Tesco Koh Pha-ngan

[Jose]

Tesco Lotus in Koh Pha-Ngan has just celebrated its first birthday, but apart from some banners at the store entrance life for this remote outpost store remains fairly bland when compared to others such as Nathon's Tesco Express.

The wife recently contacted head office about some ongoing issues at the local store, and after months of being politely ignored by the store manager, he finally contacted her and now seems enthusiastic about doing something to prep up the Thai-only store. For example, it would be nice to see the workers stop wrapping PVC plastic film around piping hot chickens as they come out of the oven. It would also be good if they could somehow restrict the mob of waiting bungalow owners ambushing and taking all fresh goods when these arrive daily - all gone by 3pm.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the store manager would like to hear from falangs about suggestions on the kind of goods they would like to see here at Tesco.

My first reaction would be to suggest they put more variety on their shelves, remove the rows of one-brand cooking oil and detergent boxes, and introduce at least one aisle of quality local and imported goods such as cheeses, canned fish, nuts, a wider variety of fresh vegetables & fruit, frozen seafood, soups, salad dressings, some decent pharmaceuticals, and maybe one or two exotic items such as vegemite or eucalyptus oil.

Any constructive comments to be passed on to the local Tesco store manager would be appreciated.

[angiud]

Difficult to change something in Tesco KPG when 95, ok 90% of their customers are Thai.

[Jose]

Difficult to change something in Tesco KPG when 95, ok 90% of their customers are Thai.

Normally I'd agree, but the bulk-buying (Thai) Tesco customers are also buying on behalf of their own bungalow (falang) customers.

This is a window of opportunity to add variety to Tesco's shelves.

Any decent suggestions posted here will be passed on to the store manager for serious consideration.

If little or nothing is suggested to the store manager, we'll all get stuck with the bland KPG Tesco we deserve.

[angiud]

I buy bulk in Tesco, what wrong? Sometime I finish also the item on the shelf, but what can I do?

We (my wife and me) spoke with the manager/director several times, and sometimes it's true, he listen us. So now we can find rocket and fresh basil, and he manage also a small, sad shelf with some dry or canned "farang food".

Actually they project to make a that Tesco bigger, but now a (local?) law doesn't allows the construction of more 7 Eleven, Tesco & c. Of course somebody is not enclosed in this law and he can build more shops (Home Mart too)

But TIK...

[stevehaigh]

i just wish they would learn to cook French bread like EVERY other Tesco/Lotus store in the country. And make enough of it in the morning that you can always find fresh for lunch.

as far as stocking foreign food items, even the bug T/L in Chaweng doesn't stock much really, its just not their thing. plus we have Big A and Limpipong for that.

[PatinBKk]

Tesco recently announced major cutbacks in stores and workforce worldwide, so I wouldnt be at all suprised if it dosent make its 2nd birthday anyway

[samui04]

Tesco recently announced major cutbacks in stores and workforce worldwide, so I wouldnt be at all suprised if it dosent make its 2nd birthday anyway

I'm curious, how is going the construction of Tesco Lamai?

People insiste it will be even bigger then the main chaweng store....

[sbk]

Donuts

TBH, we do some of our bulk shopping at Tesco, but not that much. Its not always that cheap and its not always that good. (veggie wise that is). I do hit the occasional bell pepper special, but other than that, we tend to buy our veggies from local markets.

A farang food aisle would be nice, cheap cheese would be good. Restock the store in a more timely fashion, seems the manager fails to look at the calendar when ordering and hasn't yet grasped the dynamics of the full moon.

[BIC]

the open market in thong sala has a stall on the right hand side near the end of the street on the bend (before the french/italian coffe shop) that sells lots of western style produce - real plain (not vanilla!) yogurt, fresh home made pesto and good beef in their fridges - so try here for some things not supplied at tesco's! Also try the new limpipong (entrance side of coverered open market before traffic lights) for kettle chrips - only 45baht a medium packet ( 60baht for same in Big A!!)and other western produce and then you are also supporting locals rather than corporates.

[angiud]

I like to support both local and corporate business. An healthy business competition can only improve the quality and convenience of the shopping in the island.

Pink food (that at the end on the market), good choice of food, but little expensive and careful about the expiry date.

Limpipong, opposite Big A supermarket look to me the doing the best efforts to bring something really different in the poor KPG food market.

[sunlife2000]

tesco in thong sala is a joke, useless, the last two times i went i came out empty handed and as for the manager doing anything about farang food sorry but your kidding yourself.

[zepplin]

Tesco recently announced major cutbacks in stores and workforce worldwide, so I wouldnt be at all suprised if it dosent make its 2nd birthday anyway

I'm curious, how is going the construction of Tesco Lamai?

People insiste it will be even bigger then the main chaweng store....

well they are working 7 days a week 16 hours a day its on 20 rai of land ,but not sureif its bigger ,maybe open in 6 weeks ,it will be great for lamai though

[mssabai]

the open market in thong sala has a stall on the right hand side near the end of the street on the bend (before the french/italian coffe shop) that sells lots of western style produce - real plain (not vanilla!) yogurt, fresh home made pesto and good beef in their fridges - so try here for some things not supplied at tesco's! Also try the new limpipong (entrance side of coverered open market before traffic lights) for kettle chrips - only 45baht a medium packet ( 60baht for same in Big A!!)and other western produce and then you are also supporting locals rather than corporates.

I have lived in both Nathon and KP and can say that the KP Tesco is no different at all from the Nathon one.

Yes BIC I agree with you wholeheartedly. I really don't see the point in wasting time and energy writing to Tesco to give them tips on how to expand their already massive profit margins when you have fresh food widely available from independent stall holders who are relying on your business for their livelihood.

