central festival very quiet...

[anonymouse]

I noticed the same thing a short while ago. It seems to me that we are " malled out" and people are realising that all malls have too many common denominators. I am mystified why Festival has so many Japanese restaurants, and very indifferent ones as that. And stores like M&S are just boring and expensive. Reality has set in!

As for visitors, we have the perfect storm. The start of the low season combined with the negative effects of the curfew and the underlying political tensions is making Thailand unattractive. And if the leaders and TAT think that events where free haircuts and roses or street music in one Bangkok location is going to have any positive effect then they are wrong. There are many alternative,s in the region where facilities and service equal and exceed the increasingly jaded Thai offerings. Once again, Reality has set in!

It seems to me that we are entering a phase that could determine the fate of Thailand for years to come, and a fine line is being trodden. It will not take much to push things into a long period of decline. Few people have seen the data on damage already done and jobs already lost. But soon we will begin to see the figures. And the malls and tourism plant will sadly remain quiet.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I would not perceive the decline of tourists and the shopping malls void of customers in Chiang Mai as a general example of the situations in other major cities of Thailand.

Most of this is down to bad planning and over enthusiastic clampdowns on the adult entertainments and nightlife venues, which is something I have been ranting on about for years.

Firstly, most of these shopping malls are more or less the same, seen one, seen them all and in my opinion so many in a small city such as Chiang Mai are surplus to requirements and not needed. There are simply not enough customers to go round and like myself, many customers are happy to shop at the big supermarkets, Tesco Lotus, Big C, the Rim Ping and the Airport Plaza and see no good reasons or benefits to shifting my custom to the new shopping malls and I guess many feel the same.

Then there is distinct lack of nightlife, much of it has been shut down by the clamp downs over the years and what there is, is of very poor quality. In Chiang Mai once a tourist has visited the usual attractions that can all be seen within 3 days then there is not much else to do in Chiang Mai, especially for those who enjoy a bit of clubbing, wine, women and song. It has been like this for several years and as far as I know, there is nothing new, so having been to Chiang Mai once means seeing it all. I have many friends abroad who used to holiday in Chiang Mai regularly every year and now give it a miss completely, complaining that it has become boring and for what there is, has become expensive for tourists.

So there’s your answer, and the visitors to Chiang Mai has been in steady decline for years plus these new shopping malls have nothing to offer that is not available in Chiang Mai already.

With all due respect to Mr Beetlejuice, who sometimes makes me laugh out loud and other times frown a bit CM has never been a great place for night life and as expensive as it is it's still a lot less expensive than Bangkok, Phuket or other tourist hot spots.

My view is that when I first came here close on 20 years ago tourists would do a 3 or 4 day trip to the North that involved some trekking and visiting the sites - Doi Suthep and a few other temples before heading back to the Beaches or Bangkok and I'm guessing that is pretty much the same now except that they have more options regarding restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls, coffee shops etc. The ones that fell in love with the place stayed on and explored, probably the same as now and discovered a different Chiang Mai to the tourist version.

Its very easy to look back at the 'Good old Days' and I do and reminisce, but the times they are a changing and shopping malls are part of that change and they are here to stay, like it or not. The whole globe is rapidly shrinking to a homogeneous mass with a 'Brand' on every corner but Chiang Mai/Thailand still has its home bred charms and my life here though a lot more comfortable and dull [a lot of that comes with age, wife and kids] I can still find places off the beaten track, eat food I've not eaten before, meet interesting expats and Thai's...basically shopping malls or not the place still has a great deal to offer.

Edited June 6, 2014 by anonymouse

[NancyL]

Hubby met some friends for breakfast at the restaurant in the Rim Ping supermarket in Maya Mall at 7 am this week and reports it was one packed place. Full of young, well-dressed Thais eating breakfast before heading off to work, Japanese and Korean golfers. There were a surprising number of shoppers in the supermarket, too -- mostly Japanese women and retirees. It's one of the few places open early (6 am) on that side of town, with good aircon. Easy access for cars -- Rim Ping is in the basement of the mall, right next to doors off the parking garage. Their 69 baht western breakfast special probably has something to do will pulling 'em in, too.

