Today (Sunday) I went to Airport Central, and it was teeming with people- gave up when I couldn't get a car park closer than 300 metres outside. So I went to Promenada instead.

The contrast is quite stark - next to no customers, shops almost pleading with people to come in. Half the food stalls in the food hall were empty, and the rest were barely working on what should be their busiest day.

What is wrong with Promenada? Location seems as convenient as any other mall in CM, parking is easy and the architecture quite reasonable. Is it considered too expensive, or are there other factors operating?

P.S. For Vegemite addicts, Promenada Rimping has it - 152 baht for a small jar.

Nothing wrong IMHO, but what do I know, I'm not a sheep....

I asked my Thai friend if we should go there, as I have not visited, being close to Maya and Kad Suan Keow.

He just shrugged his shoulders and said 'it's empty".

Maybe over-supply of shopping malls?

Nawarat Rimping has Vegemite too, and it's a lot closer than Promenada. I don't even know where Promenada is. CM has too many malls already, cannibalizing customers one from the other. When the music stops I think Promenada is going to be the one without a chair. Maybe Maya too. They are simply not needed.

Lack of public transport would be one reason.

Central are good at their job. When Festival was open it was nearly 100% full with clients. Promenada are new to the market they were simply outclassed in obtaining tenants. Without tenants it becomes a viscous circle, few tenants , few customers few new tenants even less customers. I also expect that Central actively encouraged their customers not to go to Promenada maybe by methods that are less acceptable in anti-monopolistic countries.

I love the place. We go there for food and its first choice for cinema.

But then the reason I love it is that its empty.

Vegevomit at ฿ 152 a small jar would keep any decent shopper away from there!

My best advice to the management there is to covert it into a mega mall of childcare related stuff and pet related stuff

They have Toys r Us already and that giant play area (lower the price) , bring in a few reputable schools and all the ancillary products like USA imported clothes etc etc and the mall will boom

Same way united square in Singapore competes with all the mega glitzy malls .,.if you are a mum that want the best for your kid ...that mall is one of the oldest in Singapore but continues to draw in the crowds who look for those products under one roof

Best mall in Chiang Mai. Wish the Mexican restaurant would open so I can have a cold one while the kids skate.

A bowling venue there would be good too.

I spent half an afternoon at Promenada a few weeks ago waiting on a friend delayed because of an accident.

I found it relaxing, civilised, elegant and an absolute pleasure.

All staff, including the parking attendants were friendly, air con temperature just right, no loud music or inane announcements, and every other criteria you would want: whether shopping, banking, browsing eating, drinking, or watching a movie. Rimping here must be one of the most refined and eye-pleasing supermarkets in Asia.

If some people love the noise, crowds and the stress of places like Central Festival, so be it. Give me Promenada any time - just a pity that for people without a car, it is out on a limb.

That brings us to the lamentable, incomprehensible lack of public transport in an ever-expanding city already choked with traffic ........ ah well.

I find it very relaxing there. As has been said there is a lot of empty shops but they have every thing I need. I think the builders built it with an eye to the future. Rimping there is the biggest one in the chain but I find the light more geared to romance than shopping. I like the lay out of the mall. Unlike the Central Festival it is not like being in a big barn with a lot of noise.

For us, it is the furthest away mall there is. Doesn't make sense to go out there as everything we need can be found closer to town. You also have Central Festival that is on the way there, so you get side tracked before you even make it.

It looks really nice, but there just isn't anything to draw us out there.

I tried to go once but couldn't find it. There was a sign saying turn right then after that nothing, so gave up after a while and went to Central.

Vegemite at any price is not worth having.

I also prefer it and hope it stays open, if only for Rimping.

Airport Plaza will always remain busy, not because of its proximity with the airport (actually, it's nowhere near it) and town but because it's a be seen kind if place for teens. Robinsons is also a good store, you have the two food courts and cinema, decent range of shops and it's all quite well priced. But I still prefer Promenada for that bit of sophistication and because it is QUIET!

Lets keep it simple ( cue the jokes....!) . The main business purpose of a shopping mall is shopping ? Central Airport and Festival have shops, proper ones, big ones, the ones people use every day, hence, they have customers, lots of them.

Promenada on the other hand doesnt have many of the "proper shops" we need every day, apart from Rimping, and if you need Japanese sized clothes (Uniqlo), so therefore it has no customers.

It has restaurants and coffee shops, lots of them, and it has opticians and pharmacies, lots of them, but it doesnt have proper shops hence no customers!

