Promenada, Not All Its Cracked Up To Be?

[PostmanPat]

Paid my third visit out to Promenada today (my golf was rained off!), visited new Rimping for first time, but generally , even allowing for it not yet being complete, am very concerned that its frankly, a bit of "The Emperors New Clothes" scenario, as its new, so we ll give it praise and not see the many flaws too much. Specifically, even allowing for a lot of shops not open yet, there seems to be an awful lot of wasted space, the actual shops way in the side, and a huge open area in the centre with a stage and not much else. Quite "cavernous" in my view, apart, of course, from what is already happening with the small individual carts, which always appear very quickly in centres like this, and very quickly spoil the ambience of the place. Do the designers really intend to provide a modern, clean line, architecturally adventurous area......but then fill it up with market type stalls up and down all the walk ways, thus cluttering the whole place up and making it look in my view a bit scruffy? That whole area immediately outside the Uniqlo store is already a bit of an ugly mess with all kinds of temporary type stalls and the like.

Parking is going to be a nightmare! I arrived at 11.30am to a half open mall to find the parking zones already pretty full, and the usual thing with people already leaving their cars across other cars with the brake off so that you can push them up and down. If its like this already with the place barely open, imagine what it might be like in a few months from now!! Another point, and they may, or may not resolve this, walking across the ramp which joins the two main buildings in the rain was not pleasant as there is no roof to protect you!! Looking up, it didnt look to me as though the metal structure above is likely to have a roof, but to be fair the roof might (or might not??!!) come later.

Had a good look at the new Rimping, pleasant place because its new, but as someone who looks for new imported food products as well as the normal Thai fare, there didnt seem to be anything out there that you cant get already at the (much closer for me) Nim City Rimping, and the wine selection is much more sparse at Promenada than it is at Nim City. (these last points of course are not a criticism at all, just an observation from my shopping perspective, and certainly nothing to do with the Promenada owners, who merely rent out space.

[onthedarkside]

No need to make posts critising yet another Promenade topic, answer or just ignore. All the off topic posts removed,

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Thank you. It's clearly the most exciting thing going on in Chiang Mai today; actually I think there should be more topics to debate each specific aspect in a dedicated place.

For example on the architecture, I can confirm that there WILL of course be a roof over the connecting bridge and walkway between buildings A and B. This is clearly visible on the designs.

Edited July 24, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[AngelsLariat]

There's a limit on how good a shopping mall can be. Have you ever gone to one that really got your heart pumping?

Edited July 24, 2013 by AngelsLariat

[WinnieTheKhwai]

There's a limit on how good a shopping mall can be. Have you every gone to one that really got your heart pumping?

Yes.

(Nana Plaza started out as a neighborhood shopping mall. Imagine if one day Promenada could experience a similar makeover!)

Edited July 24, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[AngelsLariat]

There's a limit on how good a shopping mall can be. Have you every gone to one that really got your heart pumping?

Yes.

(Nana Plaza started out as a neighborhood shopping mall. Imagine if one day Promenada could experience a similar makeover!)

Don't be a stereotype, you're better than that.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Yes, but I'll do my damnedest to hide it.

[mania]

Funny as I thought the same things when we were recently there this past Sunday.

We took the bike so parking was easy but when we came out a few hours later there

were many trapped cars. I know it is normal for cars to park in front of others & remain

in neutral but these folks left no room for others to roll the cars out of the way. So many folks were standing waiting for the attendants.

The attendants seemed to be running around with rolling floor jacks?

I guess the theory was they would jack & pivot some cars? Man that could be a real mess given their experience of where to place that

jack on newer cars. But in any case I guess those who parked take their chances

As to the mall itself yes I said the exact same to the wife. Pretty underwhelming & who will be their anchor tenants?

Will they have a Robinsons etc? Because as it stands now not much of any bigger places.

The new section upstairs is mainly banks & the new large computer/appliance place of which I forget the name.

Rimping market was nice modern looking but kind of odd with the dark lighting but lit shelves effect

Coffee places? tons

Japanese restaurants seem popular too & we ate at Fuji but it is much smaller than Airport Mall Fuji

We decided to see a movie & what a mistake that turned out to be.

My own fault I guess but I told the guy two tickets for the 12:50 show

He asked if I wanted in English with Thai subs & I said yes.

It was about 10-15 minutes before showtime so we went to go in & the ushers said not yet.

