Baan & Beyond - Opening Day

[Greenside]

Today was the day that those of us who have been grumbling about the reduction of parking at Airport Plaza got to see what it was all in aid of. The big Baan & Beyond shed opened its doors today at 9:00 and I slipped in early in the hope that there would be some Grand Opening bargains to be had. So here's the info...

B&B is an effective mix between Index, IKEA and HomePro with a hint of Global House on the side. The building has a selection of other stores including a decent size Office Mate and a huge Power Buy (or is it The Power?) which is connected to the main floor so is almost a department as it is in Robinsons and other places. That said, it's a lot better laid out and stocked although disappointingly short on the kind of 55inch LED bargains I was hoping for.

B&B manages to offer a lot of items that I haven't seen around town. Hard to believe that there's any scope for reasonably priced and interestingly designed showers with all the competition in CM, but there were a couple that I'd have bought if only I'd seen them last month. Some nice tiles they claim are exclusive to B&B, and even some kitchen sinks that are either only there or others have displayed in a dark corner. I found big packs of wall stickers to decorate kids' rooms and a DIY clock, again with stickers. Light on tools and things like water filters and I can't really imagine that you'd head there if you were really DIYing.

There's a western style customer service desk offering a similar return policy to Global House and HomePro, which is encouraging in this land of mediocre warranties. Some quite good opening promotions across the store and if you're in the process of furnishing anything it's definitely worth a visit to see a bit everything presented in a better way than most.

Showers on left are 4795 baht and the one on the right is just under 10k

[noise]

Greenside is a prince among beggars, serfs,vassels, and other minions. The pictures prepared us so that we will not expect Bed, Bath, and Beyond upscale type bed linens, bath towels and bath accessories, and other furnishings. Our expectations will no longer exceed reality.

[anto]

looks very like Index from the photos and without the multitude of staff of Homepro .

[coma]

With a new customer base coming to B&B this is just going to add to the traffic dramas and fights to find a car park? More poor planning.

[Chicog]

What's with the fruit and veg?

[anto]

What's with the fruit and veg?

All plastic .

[luther]

Don't bother unless you are stuck at airport mall and have to kill time. It's a bust. Crappy selection compared to all the alternatives mentioned by the OP.

[elektrified]

It's just another outlet of an already large umbrella [Central Group] of similar companies; Central, Home Mart, Power Buy, Thaiwatsadu and I forget what others. They are trying to put an International spin on it by having radio commercials in English. Same idea Promenade had which is hilarious. Every time they air the commercials the Thais all say "why is it in English?" Would be fine in many European countries but silly here.

[CMKiwi]

The missus and I popped in there last night just for a browse. First up we spotted a Meyer brand saucepan 10 piece set at 2100 baht.... very very tempting as the cheapest we had ever seen it was at 2900 baht but just below that was a Prestige set (But just a 9 piece set inclusive of 2 frying pans) that was about 1790 baht!

Very very good prices but wait.... we checked with the ever present (vulture like) staff about the prices with a view to buy one if not both sets. A quick and somewhat frantic conversation ensued whereupon a rather feminine speaking sales bloke grabbed the price labels and disappeared. When my GF asked the original sales girl what was happening she says.... sorry wrong price. After about 5 minutes we get told the 'true' price of the Meyer set. It went from 2100 baht to 3400 baht..... nice try people but I can get at Robinsons or KSK for 3000 baht. Opening day special or just an honest mistake??? Hmmmm we will never know.

However all was not doom and gloom. We browsed by the bedding area and saw lots of mattresses on special. Fortunately (Or unfortunately?)our one at home is in dire need of replacement, so we had a good look. I tend to stick with known brands and had slept on a Slumberland mattress in a previous condo so we looked at their display.

One model was marked down from 76000 baht to just 21000 baht, hell thats a huge drop we thought. So we queried the price and were told that if we didnt want the accessories (Sheets, mattress cover and something else) then we could have the mattress for 14900 baht! What a bargain. So we asked about delivery fees...to Mae Rim. No problem and no additional cost. All good so far. But wait...they have to order the mattress from BKk and it will take 21 days! <deleted>?

One is starting to dislike this shop.... the sales staff pick up on our somewhat disgruntled vibe and then suggested that we could have the display model now if we wish. So we had a good examination and decided it was in good condition with no visible damage or markings. Deal done. Or was it?

Then it was off to the sales counter and after what seemed like a mountain load of paperwork, we got our sales documents.

Initial thoughts was that this store was quite well set up. Good lighting and easy to move around the place. Sure its early days and there are bound to be some teething problems (Ive never known any Thai shop to hold a 'dummy run' or a practise sale prior to opening) and it showed.