I just returned from Hong Kong where to an extent they have a similar problem to Promenada, huge malls, lots of them, seemingly on almost every street corner, but exclusively full of the brands 90% of people cant afford, you know, Prada, Gucci, Armani, Rolex, etc etc.....so what I observed in HK was similarly empty malls or malls where people walk around and look but dont buy! Aspirationalism ( if thats what its called!) is the curse of the world and it will only get worse! Met an American guy on the flight back from HK who was travelling from mainland China. There, he said, you have dirt poor Cities, but the malls there also only provide the stuff most of us cant buy? Strange world !!! Rant over !!!

I also prefer it and hope it stays open, if only for Rimping.

Airport Plaza will always remain busy, not because of its proximity with the airport (actually, it's nowhere near it) and town but because it's a be seen kind if place for teens. Robinsons is also a good store, you have the two food courts and cinema, decent range of shops and it's all quite well priced. But I still prefer Promenada for that bit of sophistication and because it is QUIET!

Its 700m as the crow flies to the Airport terminal, not so far.

It's the lack of easy, cheap transport that keeps us away from Promenada. Their shuttle doesn't come into our side of town. The few times we've paid for transport it seems to take a long time to get to the mall. The theaters show the same films as Maya -- much closer to us. Promenada does have great restaurants -- that would be a good draw for people who have cars, but we just can't see paying for the transport for a night out for two. Maybe paying for transport for a special outing with a group, but sorry -- not for two people. We can take a songthaew to go to Dukes and good Mexican and Italian places in town.

I hope it does succeed, but they need to differentiate themselves.

How about an outlet mall? In the U.S. outlet malls are destination malls -- people come from all over, plan their vacations around multi-day stays near an outlet mall. Why not Promenada?

In a taxi one day going there and I asked why Promenada was empty. ''Pronenada no good, owner farang. Central good. Have Bangkok. Owner Thai."

Enough said I think.

Perhaps immigration could set up their new offices there. No shortage of coffee shops and Japanese restaurants while you are waiting.

Awful design, went a couple of times when a friend wanted to go to dukes. Won't bother again, much prefer Airport Plaza and the great supermarket ++ at Central.

Yup, hard to figure how it can stay afloat. But I like it because it's so quiet. The only place we ever shop is at Rimping (our favorite Rimping), and we love the cinema. Then of course we dine at Dukes and Ragu. Never found any other restaurants there worth going to again.

It's the lack of easy, cheap transport that keeps us away from Promenada. Their shuttle doesn't come into our side of town. The few times we've paid for transport it seems to take a long time to get to the mall. The theaters show the same films as Maya -- much closer to us. Promenada does have great restaurants -- that would be a good draw for people who have cars, but we just can't see paying for the transport for a night out for two. Maybe paying for transport for a special outing with a group, but sorry -- not for two people. We can take a songthaew to go to Dukes and good Mexican and Italian places in town.

I hope it does succeed, but they need to differentiate themselves.

How about an outlet mall? In the U.S. outlet malls are destination malls -- people come from all over, plan their vacations around multi-day stays near an outlet mall. Why not Promenada?

Outlet malls in Lamphun -- kinda.

Central are good at their job. When Festival was open it was nearly 100% full with clients. Promenada are new to the market they were simply outclassed in obtaining tenants. Without tenants it becomes a viscous circle, few tenants , few customers few new tenants even less customers. I also expect that Central actively encouraged their customers not to go to Promenada maybe by methods that are less acceptable in anti-monopolistic countries.

Please explain what your last sentence means.

What methods were used to encourage customers not to go to Promenada?

Where are these "anti-monopolistic countries", these paragons of free and fair trade you're talking about?

Either you have some inside information that should be made public, or you're full of beans - one or the other.

Not been to CM for a while, is the Promenada Ice rink in operation? How much?

Not been to CM for a while, is the Promenada Ice rink in operation? How much?

No, idea scrapped.

Have to agree with others that the Promenade is probably my favorite Mall due to the

lack of crowds & the lack of blaring speakers etc.

Also it is filled with good restaurants like Ragu's, Duke's, Fuji etc

I do think it is slow in part to location but also if you drive that route daily you will see

at 8am-ish & 5pm-ish it has heavy traffic meaning many are moving out that way to all the new

developments.

So I expect the city will eventually expand that way too & they will have more foot traffic.

I hear from Thai friends that section in between the two main buildings which has a moat & some food/beer stalls

closed during the day is a nice spot at night to listen to live music & have some beers/snacks etc.

The mall itself is quite beautiful architecturally IMHO & laid out nicely for noise not to bounce like it

does at all the standard rectangle malls

love promonada but...i think lack of shops and department store is the reason

rick

Nothing.