Ok wait...try again...not yet...Finally it is showtime & still not yet.

Then I look closely at the tickets & see he sold me two for the 2:50 show.

Go back ask for refund....Mai Dai

Ok then a credit card M movie deal to use another time since I dont want to stand here 2 hours?

Mai Dai !!! Can I switch to any movie that is on even if already started? Mai Dai !!

Jeezz

Ok what can we do? Well you can wait while I try to sell your tickets....

Of course they did not sell & we stayed for the movie. Which was quite empty so no wonder they did not sell.

So yes I got a pretty good look at the whole mall that is opened anyway while we waited

Not too anxious to return

[Zemran]

I feel that they are trying to get open and get established before the other 2 open as there are going to be too many malls in Chiang Mai and not enough customers. This is Thailand, I know. The typical "oh look, they are building a mall, lets build one as well", just like with foot fish shops when there were so many that no one could make enough money to survive.

The parking was way too confusing for my poor little brain. I cannot understand why they have to have such a complicated drive all round the place and then leave you to try and work out how to escape, parking scheme with lots of men paid to blow whistles and wave at you without really achieving anything other than causing annoyance. Rimping does not interest me as I live near Mee Chok but I did like the Japanese clothes shop which actually sells decent socks as well as lots of other stuff. To be honest, I will go back for the sock shop because you cannot get decent socks (I like the linen shirts etc, as well) anywhere else but I did not find anything else that really made me want to return.

Parking is the real issue as I am starting to find parking at Airport Plaza a pain and if they had a car park for dummies I would be easier to convert as it is nearer.

[ThaiPauly]

I'm happy this mall has opened as it should free up some parking spots in AP Plaza.

I have been to Promenada twice and that's enough. They really have not got anything that AP Plaza has not got, and if their parking is a nightmare now what's it gonnna be like when it's fully opened?

[Chicog]

Q: Does it have a taxi/tuktuk/songtaew rank yet?

[Mapguy]

Thank you. It's clearly the most exciting thing going on in Chiang Mai today; actually I think there should be more topics to debate each specific aspect in a dedicated place.

For example on the architecture, I can confirm that there WILL of course be a roof over the connecting bridge and walkway between buildings A and B. This is clearly visible on the designs.

"Clearly the most exciting thing going on in Chiang Mai today."

or, if you prefer...

[hellodolly]

Well I have been there three times and looked around a bit.

Clearly the parking is either not completed or going to make Airport Plaza look deserted.

I was just the passenger.

The rest of the mall is obviously not completed and so it is imposable to judge yet.

One would have to walk around with a seeing eye dog to think it is.

I do hope they leave a lot of open space and allow more seating to just take a break.

In my opinion it will be completed some time in September.

I am with Chicog on the taxi/tuktuk/songtaew questtion.

They have four routes for free shuttles. Have not used them yet but probably will. If how ever they are not conveniently located to take home a bag or two of groceries from Rimping I would look for a taxi/tuktuk/songtaew.

KSG and Airport have those services close to the super market outlets. As for movies I was hoping to see a wider selection but apparently not going to happen. But that is not the fault of the Mall.

Over all it looks hopeful but will have to wait for completion to really make a judgement.

As is there is no real idea of the final looks for the landscaping. I was under the impression that it was going to be nice and there would be a stage for various events.

[Ulysses G.]

I find very little that I want to buy in shopping malls in Thailand, so am not really concerned about having a lot of them. I still wish that we could go back to one good one in a central location. It makes for better girl watching.

[FolkGuitar]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

[Mapguy]

Yep!

[Ulysses G.]

They have free air-conditioning, beautiful women and decent food. Sometimes, that combination is hard to beat.

[hellodolly]

They have free air-conditioning, beautiful women and decent food. Sometimes, that combination is hard to beat.

Also they have movies. That is probably the thing I miss the most here in Thailand. A very limited selection of them. Maybe when the Maya (have I got that rite) opens.

Speaking of fine dining the Promenada is going to have a Dukes so there you go if you like western food and from what I have heard they have good Japanese food there also.

Also they are going to have ice skating.

[jko]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

The sad thing is that I suspect many (or the majority) of the estimated 40,000 expats living here care little about ancient cultures, and modern material things - matter the most.

Edited July 24, 2013 by jko

[MartinBKK]

Agree with most of what the Op says. It is early days and I'm prepared to give it another chance in a few months.

