The New Central Shopping Complex Is A Waste Of Space

[Soutpeel]

Personally think its a great addtion to Pattaya, but suspect with all the economic woes in the world at present, expect it will start struggling over the next year or so once the novelty has worn off.

The one concern I have is that its a bit too far down beach road, Think RG always had a great location, but cr*p shops and facilities, while New Central has good shops and facilities in a cr*p location.

[Guderian]

I think it's really very impressive, although I must admit that I was pretty cynical about it until I actually visited. After the disappointment of the Avenue, I was delighted by the new Central Festival Mall. In a cursory two-hour visit I found four bookshops, and I expect there are more hidden away in the depths of the place. The electronics and computer shops also provide a welcome change from TukCom, Numchai, Lotus, et al. I'm not big on clothes and all the fashion places, but that's just me, I'm sure there will be thousands of visitors to Pattaya who will love the new mall if only for these shops. And what a great location, straight out of the air conditioning and onto Beach Road.

I think they are very unlucky with timing, but that's no fault of the developer. I sincerely wish the place the best of luck and hope they are able to make a decent fist of it. It's a very welcome addition to Pattaya, IMHO.

BTW, Asia Books on the 3rd floor has a 3-for-2 sale on all books until the 26th February. I went back home with over 3000 Baht worth of paperbacks!

[Jingthing]

The one concern I have is that its a bit too far down beach road, Think RG always had a great location, but cr*p shops and facilities, while New Central has good shops and facilities in a cr*p location.

That's an interesting point and may be the saving grace for Royal Garden and also help the Avenue. The mass tourism center of town has been further south, Royal Garden/Walking Street and the new mall is a bit far to walk all the time. On the other hand, the new mall may in effect push the center further north.

[LtCol]

Nice food , nice Cinemas , most shops seem to be deserted both times we went , another Shopping Mall ,very modern , lots of hype , Ho Hum!

[gmac]

Gave it a second chance today and have to confess I was quite impressed. I still won't be spending any money there, except maybe in the restaurants, but it's a great place for an afternoon stroll in the air-con!

[Thaifan2]

Its great .Only grip is the extra heavy traffic especially on weekends on surrounding roads .

[kdf]

I for one am very pleased with the new mall.

The food loft is nice with good views and variety for a group. Some of the other restaurants are also worth a visit. I can't wait to see what a Moe's burger, a famous Japanese burger, might be. The pepper place is Okish, but expensive for the top steaks with no ambiance. The shabu sushi place is fun for a visit, but be picky the salmon varied from crap to excellent, as did a few other items. Not my kinda place long term, but it was fun for a night. The grocery store is good, but still leaves me heading to The Villa, Foodland, and Carrefour to complete my pantry. Way too many clothes and shoe shops, but that should work is way out.

I found the people at Banana It to be a big plus. I bought a special order 7,000 + external hard drive and it developed problems. They had a replacement ready for me in 2 days, no problems, only smiles. I have been ill for a bit and had one of my pain episodes while there. They were wonderful in getting me into a chair, getting me some cold bottled water, and showing willingness to do whatever I might need to feel better. After a few minutes I was over it and after many thanks I now have a gang of IT folks that always waves, smiles, and asks me how I am doing. Their prices are also good and I would recommend them highly for both IT and their nursing skills.

I was happy to see all the kitchen gadgets in Central that I usually had to go to Bangkok to get.

I agree with Meg on the fragrances, I couldn't find YSL's Opium. Of course Phil has a point also.

kdf

[WOWAsia]

The world is experiencing a great calamity and it has nothing to do with the financial mess. Diabetes and obesity are real killers. I suggest it's time to rid our minds of this revulsion to walking; it will save our lives! The mall is a wonderful clean airconditioned place to walk. Enjoy it!

Yes, good thing the new mall!

Now more cooled sun and dust free square meters for excercise in Pattaya!

[Jingthing]

The world is experiencing a great calamity and it has nothing to do with the financial mess. Diabetes and obesity are real killers. I suggest it's time to rid our minds of this revulsion to walking; it will save our lives! The mall is a wonderful clean airconditioned place to walk. Enjoy it!

Yes, good thing the new mall!

Now more cooled sun and dust free square meters for excercise in Pattaya!

Big wampum in mall! Time for fire juice!

[anothertorres]

how does anyone have the energy to *hate* a shopping mall? <deleted> is wrong with you people???

[alexth]

how does anyone have the energy to *hate* a shopping mall? <deleted> is wrong with you people???

Don't worry, some of these people have enough time, power and lack of brains to hate everything that's new. Welcome to Pattaya

[William Osborne]

building a new mall is on par as building another View Talay Condo block....

[britmaveric]

Waste of space IMHO, however its built now, so we will just have to live with it. Very few buy from the shops, so always makes me wonder how they survive. Apart from the cinema, and restaurants little reason to go there.

