chiang mai Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Went again briefly today .Noticed a huge stationery called B2S ,which has a large section with English books (stocked by Asia books /Bookazine ),and they also stock English language Mags . B2S at Airport Mall also, inside Central. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sicarius Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 The Imax was open. Saw Thor 2. Movie was dissapointing but the theatre was pretty dam_n good. The screen is gigantic and the sound was awesome. Definetely worth going to. What was the cost? They had 2 different seats for 240 and 260 baht and some loveseat/sofa for ~750. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouse Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 The Imax was open. Saw Thor 2. Movie was dissapointing but the theatre was pretty dam_n good. The screen is gigantic and the sound was awesome. Definetely worth going to. What was the cost? They had 2 different seats for 240 and 260 baht and some loveseat/sofa for ~750. 240/260 is reasonable enough, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellodolly Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 The Imax was open. Saw Thor 2. Movie was dissapointing but the theatre was pretty dam_n good. The screen is gigantic and the sound was awesome. Definetely worth going to. What was the cost? They had 2 different seats for 240 and 260 baht and some loveseat/sofa for ~750. Sounds pricey to me. But if they are like the one I experienced in Seattle well worth the price. Am looking forward to a visit there and definatly a movie. But not the love seats. They tried them at the airport and had one on display at the Promenada. Neither one could hold a candle to the lazy boy type they have in theater 7 at the airport now. As for the mall I have only been top the Promenada and really liked it. But as has been pointed out by others was not that impressed with the stores. But the Mall was really nice. Only saw one post here that was impressed with the mall it's self. Reserve judgement on that and will have to experience the grocery store. The Rimping at Promenada put in lighting designed more to create an ambiance than display every thing. With out looking just guessing from posts sounds like it might be just a bit more pricey. It will depend on what they have. There is a huge down side to all these new malls. They are going to bring more residents to Chiang Mai particularly Farangs as that is who they are built to impress. Thereby adding to the traffic problems here in Chiang Mai. Was out tonight hard to get across the river with out going way out of the way. Loi Kertong not sure if that is a festival to see how many cars they can get o9n the road at one time or a real celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post elektrified Posted November 16, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2013 There is a huge down side to all these new malls. They are going to bring more residents to Chiang Mai particularly Farangs as that is who they are built to impress. Thereby adding to the traffic problems here in Chiang Mai. Where on earth did you get this little tidbit of false information? They are built for Thais. They could care less about the what - 5% farang population. Get real. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infernalman7 Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 There is a huge down side to all these new malls. They are going to bring more residents to Chiang Mai particularly Farangs as that is who they are built to impress. Thereby adding to the traffic problems here in Chiang Mai. Where on earth did you get this little tidbit of false information? They are built for Thais. They could care less about the what - 5% farang population. Get real. Agreed. The mall is definitely built to capture the local Thais. I am expecting Chinese tour groups to be dropped here for an afternoon next year. By the way I could spot four genuine Japanese places (that came from Japan--I lived there for two years). Chabuton and Saboten are definitely genuine, not faux. The only problem is that that they are now chains, just expanding to Chiang Mai after places like Bangkok, Singapore and Honolulu. Avoid buffet Japanese food. They're definitely faux. No way anyone can provide genuine sushi at less than USD 2 a bite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baywatch82 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 I liked it, but motorbike parking is quite terrible - dirt, dust and rocks. Can not wait for ice skating rink. Surely I can be selected to Thai Ice Hokey national team Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A1Str8 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Another Construction Zone with shops. The place won't actually be a mall for another 6 months. It is already a mall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A1Str8 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 This is so exciting............now we can shop till we drop!! I'll wait until the crowds slow down before checking it out. I've never been a fan of grand openings as they always goof because of being new and having untrained staff ........................as if they have any trained staff in any of the shops here. So, please continue with your mall exploration reports and save me the pain. BTW.....The Prom gets my vote so far for a relaxing well designed [but not thought out] mall experience and an easy in and out of Rimping and a movie if there are any good flicks playing I agree with your statement regarding to Promenada. I like the relaxed environment. Central Festival is just a noisy market..fits Thais well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymouse Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 There is a huge down side to all these new malls. They are going to bring more residents to Chiang Mai particularly Farangs as that is who they are built to impress. Thereby adding to the traffic problems here in Chiang Mai. Where on earth did you get this little tidbit of false information? They are built for Thais. They could care less about the what - 5% farang population. Get real. I noticed about half a dozen farangs in the mall on the