The same venue is nearly dead at lunchtime. So, it may be a matter of what other options are available at the same time of day, too.

Edited June 6, 2014 by NancyL

[umbanda]

It is a good coincidence that the World Cup is staring next week. The pressure of bars and restaurants owners to lift the curfew is working, and I believe some restrictions will end soon. Anyway, damage to the tourist sector was done already and will take time to come back to normal.

[Tokay]

Don't know how Maya is gonna make it.

[ericpasansai]

Funny

I too took a stroll through Festival Mall and always find it vibrant and busy. I then drove to Promenada which everybody said it was doomed to failure and took a second stroll and also found it busy and parking lot was starting to fill up.

The following day i didn't exactly take a stroll but a slow walk through the Airport mall and always find that active.

Today I'm setting aside a block of time to stroll through Maya mall and will report back on the business climate there

[dave2]

re

Rim Ping is in the basement of the mall, right next to doors off the parking garage. Their 69 baht western breakfast special

its gone up 10 baht ?

re

The pressure of bars and restaurants owners to lift the curfew is working,

yeah right

dave2

[khwaibah]

It is a good coincidence that the World Cup is staring next week. The pressure of bars and restaurants owners to lift the curfew is working, and I believe some restrictions will end soon. Anyway, damage to the tourist sector was done already and will take time to come back to normal.

Horse pucky.. It ain't working in the north or north east.You have a couple more months of this.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

@Winnie

Shopping malls in CM are not aimed at tourists. Very few foreigners at Festival ever.

@Nancy

Maya has unusually good breakfast positioning, catering to the upmarket Nimanhimmen crowd, no competition in the morning.

Sadly the mall itself is dead during the day.

@Dave2

Drive down the road 300m to "the Dome Residence". Same breakfast from 7am for 60bht in very nice quiet surroundings, car park and wifi.

Edited June 7, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[dave2]

re

@Dave2
Drive down the road 300m to "the Dome Residence". Same breakfast from 7am for 60bht in very nice quiet surroundings, car park and wifi.

ill try it one day .. thanks

i thought about living there once coz it looked a nice place but their ( the way i read it )

three months up front rental requirement was a no no for me

one month ok ... three months ... never

dave2

[AnotherOneAmerican]

@Dave2

I suspect you already know the lady who runs the breakfast and coffee bar!

Edited June 7, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[northernjohn]

I noticed the same thing a short while ago. It seems to me that we are " malled out" and people are realising that all malls have too many common denominators. I am mystified why Festival has so many Japanese restaurants, and very indifferent ones as that. And stores like M&S are just boring and expensive. Reality has set in!

As for visitors, we have the perfect storm. The start of the low season combined with the negative effects of the curfew and the underlying political tensions is making Thailand unattractive. And if the leaders and TAT think that events where free haircuts and roses or street music in one Bangkok location is going to have any positive effect then they are wrong. There are many alternative,s in the region where facilities and service equal and exceed the increasingly jaded Thai offerings. Once again, Reality has set in!

It seems to me that we are entering a phase that could determine the fate of Thailand for years to come, and a fine line is being trodden. It will not take much to push things into a long period of decline. Few people have seen the data on damage already done and jobs already lost. But soon we will begin to see the figures. And the malls and tourism plant will sadly remain quiet.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I would not perceive the decline of tourists and the shopping malls void of customers in Chiang Mai as a general example of the situations in other major cities of Thailand.

Most of this is down to bad planning and over enthusiastic clampdowns on the adult entertainments and nightlife venues, which is something I have been ranting on about for years.

Firstly, most of these shopping malls are more or less the same, seen one, seen them all and in my opinion so many in a small city such as Chiang Mai are surplus to requirements and not needed. There are simply not enough customers to go round and like myself, many customers are happy to shop at the big supermarkets, Tesco Lotus, Big C, the Rim Ping and the Airport Plaza and see no good reasons or benefits to shifting my custom to the new shopping malls and I guess many feel the same.

