New Tesco Lotus In Kalasin

[Isaanben]

We stopped by at Tesco Lotus today to check if it had opened because we had seen the big sign there for maybe one week. We saw quite many cars and people there too. But they were still working and carrying stuffs inside and we were told it would open on May the 5th. I hope one can find some good cheese, ham, sausages, bread, coffee and wine there so we dont have to go to Maha Sarakham and BigC. Plaza does not have much to offer IMO.

Ben

[citizen33]

This is interesting news, though I had heard the store was being built. Is the Kalasin Tesco bigger than the one in Roi Et? Smaller cities sometimes seem to have smaller stores with a narrower range of products. Can you also confirm the location please.

[Isaanben]

When I look at their website they seem to have different signs on the different sizes of the stores: Hypermarket is the biggest, then Value etc. If I remember correctly I think this is a Hypermarket. Roi Et has Value. So I hope I am right and this will be bigger...

Location is along the ring road (213) south of town. If you go west from the crossing with 214 (to Roi Et) its only a few hundred meters on the left side.

Ben

[citizen33]

Thanks - let us hope it is the bigger one.

[zzaa09]

YAHOOOOO!! Kalasin is now officially civilised!!!

[pianoman]

The Kalasin Lotus is a Jr. Lotus as is the one in Roi Et, Sakon Nakhon and Mukdahan... Although it will be a nice addition to the Kalasin Shopping Experience, I am affraid that their assortment of products will be a little disappointing when compared to the Larger format stores such as Khon Kaen, Udon and such... Normally Jr. Lotus's do not have either a Bakery nor a Deli / Meat Dept., plus obviously less display space...

Orginally there was going to be a Pizza Company at the new Lotus... There were signs around town seeking employees and such... Then the signs seem to disappear, and signs promoting a New KFC location were put up... Shame, as there has been a KFC at the Plaza for years, and a Pizza Company would have been a very welcome addition... But there are signs for Dunkin Donut and MK as well as KFC...

Pianoman

[pianoman]

YAHOOOOO!! Kalasin is now officially civilised!!!

As much as I love Kalasin, and having lived here for the past 10 years, I would have a hard time saying that "Kalasin is now officially civilised"..

Pianoman

[zzaa09]

YAHOOOOO!! Kalasin is now officially civilised!!!

As much as I love Kalasin, and having lived here for the past 10 years, I would have a hard time saying that "Kalasin is now officially civilised"..

Pianoman

Sarcasm gets by some. It would be much more siwilai without the "box stores" promoting mindless consumption.

[Issangeorge]

paul are you sure it's a Junior Tesco, when I drove in last week it seemed bigger than the Roi-et or Mukdahan Tescos.

[Isaanben]

I think it is the bigger one too, what they call "Hypermarket" on their website. The smaller like in Roi Et seems to have an additional word in thai on the big sign at the entrance, something like "khumkha". (They call it "Value" in English) I drove by today and the sign here only has "Tesco Lotus".

Ben

[pianoman]

paul are you sure it's a Junior Tesco, when I drove in last week it seemed bigger than the Roi-et or Mukdahan Tescos.

I hate to admit to "Not Knowing", but truthfully I am not sure... I haven't been close enough to compare it with Roi Et or other Jr. Lotus buildings... A nice, English speaking, gal who works in the new Lotus Express in Kamalasi told me back before the started consturction that it was going to be "same as Roi Et, not Khon Kaen" when we spoke about it... PLus a Farang in Khon Kaen who;s wife works for Lotus said that they were offering "Transfers" to any employee's who wanted to move to Kalasin when it openned... She told him that some did not want to move to a smaller store as they viewed it as making a step down in the company...

Only a little over a week away, and we will see... I still see a few signs around for Pizza Company, so am keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that they find a way to open here in Kalasin...

Pianoman

[pianoman]

Driving thru town yesterday noticed a large truck and two Thai guys putting up New Pizza Company signs... Stopped and asked the one man where Pizza Company was and all he would say is "Mai Loo" (don't know)... But they had a truck load of signs, maybe 100 or more, so I am sure that it will be openning somewhere in the area...

Still no Pizza Company sign at the Lotus location....

Pianoman

[Issangeorge]

The store in Kalasin should be open now can anybody tell me if it's any good for farang food, cheese, salami, stuff like that. Paul maybe the Piza Company will replace KFC in the Plaza, I can't see Kalasin having two KFCs.

[MeMock]

Ubon has four of them and one pizza company.

[pianoman]

The store in Kalasin should be open now can anybody tell me if it's any good for farang food, cheese, salami, stuff like that. Paul maybe the Piza Company will replace KFC in the Plaza, I can't see Kalasin having two KFCs.

O.K., stopped by the day before the "Qouted" Openning Day, and they were open from 9:am until 6:PM.... Just did a quick walk around to see what they had in stock... Mostly stuff that you would find in Roi Et, but did notice Hot Dog Relish for those of us who are use to having that on our Dogs... Actually a nice store and seems to be laid out well... A very Welcome addition to Kalasin shopping experience...

And Yes, there is a Pizza Company, which was open and very busy... Also KFC, MK and Dunkin Donuts... Oh, Plus a Food Court, but did not walk around it to see what all they offered...

Yesterday being the Official Openning Day, I went to the Plaza, thinking that it would be almost empty... That was probably the busiest I have ever seen the Plaza in my 10+ years here in Kalasin... Last night I spoke to a friend who said that Lotus was busy, crowded and not only was the parking lot full but cars were lined up down both sides of the road... So I figure that a lot of people tried to go to Lotus and then gave up and came to the Plaza to shop...

Pianoman

[zzaa09]

Shopping centres. Our existence. It's come down to this.

[Issangeorge]

I went into the new Tesco Lotus yesterday and today, WOW what a store, I would say twice the size as Roi-et or Mukdahan. It has all sorts of electronic stuff that Mukdahan or Roi-et doesn't have. It has almost everything farangs want, but still a very limited supply of only processed cheese, no farang style cold meat like salami, and no sausages like bratwurst, and I didn't see any dill pickles or canned salmon, but all in all a very nice store and as far as I'm concerned way better than the two previous mentioned. Oh and they have a good bakery, but if it stays as busy as it was the last two days it will be hard to shop at. The parking lot and aisles were full.

[Isaanben]

Yes, I miss some good cheese there too. But I think they have a good selection of wine and liquor

[Issangeorge]

Yes they did and some of the wine was priced very reasonably. However I did not see any Thai wine. A few years ago I had some Thai wine from a winery called Château Loei, I liked it very much, but have not been able to find it since.