Is Central Chiangmai Airport moribund?

[scorecard]

26 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

I also loved Promenada - such a shame and a waste. Surely they can't leave it rotting there forever?  The problem was it was always pretty empty - I blame the two building design.

Lots of different issues with design and doomed on day 1 because the design didn't work at all to attract large numbers of shoppers.

 

Reality is that for the original developers (from Europe) Promenada is a second failure (first time in an EU country - from memory Poland).

 

Will Prom. CM ever open again? Well a big question mark of course. One factor is the reported complex legal issues involved especially land titles.

 

But seems to me the land / development already there must be attractive to a buyer at the right price. We wait and see.

 

[newbee2022]

40 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

I also loved Promenada - such a shame and a waste. Surely they can't leave it rotting there forever?  The problem was it was always pretty empty - I blame the two building design.

Agreed, one of my favourite malls. However, a bit empty except the time of immigration.

And now it's rotting indeed. With an anchor-supermarket like Tops (Rimping was too small)  or better Lotus it would run, definitely. Pitty 

[TroubleandGrumpy]

On 7/23/2024 at 6:04 PM, Captain Monday said:

Lunchtime  Lanna food hall and Bangkok Bank have custom. Topps, sparse. Cafe within unmanned. One has to search for someone to make any coffee drinks soft drinks self service to check out counter.  Cinema and Food park died years ago. A dated architecture design resembling early 1990s trends

With economic malaise continuing perhaps 3 major malls cannot be sustained?

 

That is what happens to such facilities when the western Expats are not longer spending time and money there. We lived in Chiang Mai for several years and that Mall was just around the corner and we frequented it a lot. A Thai friend of ours in Aust has family in the Province and visits the City every visit (2-3 times a year) and she says it has been slowly dying since 2016/17, but this year it was worse than ever before.  Increased smoke pollution for 3-4 months (worse ever this year) and an exodus of Expats has been the main cause of the downfall of Chiang Mai - there will never be enough 5-10 day Chinese tourists visiting to make up for that loss. IMO the same thing, but to a lesser extent is happening in many parts of Thailand where Expats mainly lived - the Expats are exiting and a general decline in the living standards and services in Thailand is only adding to the problems - Hua Hin is another place that was booming with Expats (especially Koreans) in the 2010s, but is now very much in decline in regards to Expats living there. 

[Nick Carter icp]

2 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

That is what happens to such facilities when the western Expats are not longer spending time and money there. We lived in Chiang Mai for several years and that Mall was just around the corner and we frequented it a lot. A Thai friend of ours in Aust has family in the Province and visits the City every visit (2-3 times a year) and she says it has been slowly dying since 2016/17, but this year it was worse than ever before.  Increased smoke pollution for 3-4 months (worse ever this year) and an exodus of Expats has been the main cause of the downfall of Chiang Mai - there will never be enough 5-10 day Chinese tourists visiting to make up for that loss. IMO the same thing, but to a lesser extent is happening in many parts of Thailand where Expats mainly lived - the Expats are exiting and a general decline in the living standards and services in Thailand is only adding to the problems - Hua Hin is another place that was booming with Expats (especially Koreans) in the 2010s, but is now very much in decline in regards to Expats living there. 

 

   Kad San Kaew didn't close down because you moved away .

The whole shopping Mall did not go out of business just because of you .

 What happened was that two new shopping malls opened in CM , bigger , better  , newer shopping  malls and all the Thais and Foreigners went to those shopping malls instead of going to KSK.

   Ex-pats tend to go to shopping malls just to leer at Thai woman shopping there and get free air con for the day , they are the big spenders that you portray them to be 

[TroubleandGrumpy]

2 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Kad San Kaew didn't close down because you moved away .

The whole shopping Mall did not go out of business just because of you .

 What happened was that two new shopping malls opened in CM , bigger , better  , newer shopping  malls and all the Thais and Foreigners went to those shopping malls instead of going to KSK.

   Ex-pats tend to go to shopping malls just to leer at Thai woman shopping there and get free air con for the day , they are the big spenders that you portray them to be 

WTF wa that??  Hates Expats ??? Better just ignore it I think.

 

[Nick Carter icp]

1 minute ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

WTF wa that??  Hates Expats ??? Better just ignore it I think.

