Patong is dead.

[SooKee]

Concur with your sentiments here regarding Patong. I found CM a wee bit of a yawn after a week but outside of the main berg there are still some charming places and folk and agree that being able to speak some Thai can oil the wheels for sure. I know an American hotel owner in Patong whose been there 10+ years and married to a Thai; I asked him if he spoke Thai and through gritted teeth he growled “No…and just as well for her”. Fair enough.

Yah. It's a tough call really. I really do miss hitting the beach sometimes and even the beach bars that used to be there. Trouble is I don't miss much else. Patong is just too one dimensional for me now and it's too easy to just jump back because of the 'grass is greener' view. I was half convinced I wanted to come back when I visited last week but went out to Patong one night and just bailed after a few hours. I was sat at a bar called Snake where I know the owners, next to Illuzion and honestly, after about 10 minutes I thought why???

I even checked out a few condos while I was there, in Patong and around Kamala, Surin and Bangtao. Nothing appealed really. Some were downright awful and some were just astronomical prices for a shoe box. If I was going to contemplate living out elsewhere in Phuket I think I'd rather be in CM or even BKK. Much better variety of restaurants, cafes and shopping plus I enjoy cycling a lot. In Patong? Hmmm. Not easy.

Yah CM is a bit of yawn it's true but Patong for me now is just 'same old, same old' in Bangla, mostly deserted, lacking atmosphere and noisy (traffic) around the previously buzzing Nanai and the bars opposite Absolute at the top end of the beach road, dead or what?? I quite liked the convenience of having Jungceylon on my doorstep in Patong but everything else, and especially a night out there, just grates these days. Even my fave Italian restaurant opposite Soi Seadragon has shut down. After a night out with friends one night I found myself in Chang Club for a last beer. I even enjoyed THAT more than Bangla, at least you could chat to people there.

So, while I do miss my friends there, and the beach environment (sometimes) there's too much that I would miss from here to move back JUST for the odd trip to the beach. I might go check out Patts but every time I mention it to chums, even those who live there, it's "no, no, noooooooo". Maybe staying put in CM is best for now. Luckily flights are cheap. I have got a couple of buddies visiting from elsewhere in LOS soon. One thing I did say to them was if you think you might want some company while you are here, drop into BKK or Patts, hook-up and bring it with you because there's f all here in that regard.

[KarenBravo]

Why is the alternative to Patong, BKK and CM?

There are loads of great places to live on Phuket just a few kilometres away from Patong.

[SooKee]

Why is the alternative to Patong, BKK and CM?

There are loads of great places to live on Phuket just a few kilometres away from Patong.

Different people like and want different things. I've not found anything a few km from Patong that has enough that would qualify them as great. It's what you want to get out of where you live. For you somewhere might be great, for me not so and vice versa. The point I guess is what qualifies them for great? Same as some hardened city dwellers would run a mile at the thought of living in rural France (or wherever), and the various shades of dislike between not so keen and hate.

[beechbum]

they wouldn't be interested in tourists

555...yeah, ok.

Have you ever been to Chiang Mai? The difficulties for tourists to hook up are quite well known. Anyone coming here looking for Patong style action is WAY better going to Phuket, Pattaya or BKK. I certainly wouldn't waste the time or money in CM. It's just NOTHING like Patong. Chances MIGHT be improved for those who can speak Thai.

Tourist pull options are generally limited to Loi Kro (and you'd need to be desperate to bother there), the highly dodgy karaoke joints or maybe some of the working or "side line" girls that work out of Zoe or Spicy. Outside of that there really is zero interest from the girls in tourists. Even in central places like Oxide and T Bar, I've only ever seen westerners in there once this year. Why? Nobody but nobody speaks English. Most girls are not working in the Patong sense and I've not met one that can speak ANY English at all. Zero.

But of course, as with anywhere, tourists are welcome to try. Good luck with that. For me, if I didn't live here, Chiang Mai would be below last on my list if I was looking for anything remotely like Patong. 5-7 years ago it was MUCH better. Easier. More choice. But with 12 o'clock shut downs, clamp downs and bar closures, it's had the soul torn out of it in that regard.

Posted via Tapatalk

Yes, lots of times.

[SooKee]

they wouldn't be interested in tourists

555...yeah, ok.

Have you ever been to Chiang Mai? The difficulties for tourists to hook up are quite well known. Anyone coming here looking for Patong style action is WAY better going to Phuket, Pattaya or BKK. I certainly wouldn't waste the time or money in CM. It's just NOTHING like Patong. Chances MIGHT be improved for those who can speak Thai.

Tourist pull options are generally limited to Loi Kro (and you'd need to be desperate to bother there), the highly dodgy karaoke joints or maybe some of the working or "side line" girls that work out of Zoe or Spicy. Outside of that there really is zero interest from the girls in tourists. Even in central places like Oxide and T Bar, I've only ever seen westerners in there once this year. Why? Nobody but nobody speaks English. Most girls are not working in the Patong sense and I've not met one that can speak ANY English at all. Zero.