second day of the mall opening in a sea of Thai's, all of them including myself didn't look like they had a pot to p#@& in [yours truly included] compared to the well healded Thai clientle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maichai40 Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 My wife works in Central festival, in an expensive leather/fashion shop. As in BKK, the customer are 50% thai (many Bangkokians) and the rest Korea, Japan, China, HK and Singapore. "Farangs" are rarely seen in the shop. This to say that foreigners are not the target of Mall shops in CM, because they represent about 2% of the local population (including the tourists) and they are not the people with money here...... About the above mentioned Bangkok people....if you talk with thai people, in the business and not, the talk of the town is that they are massively moving here, didn't you know that (look at the car plates around CM)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mrs CM works at the Chedi (or it used to be) and she tells me the same thing, farang tourists are not common any more, the time I spend there confirms the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPIKECM Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Dunno.. Rimping in Prominada I thought was wonderful...but the Central Food Hall is better... the bread is the best ever... and half price after 8pm...oops..shouldn't have said that.. The place is very definitely a Mall right now. Prominada opened far too soon. I have been watching the construction at the Festival site over the last 2 years and two weeks ago no one would have believed it would open on schedule. But it did and almost all shops are open.. the main exception is the ice rink... will the ice be real or plastic? ....anyone know for sure? The place brings a Bangkok style Mall to Chiang Mai... it is an unbelievable place.. I am not into shopping, but this enhances lifestyle in Chiang Mai... even if you just wander about and have a coffee. It is truly an exciting addition to what this city can offer. I like Prominada, but that place will surely run into financial problems now.. ...the only thing it has over the Festival is the kid's play area.. the food court is terrible... shops a waste of time compared to Festival.. mostly there is everything in Festival, apart from Rimping.... good thing now is that you will surely be able to park at all the Malls soon...and certainly this weekend at the Airport Plaza and Prominada! I think there will be major queues at the Festival today and Sunday... the traffic in Chaing Mai right now is the worst I have seen.. this city is bursting at the seams and the roads cannot keep up......that's another story though..... Another Construction Zone with shops. The place won't actually be a mall for another 6 months. Agreed pretty much everything is open and imho the Central Food Hall is comparable to Rimping but then again Star Avenue Rimping is a 10-15 minute walk from Central Festival if you are brave enought to take on the traffic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elektrified Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 (edited) Mrs CM works at the Chedi (or it used to be) and she tells me the same thing, farang tourists are not common any more, the time I spend there confirms the same. The g/f worked at Centara Khum Resort and Spa for a while and said that over several months she could count how many farangs went to the spa on one hand; literally. Pretty much as the other poster said, the clientele was at least 50% Thai (some dropping 6-10K THB per day on spa treatments), while the other 50% was a mix of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, HK and Singaporeans. She said the farangs accounted for only about 1% of the clientele. SHe was told that the hotel business was only perhaps a pertentgae point higher, like maybe 2% farangs but with a very high percentage of Japanese. Edited November 17, 2013 by elektrified Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mrs CM works at the Chedi (or it used to be) and she tells me the same thing, farang tourists are not common any more, the time I spend there confirms the same. The g/f worked at Centara Khum Resort and Spa for a while and said that over several months she could count how many farangs went to the spa on one hand; literally. Pretty much as the other poster said, the clientele was at least 50% Thai (some dropping 6-10K THB per day on spa treatments), while the other 50% was a mix of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, HK and Singaporeans. She said the farangs accounted for only about 1% of the clientele. SHe was told that the hotel business was only perhaps a pertentgae point higher, like maybe 2% farangs but with a very high percentage of Japanese. Indeed, if you want to see farangs in any numbers you have to visit Loi Kroh after 9pm! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elektrified Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Indeed, if you want to see farangs in any numbers you have to visit Loi Kroh after 9pm! Indeed, even at the Dukes I have been there a few times now where I was the only farang in there or maybe one of two farangs on a Friday night. Haven't seen mass amounts of other Asians in there (did see a large group of Chinese in there about 2 weeks ago) but now it's mostly Thais - or at least on some nights. And even at Miguels on 2 occasions I was one of only 2 or 3 at the most farang. No surprise at Dukes but I was surprised at Miguels. Demographics are really changing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimmer Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 A giant picture with a link to a commercial blog site removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ulysses G. Posted November 17, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mrs CM works at the Chedi (or it used to be) and she tells me the same thing, farang tourists are not common any more, the time I spend there confirms the same. The g/f worked at Centara Khum Resort and Spa for a while and said that over several months she could count how many farangs went to the spa on one hand; literally. A post referencing both the wife AND the girlfriend. Someone is living the good life. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mrs CM works at the Chedi (or it used to be) and she tells me the same thing, farang tourists are not common any more, the time I spend there confirms the same. The g/f worked at Centara Khum Resort and Spa for a while and said that over several months she could count how many farangs went to the spa on one hand; literally. A post referencing both the wife AND the girlfriend. Someone is living the good life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grin Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Finally made it to Central Festival. Definitely a huge mall. Cruised through the Food Hall and saw a lot of American food that I've never seen in a Rimping. Pretty good selection in the butcher section. Even saw fruit and vegetables I've never seen in a Thai fresh market. My wife was more impressed with Daiso than anything else and ended up buying stuff she has been trying to find for quite a while. For those not familiar with Daiso it is like a Japanese dollar store with a bunch of low end household items where most everything is the same price. AT 55 Baht it is not quite as cheap as the Daiso stores in the SF Bay Area where most items are $1.50. I've eaten in a Yayoi before in Hua Hin and the food was quite good for the price. A step up from Gekko Garden prices and quality (no disrespect intended, Rudi). It seemed fairly authentic for Japanese chain food (not fast food) and I have spent a bit of time in Japan on business. The B2S store is much bigger than the one in Robinson's at Airport Plaza but other than travel books the English section is not much better. By the way my wife says that B2S stands for Books to Stationary. Actually what I'd like to see in Chiang Mai is a Kinokuniya bookstore. Looked for the Muji stationary which was mentioned earlier in the thread but couldn't find it. I didn't see it on the map either. I did see a Muji section in the men's clothing area in the Central department store. I've only been to the Muji store in Roppongi but I think it's all the same company. Would much appreciate it if someone could tell me where the Muji stationary is. Grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infernalman7 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 ^^ Muji stationary that I mentioned is just a few aisles in Muji store in the Central Department Store section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grin Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 ^^ Muji stationary that I mentioned is just a few aisles in Muji store in the Central Department Store section. Thanks, I probably walked right past it. - Grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBobThai Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 (edited) The wife and I went today and I for one, was impressed. I also went to the opening of Promenade and was equally unimpressed. Central Festival seems to have done a good job of making sure most was ready for the public. The Central Food Hall is very nice with a GREAT selection of fresh bread. They have a broad selection of items that will appeal to many falang with a price for the selection. Butter that I buy at Makro for 85 baht is 105 baht. I will not go here for my monthly grocery shopping, but there are some items not to be had eleswhere. The only other store I went into was the Japanese dollar store, even though most items were much more than a dollar. That said, I liked this store for their good selection of things that I could actually use. All in all, good job done Central Festival, best of luck for a good future. Edited November 18, 2013 by BillyBobThai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worgeordie Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 The wife and I went today and I for one, was impressed. I also went to the opening of Promenade and was equally unimpressed. Central Festival seems to have done a good job of making sure most was ready for the public. The Central Food Hall is very nice with a GREAT selection of fresh bread. They have a broad selection of items that will appeal to many falang with a price for the selection. Butter that I buy at Makro for 85 baht is 105 baht. I will not go here for my monthly grocery shopping, but there are some items not to be had eleswhere. The only other store I went into was the Japanese dollar store, even though most items were much more than a dollar. That said, I liked this store for their good selection of things that I could actually use. All in all, good job done Central Festival, best of luck for a good future. If you go to Yoke bakery supplies you can buy butter in 400 grm blocks for bht 75 ,salted ,unsalted, so its twice as much for less than half the price, thats for Orchid,they also have Allowari ?,butter keeps well in the fridge,for a year in freezer. regards Worgeordie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooloomooloo Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 (edited) are they going to have a fitness center? thank you Not sure, but you could jog round the perimeter of the mall if need be. Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app Edited November 18, 2013 by wooloomooloo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kast Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 What is the parking like at Central Festival? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naammanow Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Anybody knows the opening hours of Central Festival? Tks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anto Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 What is the parking like at Central Festival? I had no problem parking there on opening day by pickup . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grin Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Opening hours: Mon-Thu 11:00 to to 21:30 Fri 11:00 to 22:00 Sat-Sun and Holidays 10:00 to 22:00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grin Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 There was a typo in my earlier post about Daiso. The standard price is 65 Baht not 55 Baht. Grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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