[BugJackBaron]

I think it's really very impressive, although I must admit that I was pretty cynical about it until I actually visited. After the disappointment of the Avenue, I was delighted by the new Central Festival Mall. In a cursory two-hour visit I found four bookshops, and I expect there are more hidden away in the depths of the place. The electronics and computer shops also provide a welcome change from TukCom, Numchai, Lotus, et al. I'm not big on clothes and all the fashion places, but that's just me, I'm sure there will be thousands of visitors to Pattaya who will love the new mall if only for these shops. And what a great location, straight out of the air conditioning and onto Beach Road.

I think they are very unlucky with timing, but that's no fault of the developer. I sincerely wish the place the best of luck and hope they are able to make a decent fist of it. It's a very welcome addition to Pattaya, IMHO.

BTW, Asia Books on the 3rd floor has a 3-for-2 sale on all books until the 26th February. I went back home with over 3000 Baht worth of paperbacks!

OK ASIA BOOKS! How many of those do we need in Pattaya?

Now if they had a real quality chain like Kinakuniya as we have in Bangkok

I would be impressed. It's nice to have sales of books but that is not unique as

RG on the 3rd floor booksotre(forget its name) had some lovely bargains too....

[TomBrown]

Just as the others have said for positives; food places, super market, cinema, Central Department Store and some other shops in the mall which have quality items otherwise not found in Pattaya.

It does have a some down points too; I liked the idea of the themed activities for youngsters on the ground floor and also the bouncy castle thing they had on the fifth floor. However it all appears to be gone now.

The Department Store doesn't have a wide selection of perfumes like in Bangkok, but still an okay selection.

All in all I think it will continue to attract people. Some of the other shops with high prices or unusual fashion might struggle for business though.

I can only guess that the complaint about the cinema is because there are more floors to go up unlike say Royal Garden or Big C North, both having just three, but as people have said, so easy to get to.

[DAndrew]

how does anyone have the energy to *hate* a shopping mall? <deleted> is wrong with you people???

Haters, thats what they are. They hate everything.

[Phil Conners]

I agree with Meg on the fragrances, I couldn't find YSL's Opium. Of course Phil has a point also.

kdf

I think I saw Opium in the perfume shop in The Avenue - though that was when they opened, don't know if they're still in business...

[eyebee]

OK ASIA BOOKS! How many of those do we need in Pattaya?

Now if they had a real quality chain like Kinakuniya as we have in Bangkok

I would be impressed. It's nice to have sales of books but that is not unique as

RG on the 3rd floor booksotre(forget its name) had some lovely bargains too....

I may be wrong, but I think that the Asia Books store at Central is the only one in Pattaya. Certainly there is no other near Beach Road. You're probably thinking of Bookazine, of which there are loads.

The bookstore on the 3rd floor of RG is B2S. There is now a much larger one in Central. A bit like a WH Smith's megastore. You can get anything stationery-wise there. I love it.

Also several of the electronics stores had opening specials. I bought a 32" HDTV at Power Buy for 15,000 baht - great value!

As you've probably guessed, I love the new mall!

[foxxx]

IMO the mall is good, my only problem is with the selection of restaurants up stairs is a bit 'japanese' heavy...

[Meg_2003]

Hm, Chanel ... "A real lady should not wear anything else..."

IMO the mall is good, my only problem is with the selection of restaurants up stairs is a bit 'japanese' heavy...

Agreed, Most of the restaurants upstairs are Japanese, It would have been nice to have more of a selection of different foods.

[moo9]

It is a nice place if you hate fake Diesel shirts or sleeveless Thai T-shirts with Beer Chang or Singha logos on :-)

As mentioned before, it is convenient, as you don't have to go to back for buying new shirts for the office.

Just a pity that a rather nice bar complex is gone because of the Central.....whatever there are still enough choices anyway...

Cheers

[tropo]

The mall is great!

There is NO PROBLEM with access! Either use the elevators or the escalators (I totally disagree with you that they are excessively spaced). There is no problem getting to the cinema! Just use your noodle, dude. Enter the mall and immediately go to floor 5 on the elevator, then one floor up the escalator, and voila. The restaurant choice is the best in town and the department store is a first for Pattaya. Also the basement food court is absolutely the best food court Pattaya has ever had. If you are headed for most of the food options instead of shopping, simply enter the mall and go directly to floor 4 or 5 by elevator. There they are. I have to admit the SHOPPING options are way more hiso than I personally am interested in, time will tell what the market is for those. They can always change retailers, but not sure if lower end places can make the rent.

It's even better to take the elevator directly to level 6 and then walk a short distance to the cinema escalators.

The 6 elevators (lifts) work very efficiently together and you never have to wait long.

