What on earth has happened to the large Lotus's in South Pattaya. Over the last few months they have condensed the size of the store into 70% of the floor area it occupied before. Now there is no structure to the layout, everything is crammed into small isles which are barely enough to wheel a shopping trolly. The beer and spirit section is a small area and is now a joke. The tills are in the middle of the floor with no room to pack your goods properly.

All this to rent floor space to small outlet shops who no one buys from. In fact the floor area that they are trying to rent too is mainly empty. Dont they know that online shopping is now so popular that there is no need for these small shops. Whoever made the decision to carry out these changes needs his/her head examined. Its an absolute disgrace.

Try BigC on klang jimn ????

Lotus's is now totally Thai owned and managed and is being run the Thai way.  Renting out concessions that finance their own inventory and labor are the easiest way to go.  Also, the owners are the same holding company that owns Big-C.  Why should they compete with themselves.  Lotus's will be allowed to shrink while more products will be sold at Big-C.

The changes are just adding to the reasons why I stopped going to this shop. Poor quality overall and a really bad bakery! 

One up side is their chicken doesn't taste like chlorinated chicken unlike Big C Extras

Another little trick I've noticed this store playing is that they often put up discount price signs on goods, and the new prices have not been incorporated into the checkout computer system. On three separate occasions I've had to go to customer services after checking out and explain to them that the price shown on the shelf is not the price charged at the till. With the usual resentful attitude towards a picky farang, they stump off and come back 5 or 10 minutes later, reluctantly agreeing that it's a mistake, and then give you the refund. If you see one of these useful discounts, take a photo so you can just show it to the people on the customer service desk if you end up being charged the wrong price, the cashiers can't do anything.

3 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Another little trick I've noticed this store playing is that they often put up discount price signs on goods, and the new prices have not been incorporated into the checkout computer system. On three separate occasions I've had to go to customer services after checking out and explain to them that the price shown on the shelf is not the price charged at the till. With the usual resentful attitude towards a picky farang, they stump off and come back 5 or 10 minutes later, reluctantly agreeing that it's a mistake, and then give you the refund. If you see one of these useful discounts, take a photo so you can just show it to the people on the customer service desk if you end up being charged the wrong price, the cashiers can't do anything.

Yep that happened to me a couple weeks ago, something supposedly discounted, wasn't. Plus Saturday incorrectly priced chicken, both times no chance of a sorry

Sometimes the yellow ‘special price’ labels pertain to loyalty card holders only. 

1 hour ago, dddave said:

Also, the owners are the same holding company that owns Big-C. 

Are you sure about that?

 

Lotus's is AFAIK owned by CP (Makro, True, 7/11 etc) and Big C is AFAIK owned by Central (owner of for example Robinisons and Central World) and TCC Group

 

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

 

CP Group - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand

1 hour ago, PMinThailand said:

The changes are just adding to the reasons why I stopped going to this shop. Poor quality overall and a really bad bakery! 

Yes.... the same happened to the one in North Pattaya, but sooner. First Decathlon got a chunk of it, then Mr DIY, and the result for me is a  shop where I cannot find things. North Rd has become slower to drive  too so I stopped usingTesco/Lotus . There was a good sized convenience store located near Numchai on Sukhumvit too, that has gone completely and it is an open market now. 

2 hours ago, dddave said:

Lotus's is now totally Thai owned and managed and is being run the Thai way.  Renting out concessions that finance their own inventory and labor are the easiest way to go.  Also, the owners are the same holding company that owns Big-C.  Why should they compete with themselves.  Lotus's will be allowed to shrink while more products will be sold at Big-C.

In a short period of time, Lotus will cease to be. and Big C will be the one and only, and the retail space occupied by Lotus will all be sold for Development as its value is so high.

Change of hands their business plans are changing.  They now in neighborhoods have these smaller stores called Lotus Fresh basically selling essentials already packed like a different version of 7/11, the Lotus off  Sukhumvit ( Num Chai appliance )  died a slow death today the building has been leveled and everything gone. I suspect the spaced going to be rented out like the one North, Decathlon, DIY?

11 hours ago, thailand49 said:

Change of hands their business plans are changing.  They now in neighborhoods have these smaller stores called Lotus Fresh basically selling essentials already packed like a different version of 7/11, the Lotus off  Sukhumvit ( Num Chai appliance )  died a slow death today the building has been leveled and everything gone. I suspect the spaced going to be rented out like the one North, Decathlon, DIY?

As posted above, it is an open air market now, They even built a tarmac road through it. The fact that there is a large wet market a short distance away, on Nerm Plab Wahn, didn't deter them. 

17 hours ago, PMinThailand said:

The changes are just adding to the reasons why I stopped going to this shop. Poor quality overall and a really bad bakery! 

Yes terrible bakery and meat sections. 20 baht for a doughnut, 10 baht in Big C. But it's OK if you just want canned/dry goods.

22 hours ago, MJCM said:

Are you sure about that?

 

Lotus's is AFAIK owned by CP (Makro, True, 7/11 etc) and Big C is AFAIK owned by Central (owner of for example Robinisons and Central World) and TCC Group

 

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

 

CP Group - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand

My error.  I thought I recalled that the ownership of both by a single entity was an issue at the time of the corporate change.

7 hours ago, Henryford said:

Yes terrible bakery and meat sections. 20 baht for a doughnut, 10 baht in Big C. But it's OK if you just want canned/dry goods.

5 baht in the market lol. Overall the new layout is a disaster. My wife and I used to spend quite a lot in there. Now things are so hard to find, we spend half of what we did before and overall the shopping experience is negative. A poor move by the management, everyone in there was complaining last week.

Off topic post and response removed.

I am guessing they are going to have a very big revamp of the store, they have spent money on the Lotus Express near me, added cabinets of fresh meat, bigger bread and veg selection.

 

Cant see them downsizing the South one, more like improve it

 

time will tell