Then there is distinct lack of nightlife, much of it has been shut down by the clamp downs over the years and what there is, is of very poor quality. In Chiang Mai once a tourist has visited the usual attractions that can all be seen within 3 days then there is not much else to do in Chiang Mai, especially for those who enjoy a bit of clubbing, wine, women and song. It has been like this for several years and as far as I know, there is nothing new, so having been to Chiang Mai once means seeing it all. I have many friends abroad who used to holiday in Chiang Mai regularly every year and now give it a miss completely, complaining that it has become boring and for what there is, has become expensive for tourists.

So there’s your answer, and the visitors to Chiang Mai has been in steady decline for years plus these new shopping malls have nothing to offer that is not available in Chiang Mai already.

With all due respect to Mr Beetlejuice, who sometimes makes me laugh out loud and other times frown a bit CM has never been a great place for night life and as expensive as it is it's still a lot less expensive than Bangkok, Phuket or other tourist hot spots.

My view is that when I first came here close on 20 years ago tourists would do a 3 or 4 day trip to the North that involved some trekking and visiting the sites - Doi Suthep and a few other temples before heading back to the Beaches or Bangkok and I'm guessing that is pretty much the same now except that they have more options regarding restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls, coffee shops etc. The ones that fell in love with the place stayed on and explored, probably the same as now and discovered a different Chiang Mai to the tourist version.

Its very easy to look back at the 'Good old Days' and I do and reminisce, but the times they are a changing and shopping malls are part of that change and they are here to stay, like it or not. The whole globe is rapidly shrinking to a homogeneous mass with a 'Brand' on every corner but Chiang Mai/Thailand still has its home bred charms and my life here though a lot more comfortable and dull [a lot of that comes with age, wife and kids] I can still find places off the beaten track, eat food I've not eaten before, meet interesting expats and Thai's...basically shopping malls or not the place still has a great deal to offer.

Yes in the time I have been here there has not been what I would call a quality night life. A few nice restaurants to go to and that is about it. Hardly any theater to speak of some decent movies. But as far as sight seeing go's there is plenty of that. Four days get's you started with the major attractions. Chiang Mai has many off the path things to see. It just seems that the longer people live here the more they forget these things and concentrate on the big show items. We permanent residences fall into a loose routine for living and tend to think of only the larger touristy things to do. If we were all to fill in a list of less major attractions it would in reality be very long.

[NancyL]

Maybe the Rim Ping breakfast still is 59 baht. Hubby's not a reliable reporter and doesn't sweat the difference between a 69 baht vs. 59 baht breakfast.

Didn't know about the cheap early-morning breakfast at The Dome. Will have to tell him. I'm not an early riser. Sometimes he has Breakfast I early with friends and joins me at home for Breakfast II at a more civilized hour.

[quidnunc]

Maybe one of the reasons Central Festival is so quiet is that Airport Plaza seems to have recovered a lot of the traffic it lost when Central Festival opened.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

KSK was busy today,

Also 4 soldiers at the entrance with rifles, never seen that before.

[dave2]

re

Maybe the Rim Ping breakfast still is 59 baht

it is ! .. pic taken this afternoon

but why on earth theyve got a blow up dragon or whatever its supposed to be outside maya today ive no idea ?

ksk .... were having a meeting with some top knobs from the local tessabans about recycling !

coz i knew two of them

and it was busy !

dave2

[MESmith]

re

Maybe the Rim Ping breakfast still is 59 baht

it is ! .. pic taken this afternoon

but why on earth theyve got a blow up dragon or whatever its supposed to be outside maya today ive no idea ?

ksk .... were having a meeting with some top knobs from the local tessabans about recycling !

coz i knew two of them

and it was busy !

dave2

"How to train your dragon 2 " movie released. You don't have kids dave2?

[ProThaiExpat]

I don't know the actual figure, but retail sales are largely made during the end of the year season. I think it is over 60% of annual sales.. And yes that is the tourist season as well.

There are gems of truth in many of the foregoing posts such as three new malls opening in one year and certainly more than doubling the retail space.

I often wondered how the old Central on Huay Kaew ever made money as almost always when I went in the store it was not busy while the mall area was very busy.

