I have never heard of any of these places in Chiangmai.

Most people get rich by using other peoples money. The people whose money is used are sometimes known as shareholders.

Does anyone know the economics of typical CM bar/massage place? This was the strangest things I have seen on my trip around Thailand... in touristy areas like CM, there would be a ton of open bars and massage parlors and they would all be nearly empty. I don't understand the economics of this business model. Are rents really cheap? Do workers get paid scrap and mostly survive on commissions?

BTW, I know why western restaurants are failing in CM. They serve crappy food. I'm not a picky eater, but some of the burgers I ordered were simply disgusting and I could not bring myself to finish.

BTW, I know why western restaurants are failing in CM. They serve crappy food. I'm not a picky eater, but some of the burgers I ordered were simply disgusting and I could not bring myself to finish.

s'ppose you could start a thread asking where the best burger joints in town are

In Chiang Mai open a strip club, there are not enough.

I didn't know there were any!

D

Seems that quite a few farang businesses are suffering.

Is this because there are too many competitors or not enough farang?

When I arrived over a decade ago, it was difficult to even buy a Western-style sandwich but now there's a farang restaurant on every corner.

One reason is often the location they choose. Case in point would be Jo-Jets in front of CMU. As for the location of Sansai Sam's sadly failed gallery, I'm not sure what business would work there. I popped in there a while back and while I really liked the gallery layout & artwork on display in there, I wondered how long it would stay open. I don't hold out much hope for the Sports Bar in the Night Bazaar, either.

I share your lack of hope regarding the Sports Bar on Changklan. I was in there around three months ago and was the only customer, Got to talking to the manageress and she told me the rent was something like B100K / month. They (the building owners) had imposed strict restrictions on what sort of sign was permitted at street level.

But at the end of the day I do have to say that some of these entrepreneurs seem to do very little in the way of market research before spemding a lot of money. The Sports Bar is a prime example. Very few tourists would be aware of it's location and parking is a bitch for locals. And they have outlaid some serios money to boot. One would have thought that the "main man" a Belgium I believe, would have been a bit more canny.

I appreciate that many expats are persuaded by their Thai GF's to open a bit of a 'hole in the wall bar' but by comparision what they cost to set up is really just pocket money.

Another example was Soda's new place opposite Sompet Market. It was stuck in the back, she had the opportunity to provide food for the punters flowing out of Spicy but would she listen? NO!!

Then there was Piggy's F & C on Chiang Moi, good food, lovely lady but again another prick of a place to get a park, plus, plus and another one down the gurgler.

If they all had the savvy to set something up like Pun Pun or Mad Dog or take a leaf out of their respective books the ones setting a place up might just have a chance of making a go of it.

It is really beyond me the lack of fore thought that goes into some of these "new ventures"