MacWalen Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 (edited) Dear present and future Phuket residents, this is our first post in the Phuket forum. As a lot of you already know the Walen school has a plan to open a branch in Phuket. We almost had a signed lease agreement but the landlord was changing the contract 10 times so eventually we decided that we do not want to do business with such a person and are now looking for another location preferably in Patong area or nearby. We have a few locations in mind now but none of them is quite right so we have not decided yet. Finding the right place in Phuket seems to be more difficult than in other locations. Landlords seem to be a lot greedier (if I can put it this way) and prices asked are not reasonable. We would like to have a fully operational school by the end of the year so if any one of you can give us any suggestions as to a suitable place it will be greatly appreciated. Walen School - working on a branch in Phuket! www.thaiwalen.com Edited May 5, 2010 by macwalen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyoldman Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Tons of shop houses going up in Chalong. Sai Yuan, both sides of the road, Chaofa Rd. toward Phuket town a couple of new business centers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkan Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Chalong would be a good place, alot of empty townhouses there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacWalen Posted May 6, 2010 Author Share Posted May 6, 2010 (edited) Thanks a lot guys! The question is how good of a location Chalong is for a school? Is it better than Patong? The school would be mostly for the residents of Phuket not so much for the short term tourists. Edited May 6, 2010 by macwalen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenBravo Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 You won't be relying on walk-in trade, so, why Patong? As you have already found out, rents are sky high and parking will be difficult for customers. A central position would be best. Phuket Town, Kathu, or Chalong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atmos Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Chalong would be a good place, alot of empty townhouses there.. one language school there now, near the pier few customers/students - I did a Thai lang course there just 4 students, friend there now, three on his course. Rooms are equipped for 12 Just an obsevation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyoldman Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Thanks a lot guys!The question is how good of a location Chalong is for a school? Is it better than Patong? The school would be mostly for the residents of Phuket not so much for the short term tourists. Chalong absolutely better than Patong, as KB mentions, get a place with some parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinLOS Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Chalong might work for the southerners.. But I think it cuts out anyone not Kata / Rawai / Nai Harn / Chalong.. No ones driving from Bang Tao to it.. Personally I think you need to do some market research, Kathu is very central to lots of things, but close to none.. I also think your going to find far more price conciousness from the southern expats than you would in the northern / west coast ones. I am unsure how labour intensive the classrooms are or if a few small satellites would pay you better (different classes different days). Having a schedule with Laguna, Karon, and Chalong alternating would give you superior coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlehead Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 It is of my opinion that most expats live in the southern 1/3 of the island. Many of the international schools are closer to the middle. I think Chalong would be your best choice for a school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somtamnication Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 ECC is moving from phuket town, so that could be a good location, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacWalen Posted May 6, 2010 Author Share Posted May 6, 2010 (edited) At the moment having more than one location is not our plan, we prefer to have one well run school and hopefully there will be enough students to support it. So it seems Chalong would be a good location. Is it the area close to the Villa supermarket and the roundabout? Edited May 7, 2010 by macwalen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinginKata Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 At the moment having more than location is not our plan, we prefer to have one well run school and hopefully there will be enough students to support it. So it seems Chalong would be a good location. Is it the area close to the Villa supermarket and the roundabout? Chalong Circle is next to HomePro Village and Villa Market. Chalong stretches from the Circle to the start of Phuket Town Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenBravo Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Chalong stretches from the Circle to the start of Phuket Town Not quite. Chalong's northern boundary is Dalat Nua, then after Dalat Nua is Phuket Town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkan Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 approximately when will you open in Phuket? this year? there will be some good opening price if you sign up before opening ? Chalong,Katu,Patong,Phuket town, all got schools right now and there is opening a new one in Kata i heard... hope you can match them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimera Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 approximately when will you open in Phuket? this year? there will be some good opening price if you sign up before opening ?Chalong,Katu,Patong,Phuket town, all got schools right now and there is opening a new one in Kata i heard... hope you can match them! I have made enquires Re. Thai. language schools in Phuket Town and Katha with little luck. Do you have any details ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuandchris Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 Chalong, forget patong [tourists] Laguna, [falangs that can't be bothered]. Kathu [not enough there and to far too travel every day]. IMO of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinLOS Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 approximately when will you open in Phuket? this year? there will be some good opening price if you sign up before opening ?Chalong,Katu,Patong,Phuket town, all got schools right now and there is opening a new one in Kata i heard... hope you can match them! I have made enquires Re. Thai. language schools in Phuket Town and Katha with little luck. Do you have any details ? Kata or Kathu ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkan Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 approximately when will you open in Phuket? this year? there will be some good opening price if you sign up before opening ?Chalong,Katu,Patong,Phuket town, all got schools right now and there is opening a new one in Kata i heard... hope you can match them! I have made enquires Re. Thai. language schools in Phuket Town and Katha with little luck. Do you have any details ? it has opened a new school just upsite of the Royal Phuket Hotel, its looked pretty fresh from the outside! they seem to even provide the ed visa if you studie with them and the other one in Katu/khatu, you can find on google, i dont remember the adress.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacWalen Posted May 8, 2010 Author Share Posted May 8, 2010 (edited) K. Falkan, we hope to have a school in Phuket this year, we are behind schedule. The prices will be the same as in other branches but we can certainly offer opening discount. I am of course also concerned about the competition. If the competition is too numerous then it is hard for all to do any business. It would be disappointing if we opened a school and after we had no or very little business. As I mentioned at the beginning we find opening a school in Phuket more difficult than in other locations. Edited May 9, 2010 by macwalen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimera Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 approximately when will you open in Phuket? this year? there will be some good opening price if you sign up before opening ?Chalong,Katu,Patong,Phuket town, all got schools right now and there is opening a new one in Kata i heard... hope you can match them! I have made enquires Re. Thai. language schools in Phuket Town and Katha with little luck. Do you have any details ? Kata or Kathu ?? well done thats one more post then, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinLOS Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Well I dont know which location you mean.. You still haven't confirmed. In Kathu theres one on the Loch Palm loop out near Grizzleys bar in those shophouses.. Kata seems mentioned above. So which did you mean ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimera Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Well I dont know which location you mean.. You still haven't confirmed. In Kathu theres one on the Loch Palm loop out near Grizzleys bar in those shophouses.. Kata seems mentioned above. So which did you mean ?? Yes Thank you for the info, Kathu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkoid66 Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 I will start a Thai course with Walen in June... Any news about the Phuket new section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilyelol Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 hurry up.. im coming back soon and i need to learn this language i vote north of chalong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yogacharya Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 (edited) Kathu is not too far away at all ... It's right around the corner from my house, and I'd be the first to enrol in your school if it was there! Seriously, rents are cheaper for houses, so I can only assume commercial space would be too. It's a 7 minute drive in one direction to Phuket town, and a 7 minute drive the other direction to Patong. I suppose that if you live in Chalong, it a longer run ... but we already established that there was a language school there with only a few students Come to Kathu! Edited June 18, 2010 by Yogacharya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilyelol Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 no news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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