When I was in Pattaya I would walk past numerous massage shops with normally large middle aged to very mature age ladies sitting outside

There were groups of them like a woman's social club

I often wonder are they tax fronts , because I can't see how they turn a profit?

The ones I did use were horrendous, someone eating near me ,washing dishes etc nearby

So why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside?

These massage ladys are looking for a young buck like you to sweep them off their feet..

Come on man dont be cheap...These women need gold and new houses ASAP..

Sir lets get cracking...

And let us know the wedding date...

They do struggle to make money, foreigners who buy massage shops soon regret it, there is one chain that is very likely money laundering, big growth in shops, empty.

Too many massage shops, same bars, same indian restaurants

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

So why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside

Soi 13/1 and 2, soi Honey have young, sexy, slim girls sat out front.

2 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Soi 13/1 and 2, soi Honey have young, sexy, slim girls sat out front.

Many slim ladyboys too

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Many slim ladyboys too

Ha ha, don't give Georgie boy any ideas, I can see him on the next plane to Thailand

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

So why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside?

What does your data tell you ?

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside?

One shop owner said she was looking to take on 20 ladies, she couldn't find them and closed a few months later = many shops take what they can get

4 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

So why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside

As if you dont have the statistics on this. You slipping GG.

9 minutes ago, blaze master said:

As if you dont have the statistics on this. You slipping GG.

Slipping or the whole data collection spiel is the typical BS he spews forth ?

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Many slim ladyboys too

These slim ladyboys have finished their shift at the massage shop, now tidying up some loose ends, one of the customers.

I'm staying in the 'luxury' of a back-alley soi 4 (Nana) guest-house right now (I'm a cheapskate...) All the massage 'ladies' plying for customers in my immediate locality are (to put it honestly), fat, old and ugly. Is this what the new kind of tourist demands? Or is there a dire shortage of slim and pretty young women who have already been snapped up by the beer-bars and gogo's?

I very much doubt that these rotund women have any formal training in massage, (and I'm not risking my frail body to find out...)

26 minutes ago, simon43 said:

I'm staying in the 'luxury' of a back-alley soi 4 (Nana) guest-house right now (I'm a cheapskate...) All the massage 'ladies' plying for customers in my immediate locality are (to put it honestly), fat, old and ugly. Is this what the new kind of tourist demands? Or is there a dire shortage of slim and pretty young women who have already been snapped up by the beer-bars and gogo's?

I very much doubt that these rotund women have any formal training in massage, (and I'm not risking my frail body to find out...)

You're just realizing that there's no new influx of talent?

They live inside them most times as shared living space too, this offsets costs, they not are paid wages but earn per massage. They have some freelance clients on top sometime.

Being lazy and getting by is the default operation mode of Thais today. They won't put in more effort so they end up sitting there all day long on their phones, waiting for customers. That's what they otherwise do 'home' anyway.

People said the same of weed shops not realizing that just 1 customer buying 5 grams is better than 6 customers having 2 small chang beers. Not that hard to break-even a business in Thailand, to make hard profits is another subject.

30 minutes ago, gargamon said:

You're just realizing that there's no new influx of talent?

There is plenty of new ones, they just aren't accepting old guys anymore as they not need to. Well unless you are from Singapore or China, or a multi mullionaire redneck from USA, then there is still some with interest.

56 minutes ago, BuffaloRider said:

There is plenty of new ones, they just aren't accepting old guys anymore as they not need to. Well unless you are from Singapore or China, or a multi mullionaire redneck from USA, then there is still some with interest.

They avoid you for sure if you look like a buffalo rider.

I went to a pharmacy in a small town and thought the same thing. No people around to buy things and products half price compared to Bangkok.

7 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Ha ha, don't give Georgie boy any ideas, I can see him on the next plane to Thailand

Im not convinced that he actually leaves Pattaya.

It's a tough business, a friend of mine owned one 15 years ago and it was a tough business then. I spoke to a friend of mine who owns a rather classy high-end massage shop in Bangkok recently, and he said it was becoming ridiculously difficult for him to find younger attractive women.

They simply have too many alternatives online with all the suckers around the world with cash in their pocket.

4 hours ago, gargamon said:

You're just realizing that there's no new influx of talent?

Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

34 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

Thanks for your insight then. Very helpful.

8 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Soi 13/1 and 2, soi Honey have young, sexy, slim girls sat out front.

Who's washing the dishes?

6 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'm staying in the 'luxury' of a back-alley soi 4 (Nana) guest-house right now

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

Did you teleport thro some kind of time horizon event in the 5 hours between these two posts?

9 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

They do struggle to make money, foreigners who buy massage shops soon regret it, there is one chain that is very likely money laundering, big growth in shops, empty.

Too many massage shops, same bars, same indian restaurants

Indeed they do struggle to make money @scubascuba3 and I personally know the Thai owners of four massage shops here in Patong and one of these is purely for genuine massage and is a highly respectable operation, whereas the others sit in the "grey area" and it's certainly these that are struggling and some of the girls working there would not get one customer per day.

The sister of the owner of one of the shops (where she used to work) opened a massage shop just a few kilometres away in Patong, and that has been a disastrous "investment", only made possible by the fact she has an Italian boyfriend to finance her, but for how long??

Of course it helps if women are youngish and attractive, but it would seem that a lot of these shops are not to choosy about whom they employ and they tell me that customers from Arabic nations do like the more "rotund" women!

As per your post, I also think that bars and Indian restaurants are going the same way.

1 hour ago, gargamon said:

Thanks for your insight then. Very helpful.

"Siton" is very loose with the truth!

2 hours ago, simon43 said:

Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

This must be up for the stupidest post of the day

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'm staying in the 'luxury' of a back-alley soi 4 (Nana) guest-house right now (I'm a cheapskate...) All the massage 'ladies' plying for customers in my immediate locality are (to put it honestly), fat, old and ugly. Is this what the new kind of tourist demands? Or is there a dire shortage of slim and pretty young women who have already been snapped up by the beer-bars and gogo's?

I very much doubt that these rotund women have any formal training in massage, (and I'm not risking my frail body to find out...)

What rubbish are you posting. Staying in Soi 4, and ''Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...''

There is an L in Thailand.

4 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

hours ago, simon43 said:

Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

This must be up for the stupidest post of the day

I like it, I reckon Simon has been drinking again 😂

21 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I like it, I reckon Simon has been drinking again 😂

Impossible, not a spelling or grammar mistake to be seen (read).

Many are plainly outfronts for money laundering I may say perhaps ? Because obviously even those teens who like milf's do not seem to patron these establishments.