ThaiPAN, there's also a big variation in the found pesticide levels here based on the type of vegetable. Some of the Thai local items like Thai red bird chilis were very bad, whereas other types like, if I recall cucumbers, were much less problematic.

 

BTW, one of the issues I also have with Foodland, and some others like Makro, is that some of their fresh produce is grown in and imported from China, which is a no-go issue for me.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, marin said:

Make your own as I did. Tomatoes very ripe, red bell pepper, chili peppers to your liking, onion, coriander, lemon juice and salt. 15 minutes job and keeps for say 10 days in the fridge. You learn to make do with what you have. 

Don't have the time for that, though I applaud your effort  and talent!

[n00dle]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:55 AM, stoner said:

sorry but villa puts foodland to shame.

sure, it can also be as high as 20 percent more expensive.  The price of meat and fresh vegetables especially, There is a brand of smoked salmon that is almost half the cost at foodland. Deli selection is cheaper as well though the deli section is a shadow of its former self

I live 150 metres from Villa on soi 11, but it is just no viable to do all my shopping there. I can drop 5k and come home with nothing. 

I shop at foodland on 5, buy everything i can then top up at Villa on stuff i couldnt find. Things like fresh herbs, frozen avocado etc

Someone above commented that foodland has a limited selection of goods. In my experience Villa has an equally large number of disappearing items and a dwindling selection goods. For example canned tomatoes, tomato purees and sauces. Villa used to have many trypes now it is just a few. same for olives.   

As for took lae dee, it is a dinosuar that has gone the way of the old school sex tourist. Like the beer garden on soi 7, it has had its day. 

[n00dle]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:07 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I don't know if it ever was "nutty, flavoursome".

 

I live in that area since almost 30 years. Did it change? Sure. But as far as I see it, it is still similar to what it was a long time ago. Now there are just more new condominiums, restaurants, shopping malls, etc.. I still see some of the same people which I saw there in 1995 - including in Took Lae Dee in Foodland Soi 5. 

there is a lot missing, like new wave bar, the passageway that cut through to 11, and the seafood market on 7.

it was possible once upon a time to sit in a beer bar and while away some time without being eithe harraseed or ignored.  now with the newer bars on 11 and 7, it is cheaper to get smashed on sangria at tonys, hemmingway or oskar and have a decent meal than it is to have a few heinekens on the street with someone begging for a 200 baht round for every 100 baht beer you drink,

Post covid (even late lockdown) i ventured out to a bar i knew before shutdown. Between women activlely begging for rounds and a few  slipping drinks in when i ordered another round,  I nearly fell off my stool when i found out that each beer was costing 4-600 baht extra in coloured water. 

Any one of the "expensive" expat bars on 11 is cheaper and you dont need to watch the bill like a hawk. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by n00dle

[mokwit]

6 minutes ago, n00dle said:

there is a lot missing, like new wave bar, the passageway that cut through to 11, and the seafood market on 7.

It do  it was possible once upon a time to sit in a beer bar and while away some time without being eithe harraseed or ignored.  now with the newer bars on 11 and 7, it is cheaper to get smashed at hemming way or oskar and have a decent meal than it is to have a few heinekens on the street with someone begging for a 200 baht round for every 100 baht beer you drink,  

I used to refer to the 7 BG as the last hassle free place left in Bangkok.

[n00dle]

9 minutes ago, mokwit said:

I used to refer to the 7 BG as the last hassle free place left in Bangkok.

but at what cost? i stopped in a few months back out of a nostalgic curiousity and nearly hung myself it was such a horror show.

 

The smell of cat piss hardly appeals either

Edited April 27, 2023 by n00dle

[mokwit]

1 minute ago, n00dle said:

used to

Haven't been there much either.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, n00dle said:

but at what cost i stopped in a few months back out of a nostalgic curiousity and nearly hung myself it was such a horror show.

Did you recognize the women who started to work at that place 20 years ago and are still there? ???? 

[n00dle]

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Did you recognize the women who started to work at that place 20 years ago and are still there? ???? 

haha, they werent exactly familiar, but you can certainly tell who they are!

Edited April 27, 2023 by n00dle

[herfiehandbag]

On 4/14/2023 at 12:24 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Good one!

 

That reminds me of the alcohol promotion ladies in Foodland. I think they are still there.

I never understood the reason to have them there. Do people buy more bottles if some women with makeup stand near to the bottles and play with their mobile phones? Strange. 

I suppose it depends where you keep your mobile phone...

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, n00dle said:

haha, they werent exactly familir, but you can certainly tell who they are!

It still happens from time to time that I see a waitress in Nana who used to dance there 25 years ago and we still say hello to each other.

But I remember one day one ugly old woman said hello and I looked at her like: Who are you? Do I know you from somewhere? And then she actually told me from where I knew her. She was one of the hottest dancers in Midnight a looooooong time ago. I don't know why I still somehow recognized her. She was in a horrible condition, especially remembering how she used to be. 

 

I didn't have a look in the Bier Garten since at least 10 years. I don't really want to see the leftovers. 

[n00dle]

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It still happens from time to time that I see a waitress in Nana who used to dance there 25 years ago and we still say hello to each other.

But I remember one day one ugly old woman said hello and I looked at her like: Who are you? Do I know you from somewhere? And then she actually told me from where I knew her. She was one of the hottest dancers in Midnight a looooooong time ago. I don't know why I still somehow recognized her. She was in a horrible condition, especially remembering how she used to be. 

 

I didn't have a look in the Bier Garten since at least 10 years. I don't really want to see the leftovers. 

I never did gogo bars unless a visitor requested it. In fact i have never taken a girl out of a gogo bar, but i have met plenty after hours in civilan clothes. that i find much more appealing.