[tropo]

The one concern I have is that its a bit too far down beach road, Think RG always had a great location, but cr*p shops and facilities, while New Central has good shops and facilities in a cr*p location.

That's an interesting point and may be the saving grace for Royal Garden and also help the Avenue. The mass tourism center of town has been further south, Royal Garden/Walking Street and the new mall is a bit far to walk all the time. On the other hand, the new mall may in effect push the center further north.

That's a strange assessment, because it's located conveniently in the middle of Beach Road with an equal amount of tourists residing both north and south from there. You couldn't have found a better location if you tried. Being at the very centre of the main baht bus loop it is in a convenient location for just about everyone.

[BugJackBaron]

The one concern I have is that its a bit too far down beach road, Think RG always had a great location, but cr*p shops and facilities, while New Central has good shops and facilities in a cr*p location.

That's an interesting point and may be the saving grace for Royal Garden and also help the Avenue. The mass tourism center of town has been further south, Royal Garden/Walking Street and the new mall is a bit far to walk all the time. On the other hand, the new mall may in effect push the center further north.

That's a strange assessment, because it's located conveniently in the middle of Beach Road with an equal amount of tourists residing both north and south from there. You couldn't have found a better location if you tried. Being at the very centre of the main baht bus loop it is in a convenient location for just about everyone.

This is an interesting question. Do tourists in fact have an equal distribution between North and South?

Ask the nits at the ministry of tourism!

One thing though, let's face it...the action is toward walking street...this means Mikes shopping and RG will see more traffic because that is are which has the greatest density of shops.

[tropo]

The one concern I have is that its a bit too far down beach road, Think RG always had a great location, but cr*p shops and facilities, while New Central has good shops and facilities in a cr*p location.

That's an interesting point and may be the saving grace for Royal Garden and also help the Avenue. The mass tourism center of town has been further south, Royal Garden/Walking Street and the new mall is a bit far to walk all the time. On the other hand, the new mall may in effect push the center further north.

That's a strange assessment, because it's located conveniently in the middle of Beach Road with an equal amount of tourists residing both north and south from there. You couldn't have found a better location if you tried. Being at the very centre of the main baht bus loop it is in a convenient location for just about everyone.

This is an interesting question. Do tourists in fact have an equal distribution between North and South?

Ask the nits at the ministry of tourism!

One thing though, let's face it...the action is toward walking street...this means Mikes shopping and RG will see more traffic because that is are which has the greatest density of shops.

The new mall is in the geographic centre of the Pattaya tourist area. There are hotels and apartments in pretty equal distribution all the way along Beach Road and Second Road. There's probably a higher concentration of big spenders north of the mall and don't forget the tourist area of Naklua. Did you ever wonder why Big C on Second Road was so busy considering how far it is from Walking Street? On the other hand, The Avenue is closer to Walking Street but it's dead.

Obviously everyone cannot be next to the mall. The action at Walking Street is not shopping mall action. The only reason why so many tourists go down to that end is because of Mike Mall and Garden Plaza. Real tourists don't have a big need to head down there now that the new mall is open. The new mall will slowly become the new centre of town.

[syd barrett]

This is an interesting question. Do tourists in fact have an equal distribution between North and South?

Ask the nits at the ministry of tourism!

One thing though, let's face it...the action is toward walking street...this means Mikes shopping and RG will see more traffic because that is are which has the greatest density of shops.

I usually think of the centre of Pattaya as soi 7 and soi 8. The Walking Street end only really wakes up after 8pm but soi 7 and 8 are busy all day long and then a trip to the new mall is convenient?

[basjke]

I think in the western world the center of town is considered to be where the church is.Isn't walking street the place where all farangs go praying for a new life?

[Jingthing]

I think the tourism center is walking street. It is obviously not the resident center. If you say it is Pattaya Klang you are being too LITERAL about the concept of CENTER. It is more than determining the geographical center. Consider the CENTER of the earth. Know anyone who has been there?

Edited February 26, 2009 by Jingthing

[tropo]

I think the tourism center is walking street. It is obviously not the resident center. If you say it is Pattaya Klang you are being too LITERAL about the concept of CENTER. It is more than determining the geographical center. Consider the CENTER of the earth. Know anyone who has been there?

I know what you meant when you suggested that Walking Street is the centre of tourism. It's only the main hub of sexual tourism. Pattaya is changing...rapidly.

The best place to put a major shopping centre is in the most convenient location to the majority of people. That's exactly where it is. It's dead centre of the main baht bus loop between Dolphin Roundabout and Walking Street...perfect!

[basjke]

I think the tourism center is walking street. It is obviously not the resident center. If you say it is Pattaya Klang you are being too LITERAL about the concept of CENTER. It is more than determining the geographical center. Consider the CENTER of the earth. Know anyone who has been there?

All the joking aside.At the end pattaya klang translated in english means Central Pattaya.