As it stands though there is really not much reason to go there.

Sent from my GT-N7000B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[HansBlinkers]

No need to make posts critising yet another Promenade topic, answer or just ignore. All the off topic posts removed,

I stopped reading after (my golf was rained off!)

[AngelsLariat]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

The sad thing is that I suspect many (or the majority) of the estimated 40,000 expats living here care little about ancient cultures, and modern material things - matter the most.

A good number of the Thais living here fit into that category too.

[FolkGuitar]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

The sad thing is that I suspect many (or the majority) of the estimated 40,000 expats living here care little about ancient cultures, and modern material things - matter the most.

A good number of the Thais living here fit into that category too.

Sad, but true. And I have to confess that growing up less than 10 miles from The Statue of Liberty, I never visited it until I had been living on the other side of the world for many years, and returned to a family gathering. Same with the Empire State Building. I wonder why this is so common?

[AngelsLariat]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

The sad thing is that I suspect many (or the majority) of the estimated 40,000 expats living here care little about ancient cultures, and modern material things - matter the most.

A good number of the Thais living here fit into that category too.

Sad, but true. And I have to confess that growing up less than 10 miles from The Statue of Liberty, I never visited it until I had been living on the other side of the world for many years, and returned to a family gathering. Same with the Empire State Building. I wonder why this is so common?

In this particular case I think that Thai culture might be being over-romanticized a bit. While relative poverty might be part of Thai culture, anti-materialism is no more a part of Thai culture than of Western culture. For the most part, Thais living simple lives are not doing so because they have rejected all worldly things, they are doing so because that's what they can afford.

But yes, I noticed that same thing when I was living in the US as what you mention about growing up near NYC. I only went to most of the famous attractions in our area when we had visitors from other places that we needed to entertain.

[dave2]

re

Have you ever gone to one that really got your heart pumping?

yes !

her name was mall and she was lovely

dave2

[Berkshire]

I'm happy this mall has opened as it should free up some parking spots in AP Plaza.

I have been to Promenada twice and that's enough. They really have not got anything that AP Plaza has not got, and if their parking is a nightmare now what's it gonnna be like when it's fully opened?

Agree about the parking. This and the other new malls (not to mention the new Tesco) should definitely ease the parking/crowd situation in Airport Plaza and other malls. The more shopping malls in Chiang Mai, the better.

If you want to see a nightmare parking scenario, try the not-so-new Central Mall in Chiang Rai. I've been there a few times and it's always a zoo.

[harrry]

Also they are going to have ice skating.

I wonder if Alaskan malls have ice skating.

[mania]

Also they are going to have ice skating.

I wonder if Alaskan malls have ice skating.

No they have indoor white sand beaches with wave generators

Edited July 25, 2013 by mania

[cmsally]

Interesting info. for anyone that doesn't yet know the psychology behind malls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuC6FcTfnU

Dammit how does one embed a Youtube!

Edited July 25, 2013 by cmsally

[hellodolly]

There is something VERY (I won't say wrong, as it's not really wrong... it's just) bizarre when one's enjoyment while living within an ancient culture in a country thousands of miles away from the ones we were born into is going to shopping malls. I understand the 'why' of it, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. Even more so if you are going there with no plans of shopping! It's sort of like traveling to a foreign country then sitting and staring at your mobile phone while you're there.

The sad thing is that I suspect many (or the majority) of the estimated 40,000 expats living here care little about ancient cultures, and modern material things - matter the most.

A good number of the Thais living here fit into that category too.

Sad, but true. And I have to confess that growing up less than 10 miles from The Statue of Liberty, I never visited it until I had been living on the other side of the world for many years, and returned to a family gathering. Same with the Empire State Building. I wonder why this is so common?

I grew up in Seattle. Now when I go back there I feel like a visitor and go to see sights that were there when I was growing up but just took for granted.

When we first moved to Vancouver B C Canada I was working but my wife soon knew more about the attractions of the city than many of the locals.

Funny how human nature works some times.

Yes I do go to shopping malls try to watch a movie in a ma and pa grocery store. Or buy imported food but I also have visited many of the temples and a couple of them often.

Also I have visited some of the tourist attractions as they are a part of the culture. Granted they have been bent and twisted out of shape so the foreigner can enjoy them. Now they are just a show but they have their roots in the Thai culture.