I spent my time at bed, qbar, mystique or down on the islands. At least once a month, however, someone approaches me as i am out and about who remebers me from the "old days" Wheter it was someone from Thermae, the after hours scene at the Grace, usptairs at soi 1 or sin on Nana, soho on 11 or even Soi Zero or the plastic chairs. 

it all blends together.

oddly, its never the ones i sometimes wonder about.   

 

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by n00dle

[proton]

41 minutes ago, n00dle said:

sure, it can also be as high as 20 percent more expensive.  The price of meat and fresh vegetables especially, There is a brand of smoked salmon that is almost half the cost at foodland. Deli selection is cheaper as well though the deli section is a shadow of its former self

I live 150 metres from Villa on soi 11, but it is just no viable to do all my shopping there. I can drop 5k and come home with nothing. 

I shop at foodland on 5, buy everything i can then top up at Villa on stuff i couldnt find. Things like fresh herbs, frozen avocado etc

Someone above commented that foodland has a limited selection of goods. In my experience Villa has an equally large number of disappearing items and a dwindling selection goods. For example canned tomatoes, tomato purees and sauces. Villa used to have many trypes now it is just a few. same for olives.   

As for took lae dee, it is a dinosuar that has gone the way of the old school sex tourist. Like the beer garden on soi 7, it has had its day. 

Took lae dee is doing very well at the Bright Rama 2, no sex tourists, mostly better off Thais and Chinese types. We only go for the breakfasts. 

[n00dle]

1 minute ago, proton said:

Took lae dee is doing very well at the Bright Rama 2, no sex tourists, mostly better off Thais and Chinese types. We only go for the breakfasts. 

on 5, the africans across the street come in for the AC

[proton]

2 minutes ago, n00dle said:

on 5, the africans across the street come in for the AC

Usually smells terribly and looked like the bar in starwars, best avoided !

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Weird... I was by the Soi 5 Foodland mid-afternoon today...

 

When I came in, the large U-shaped Took Lae Dee counter there was almost empty of customers.

 

When I departed a half hour or so later, there was a group of a half dozen 30ish/40ish African males all hanging around just inside the door, not shopping, not sitting at TLD, not sure what exactly they were doing....

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, n00dle said:

the after hours scene at the Grace

That was the last possible place where I looked. And every time I told myself to never do it again. It must be at least 20 years since I was there the last time.

[n00dle]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

That was the last possible place where I looked. And every time I told myself to never do it again. It must be at least 20 years since I was there the last time.

Yes time flies. I loved it it was a total freak show with horrid lighting 

[n00dle]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:38 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

I like in lower Sukhumvit since decades. For all that time Foodland in Soi 5 was my main supermarket. I go there almost daily.

In Covid times the whole area, including Foodland, was almost empty. No surprise.

But even after Covid Foodland has maybe only 10% or 20% of the customers which it used to have - at least in my subjective experience.

Why?

As far as I know there are a few other supermarkets in the area, but IMHO nothing better than Foodland.

Now, with the fewer customers, they also have fewer service people in the shop. It's a slow downhill spiral.

Does anybody know what is going on or have a good idea for some reason(s)?

 

Took Lae Dee restaurant, within Foodland Soi 5, is also almost empty. 

Having shopped there weekly for the last 25 years. I'd have to say nonsense. 

[n00dle]

2 minutes ago, n00dle said:

Having shopped there weekly for the last 25 years. I'd have to say nonsense. 

 

2 minutes ago, n00dle said:

Having shopped there weekly for the last 25 years. I'd have to say nonsense. 

 

Old post resurrected. Nevermind.

 

Edited May 28 by n00dle

[JimTripper]

The Patpong foodland is deserted as well, only a few other customers in there in the evening.

 

Also, the Patpong night market near there was almost deserted as well. I remember it being packed full standing room only when I first came to Thailand ages ago. The whole area felt empty, lots of girls in the gogo's still or sitting outside, but I think no customers.

 

A sign of the times I guess. Must be hard for the bars around there.

 

Come to think of it, Bangkok nightlife in general feels empty to me. Maybe it's just me because I have been away for awhile, but it feels like there's not as many people around. That includes, Nana, Cowboy and also Patong.

Edited July 10 by JimTripper

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, JimTripper said:

The Patpong foodland is deserted as well, only a few other customers in there in the evening.

 

Also, the Patpong night market near there was almost deserted as well. I remember it being packed full standing room only when I first came to Thailand ages ago. The whole area felt empty, lots of girls in the gogo's still or sitting outside, but I think no customers.

 

A sign of the times I guess. Must be hard for the bars around there.

 

Come to think of it, Bangkok nightlife in general feels empty to me. Maybe it's just me because I have been away for awhile, but it feels like there's not as many people around. That includes, Nana, Cowboy and also Patong.

Bangkok's bar nightlife is definitely quieter than it was years ago.

I didn't go to Patpong for many years, day or night. Maybe I should have a look on day to see what is going on there now.

 

The few people in Foodland Soi 5 are still surprising to me. I go there almost every day and I am pretty sure on most days there are more employees than shoppers in that place. I hope they won't close it, because I can't imagine they make enough business there anymore.

 

 

[n00dle]

29 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Bangkok's bar nightlife is definitely quieter than it was years ago.

I didn't go to Patpong for many years, day or night. Maybe I should have a look on day to see what is going on there now.

 

The few people in Foodland Soi 5 are still surprising to me. I go there almost every day and I am pretty sure on most days there are more employees than shoppers in that place. I hope they won't close it, because I can't imagine they make enough business there anymore.

 

 

 

before i discovered freshket a couple months ago I bought most of my meat and vegetables there. I was there at least once a week, i never once noticed it was deserted