 

 

   Next time that you go to a Swenson in a shopping mall , look out the window and there will be a few Ex-pats looking in through the window and leering at the Swenson's waitresses in their short skirts , looking through the window and hoping someone drops a serviette so the waitress has to bend down and pick it up 

[connda]

Looks as though it's going the way of Kad Suan Kaew and the Promenade. And like others have stated, inflation is beginning to take a toll.  Wait until the Thai government hands out 10K per adult and then watch inflation choke the hell out of the poor and middle-classes.  More malls will go bust as a result. 

[Dazinoz]

3 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Next time that you go to a Swenson in a shopping mall , look out the window and there will be a few Ex-pats looking in through the window and leering at the Swenson's waitresses in their short skirts , looking through the window and hoping someone drops a serviette so the waitress has to bend down and pick it up 

Sounds like to know exactly all about it.

[Nick Carter icp]

1 minute ago, Dazinoz said:

Sounds like to know exactly all about it.

 

  Well, yes of course, otherwise I wouldn't have said it !!!!!!!!

[Captain Monday]

4 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Next time that you go to a Swenson in a shopping mall , look out the window and there will be a few Ex-pats looking in through the window and leering at the Swenson's waitresses in their short skirts , looking through the window and hoping someone drops a serviette so the waitress has to bend down and pick it up 

That’s just sick. Same kind of fellow who sniffs girls bicycle seats on a hot day. And farts in his bathtub to see the bubbles. 

 

5 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

That is what happens to such facilities when the western Expats are not longer spending time and money there. We lived in Chiang Mai for several years and that Mall was just around the corner and we frequented it a lot. A Thai friend of ours in Aust has family in the Province and visits the City every visit (2-3 times a year) and she says it has been slowly dying since 2016/17, but this year it was worse than ever before.  Increased smoke pollution for 3-4 months (worse ever this year) and an exodus of Expats has been the main cause of the downfall of Chiang Mai - there will never be enough 5-10 day Chinese tourists visiting to make up for that loss. IMO the same thing, but to a lesser extent is happening in many parts of Thailand where Expats mainly lived - the Expats are exiting and a general decline in the living standards and services in Thailand is only adding to the problems - Hua Hin is another place that was booming with Expats (especially Koreans) in the 2010s, but is now very much in decline in regards to Expats living there. 

You are thinking too much of yourself. The two other new  malls are packed with Thai people.
 

My thesis is Chiang Mai economic conditions don’t support three major malls.  Promenada was a great concept but location not good at all. 

 

Central Airport Chiang Mai has easy access and now plenty of parking and as it is empty all the time. MAYA is a traffic nightmare but gets all the tourists at least once. 

 

 

[Dcheech]

Wow, One amazing post. That said it is Saturday morning and if you want to really do any shopping at Airport today or Sunday best get their before 1100 (it opens at 10 on weekends) as it will be heaving all weekend long. It will also create a bleeding traffic jam on Mahidol RD halfway back to the river before lunch hour. I hate that. As mentioned, CM can't support five malls, still the three that are left seem to be here to stay, even with online shopping taking a bite. Many were more worried about Maya Mall which seemed to have a tough time coming back from wuhan. That said more Nimmaen people are using it, and more chinese tourists BTW, so it looks like it is doing all right. Also a new shop selling Keens (!) out there. 

As for strange tales of expats leering at women in Swensons airport. Really?! It sounds cool, in a demented kind a way, but really, a group of disheveled old geezers rubbing their privates while looking through the glass at Swenson waitresses?!  Where do you come up with this excrement anyway?  

[Dazinoz]

53 minutes ago, Dcheech said:

As for strange tales of expats leering at women in Swensons airport. Really?! It sounds cool, in a demented kind a way, but really, a group of disheveled old geezers rubbing their privates while looking through the glass at Swenson waitresses?!  Where do you come up with this excrement anyway?  

I think he has personal experience from the outside looking in as they say.

[BobBKK]

17 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Agreed, one of my favourite malls. However, a bit empty except the time of immigration.

And now it's rotting indeed. With an anchor-supermarket like Tops (Rimping was too small)  or better Lotus it would run, definitely. Pitty 

 I agree. I always thought the two-building approach was madness—put the best shops into one of them and the other into a food hall, maybe a concert venue, or something else. 

I'm hoping something might happen eventually, as it's crazy just to leave it sitting there now covid is largely behind us. Might be an idea to have a Promenada thread?

Getting back on-topic I'm not in love with airport plaza personally and think Festival knocks it for six - it's just too old.

[Dazinoz]

20 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Getting back on-topic I'm not in love with airport plaza personally and think Festival knocks it for six - it's just too old.

 

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Edited July 27 by Dazinoz
Miss read post.