Will we return? Possibly, as was stated in another post...it would be ok to visit to kill some time if in the Airport plaza area.

But I do hate being tailed by sales staff. They are not as bad as the sales staff Ive encountered in the Philippines but even still I prefer do browse alone with out being annoyed by 'stupid' staff. I say this because most of the words that come out of their mouths about products are self explanatory. Point in mind, when a saucepan is coated with Teflon I dont need to be told that as I can see it. Same goes for bath towels... I know what colour they are... no need to tell me.

Sorry...Im going off on a rant now. So hey its no real different than other big shops....and they still play bloody loud music or whatever in the electronic area of the store (You cant change some things )

Hope you enjoy yourself if you go for a 'look see'. The best part of our visit was when we left and went across to the plaza food court! Great food and minimal cost.

Have a great weekend everyone

[MadMac]

What is that problem with parking there anyway? It's always completely full, nightmare to go there. Guess now it becomes even worse. Why?

[elektrified]

However all was not doom and gloom. We browsed by the bedding area and saw lots of mattresses on special. Fortunately (Or unfortunately?)our one at home is in dire need of replacement, so we had a good look. I tend to stick with known brands and had slept on a Slumberland mattress in a previous condo so we looked at their display.

One model was marked down from 76000 baht to just 21000 baht, hell thats a huge drop we thought. So we queried the price and were told that if we didnt want the accessories (Sheets, mattress cover and something else) then we could have the mattress for 14900 baht! What a bargain. So we asked about delivery fees...to Mae Rim. No problem and no additional cost. All good so far. But wait...they have to order the mattress from BKk and it will take 21 days! <deleted>?

Mattress prices are funny here. The other day we saw a couple of mattresses at Home Pro on sale - 'that day only'. Being we are in the market for a new mattress, we were interested. I forget the brand but supposedly they were made in Switzerland. They were very comfortable and looked to be VERY well made. The cheaper one was marked down from about 30K THB to something like 11,900 THB while the other was marked down from 90K THB to 24K THB, "a savings of 66K THB - that day only'. We inquired but of course no one knew anything about them. By that time it was already about 16:30 and we still had a number of things to do and there was very little time to do any research, etc. We asked if there was any flexibility and the answer was no. We asked about putting a deposit and was told it would be non-refundable. We passed because we don't like having to make a decision without researching a brand before buying. But it makes you wonder about the profit margins...

[CMKiwi]

I concur with your thoughts, a few days back were were in Home Pro Hang Dong and they had one of those '1 day only ' sales on mattresses. We too bypassed their sales pitch and Ive always said to the GF, if its a reasonable priced purchase...do the research first so you know what youre getting. Once you have a brand or model in mind then the bargaining wars can begin.

Good luck on your mattress hunting...maybe check out B&B, not sure when their opening day(s) sale ends.

[NancyL]

We've bought most of our appliances at Central Dept Store KSK, primarily because it's so close to our home, they deliver the item promptly (often walk it home with me guiding the way) and stand by their warranties.

We had taken an expensive professional-style Phillips clothes iron into Central KSK about a month ago for service. (One like the laundry ladies use, where the water tank and steam generation unit is on the side of the board, not carried on top of the iron.) It was two years old and we didn't expect it to be covered by warranty. When we returned on the appointed day to pick it up we found the repair area deserted and were told they had moved to the new Baan & Beyond and our iron wasn't ready -- they had to order parts (probably from Europe). Bummer!

Finally, this week we got the call that it was ready and Hubby made the trek out to Central Airport Plaza. Somehow he didn't tell me about this new Baan & Beyond -- probably knew I'd want to go check it out! Anyway, they returned our Philips iron, working just great at no charge -- they did ask something about if it is possible that we'd overfilled the tank. (well, maybe a time a two). Not a good idea -- there are circuit boards in this appliance! Anyway, still no charge. Gotta love Central (and Philips!)

[naboo]

Check your prices at the cashier. Just left our shopping behind as the price at the cashier was 10-20% higher on EACH of our 4 items than the ticket and they refused to honour the advertised price.

[kaptainrob]

HomeWorks re-badged is a disappointment.

{Wife likes Amazon coffee shop tho!}

They did have new model Cotto shower drains we bought and handy clamps at 39BT compared with 199BT elsewhere. Otherwise, stock is almost identical to Thai Wasadu ... including display items "unavailable" and ex Cn on 2-3 month order! 555

HomePro still wins over most competition on [red/orange] special ticketed items AND customer service. An electrical dept. staff member actually referred me to a Wualai Rd wholesaler for items not stocked in HP!