[mccw]

MAYA has been more busy last couple times I've been than when it first opened. More shops and food and other facilities opened there now.

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? I imagine the biz must mostly be really struggling. Lots of empty units still.

Airport plaza seems to have it's customers returned after a brief buzz time when all peoples went to the new central festival when just opened; was real busy over there but not been back since. Expensive. But will probably go just for the i max , especially now hearing it's not so much busy.

Problem with prom is it's so close to central fest for people on that side of town may aswell go to central and have more selection. Airport - Maya and Central all have local catchments to support them.

[Bpuumike]

MAYA has been more busy last couple times I've been than when it first opened. More shops and food and other facilities opened there now.

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? I imagine the biz must mostly be really struggling. Lots of empty units still.

Airport plaza seems to have it's customers returned after a brief buzz time when all peoples went to the new central festival when just opened; was real busy over there but not been back since. Expensive. But will probably go just for the i max , especially now hearing it's not so much busy.

Problem with prom is it's so close to central fest for people on that side of town may aswell go to central and have more selection. Airport - Maya and Central all have local catchments to support them.

I haven't been over to CM for many years but nice to enjoy a pleasant banter on TVF for a change.

A good weekend to all.

[maanoi]

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? .

Everyone is getting large discounts at prom. Most around 50% off. Which depending on where the shop is can be as cheap as 500baht a square metre a month.

Some I think are not paying any rent, but instead have a commission deal.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Oscar2]

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? .

Everyone is getting large discounts at prom. Most around 50% off. Which depending on where the shop is can be as cheap as 500baht a square metre a month.

Some I think are not paying any rent, but instead have a commission deal.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

that sounds reasonable. hope it survives as it is a nice place with nice atmosphere (although there are no shops there that interest me except Rimping and the Dukes).

[mccw]

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? .

Everyone is getting large discounts at prom. Most around 50% off. Which depending on where the shop is can be as cheap as 500baht a square metre a month.

Some I think are not paying any rent, but instead have a commission deal.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

that sounds reasonable. hope it survives as it is a nice place with nice atmosphere (although there are no shops there that interest me except Rimping and the Dukes).

Yes - I agree.

Good to hear the management are being flexible and trying to help promote biz stability and growth there.

On the facility side. I must say that the toys r us , kids play ground and cinema all next to each other might have seemed like a great idea to catch passing trade off each other. But the result is I go to another mall for cinema, even though prom is more convenient, because it's a pain having to steerer the kids away from toys and play zone.

The play zone seems quite popular but over priced to my mind and I do not like having to pay just to go inside to keep eye the kids.

[maanoi]

Also just to note if anyone wants a place at prom word is they are giving pretty decent deals to new tenants, like 1 yr free rent.

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[mccw]

Went to prom today to see after a while not been. It was reasonably busy; well not exactly packed, but not half deserted like in the weekdays. A few more stores/ stalls opened since I was last there- others had disappeared, like the little crepe place that used to be by the cinema.

[lanng khao]

Promenada is always really quiet. Anyone know how much the rent is there? .

Everyone is getting large discounts at prom. Most around 50% off. Which depending on where the shop is can be as cheap as 500baht a square metre a month.

Some I think are not paying any rent, but instead have a commission deal.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

that sounds reasonable. hope it survives as it is a nice place with nice atmosphere (although there are no shops there that interest me except Rimping and the Dukes).

Yes - I agree.

Good to hear the management are being flexible and trying to help promote biz stability and growth there.

On the facility side. I must say that the toys r us , kids play ground and cinema all next to each other might have seemed like a great idea to catch passing trade off each other. But the result is I go to another mall for cinema, even though prom is more convenient, because it's a pain having to steerer the kids away from toys and play zone.

The play zone seems quite popular but over priced to my mind and I do not like having to pay just to go inside to keep eye the kids.

put them in toys r us, and slide off to katoeys r us round the corner, job done..

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[RikDao]

Of course, these malls aren't necessarily for retail sales, right? They're actually laundering ops for... Umm, I'd best not go into it.

But they need to fill the spaces to convey an air of legitimacy, hence 50% off the rent, or whatever.