I can understand restaurants stocking in bulk in Tesco as the savings that can be made are much bigger, also all the goods are used very quickly, which is just as well as Tesco bought food seems to have half the life of market bought food. But if you are shopping independently, why can you not just pay an extra few baht (absolute maximum) and support the local market in TS? This kind of dependancy on supermarkets is really quite frightening. I have seen so many of my local shops in the UK shut down because of Tesco in recent years I don't see why we have to contribute to the same thing happening in KP.

As for western foods, yes Samui Tesco (Chaweng) does offer a wide range of reasonably priced western food, but this is an anomoly. Here in Trang our Tesco (which is vast) offers nothing more than spaghetti and massively over priced cheese and ham. Be thankful that you have A's, Limpipong and Pinks - the shop BIC is referring to) because in other areas of Thailand even finding basic western foods is impossible.

[Soulwy]

Delivery service would great! How much groceries can we take on the bike...? So this would cut both ways.

As for the products: more Asian stuff...haha..., and more organic veggies.

[sbk]

I can understand restaurants stocking in bulk in Tesco as the savings that can be made are much bigger, also all the goods are used very quickly, which is just as well as Tesco bought food seems to have half the life of market bought food.

We never buy our meat from Tesco, it goes bad rather quickly, Instead, we buy our pork at the fresh market opposite LimPiPong and our beef from a little shop near the old fresh market next to the 7-11 in Thong Sala. Chicken, well we buy ours frozen from LimPipong, price is better.

[girlx]

I really don't see the point in wasting time and energy writing to Tesco to give them tips on how to expand their already massive profit margins when you have fresh food widely available from independent stall holders who are relying on your business for their livelihood.

bravo! i love tesco but come on, those fresh food stalls are good too. nice people and a more personal shopping experience, wouldn't you say?

[Soulwy]

I really don't see the point in wasting time and energy writing to Tesco to give them tips on how to expand their already massive profit margins when you have fresh food widely available from independent stall holders who are relying on your business for their livelihood.

bravo! i love tesco but come on, those fresh food stalls are good too. nice people and a more personal shopping experience, wouldn't you say?

Tesco is nice when you need to cool of....(aircon)

or don't want to talk...

[mssabai]

Yes Soulwy, definitely. I remember when the power was cut all day last year we all piled into Tesco as the fridges were still belching out cold air!

I do the same here in Trang when it gets crazy hot. It has it's uses!

[sbk]

I really don't see the point in wasting time and energy writing to Tesco to give them tips on how to expand their already massive profit margins when you have fresh food widely available from independent stall holders who are relying on your business for their livelihood.

bravo! i love tesco but come on, those fresh food stalls are good too. nice people and a more personal shopping experience, wouldn't you say?

Tesco is nice when you need to cool of....(aircon)

or don't want to talk...

unfortunately, or fortunately i guess, depending on how you look at things, we are guaranteed to run into one of our neighbors or relatives or friends in the Tesco. So, for me and my husband, a trip to Tesco is usually a social event

[ham]

I really don't see the point in wasting time and energy writing to Tesco to give them tips on how to expand their already massive profit margins when you have fresh food widely available from independent stall holders who are relying on your business for their livelihood.

bravo! i love tesco but come on, those fresh food stalls are good too. nice people and a more personal shopping experience, wouldn't you say?

Tesco is nice when you need to cool of....(aircon)

or don't want to talk...

unfortunately, or fortunately i guess, depending on how you look at things, we are guaranteed to run into one of our neighbors or relatives or friends in the Tesco. So, for me and my husband, a trip to Tesco is usually a social event

and you remember the "banners" all over Ko Phangan in Thai, saying "Ko Phangan don't need Tesco" and people cutting out the word"don't" )))

First step of Tesco was successfully, now shure they can start with the planing of a bigger one without disturbancy! Thats OK for me, still need to go sometimes to the Samui one too. But this is under having fun and a good Japanese meal in "Fuji".

[Cattleya]

...and you remember the "banners" all over Ko Phangan in Thai, saying "Ko Phangan don't need Tesco" and people cutting out the word"don't" )))

First step of Tesco was successfully, now shure they can start with the planing of a bigger one without disturbancy! Thats OK for me, still need to go sometimes to the Samui one too. But this is under having fun and a good Japanese meal in "Fuji".

Shopping in Tesco KPG is frustrating sometimes - the store is too small and the goods are not as good in quality as in Samui. For instance, the roasted chicken here in Tesco KPG is often burnt, and the pre-cooked Thai food in pots, plastic bags, and in trays wraped with PVC film look horrible to me.

[Jose]

Ok, this is what we have so far:

1) More imports, such as breakfast cereals, Vegemite, quality biscuits, cheeses, canned fish, soups, salad dressings;

2) Organic vegetables from local growers (e.g. Bantai) and the King's project;

3) Offer alternative (paper, aluminum foil) to wrapping hot food in toxic non-food grade PVC plastic film (banned in the West);

4) Restrict bulk-buyers so that they don't take all fresh produce within an hour of arrival at the store -Tesco is a retail store, not a wholesale outlet;

5) More stock to account for increased business on days before the Full Moon;

6) Consider offering paper bags as an alternative to the plastic bags that eventually end up littering the whole island (bad publicity);

Alternatives:

Limpipong (can be expensive)

Big-A (expensive and out-of-date produce)

Pink (if you can stand the stench of dead fish refuse from the market)

Small imports store near Jumanji's in Thongsala.

Delitaly (fresh mozzarella cheese and quality Italian imports).

Grow your own veggies.