But of course, as with anywhere, tourists are welcome to try. Good luck with that. For me, if I didn't live here, Chiang Mai would be below last on my list if I was looking for anything remotely like Patong. 5-7 years ago it was MUCH better. Easier. More choice. But with 12 o'clock shut downs, clamp downs and bar closures, it's had the soul torn out of it in that regard.

Posted via Tapatalk

Yes, lots of times.

Great. I guess BMs can PM you for advice on where, as tourists, they can hook up with locals outside of the places I mention. I wish them luck

"555...yeah, ok." Same with a lot of posts on TV, add little value, infer a deeper knowledge and understanding (trust me you're wrong, I know better, but I'll keep the detail light so as not to get caught out), but the substance? Time to hit the BS button. Pfffft.

Edited July 14, 2016 by SooKee

[beechbum]

Your limited knowledge of Phuket's right up there with your limited knowledge of Chiang Mai.

[GeorgeCross]

"555...yeah, ok." Same with a lot of posts on TV, add little value, infer a deeper knowledge and understanding (trust me you're wrong, I know better, but I'll keep the detail light so as not to get caught out), but the substance? Time to hit the BS button. Pfffft.

Your limited knowledge of Phuket's right up there with your limited knowledge of Chiang Mai.

please enlighten us, oh wise one..

Edited July 15, 2016 by GeorgeCross

[pueraria16]

This is low season in Phuket that can make Phuket is quiet and this week Phuket has heavy rainy.

[stevenl]

This is low season in Phuket that can make Phuket is quiet and this week Phuket has heavy rainy.

There has been some rain, but nothing outrageous and nothing out of the ordinary.

[SooKee]

Your limited knowledge of Phuket's right up there with your limited knowledge of Chiang Mai.

I really wasn't gonna bother with this because folks like you really just ain't worth the effort. But......

Well, that’s as maybe. But at least MY posts contain some information on the basis of which people can make some kind of an assessment. Which, if they follow up with a visit to either Phuket or CM, I’m more than confident they’ll find are not too far off the mark

Yours? Well, nothing really, is there? Vacuous ‘wanna be smarta55’ one liners with nothing but innuendo or childish blatant baiting. Maybe when you grow up you can start posting with some information and detail so people can assess the extent of your claimed superior knowledge, or you can just keep up with the "I am 12" playground stuff.

IGNORE LIST.

Edited July 15, 2016 by SooKee

[pueraria16]

This is low season in Phuket that can make Phuket is quiet and this week Phuket has heavy rainy.

There has been some rain, but nothing outrageous and nothing out of the ordinary.

How about today?

[LivinginKata]

This is low season in Phuket that can make Phuket is quiet and this week Phuket has heavy rainy.

There has been some rain, but nothing outrageous and nothing out of the ordinary.

How about today?

No rain at all today. Clouds but no rain ...

[oxo1947]

Brits?...I’m not skint and neither are many of the quality Brit tourists I know that visit Lalaland. No Sir, I think there are many and varied reasons why folk are not going there...kop some of NKM’s sermons for the unfortunate low-down. Arh, the good old days...

Yer maybe Patong isn't such a desirable place to go....... 25 years ago, it was Patpong BKK, the in place everyone was there, always a bit of a rip off but quite small---then it got to be more heavy --really stacked check-bins , stand over doormen etc......I haven't been there in 12 years...don't know anyone else who has , other than to look at the night market , there's no value in short term rip off's......................

[Dub15]

Well I guess this topic has been done to death but, for posterity, let me drive a nail into the coffin lid.

I just recently spent nine nights in Patong after a three year absence. I previously detailed my reasons for abstaining in an earlier post on this thread but, to summarise, I was fed up with the greed, insincerity and stupidity that I came across everywhere I went and I was extremely fearful of the decisions that were being made in relation to the further 'development' of Patong.

So I'm sure it will come as no surprise to learn that I am now officially done with the place. I honestly feel like I just wasted half of my holiday in a location where I just didn't want to be (the only reason I actually stayed was that I was getting a suit made by a tailor that I trust...and they're hard to come by).

Most of the issues I encountered have already been well documented but let me add my voice to the chorus of discontent.

The touts are a nightmare and it makes a walk down Bangla road an absolute ordeal....they block your way, shove their boards in your face and try to physically drag you into their clubs.

There is nowhere (and I mean absolutely nowhere) left in the Bangla road area where you can just sit and relax without being pestered. You cannot enjoy a beer in any bar without being asked to buy lady drinks for one, two, three, four or, in one case, seven members of staff. This even happens in places like the Aussie Bar where it would have been unheard of (in my experience) to be hassled by the staff. Having bought lady drinks once, you will be pestered for more and more and more. Next time they see you they will chase you down the street to drag you into their bar.

Patong has now become one big clubbing destination and the noise levels are deafening. The only people who seem to be enjoying themselves are the young Aussie and British kids who are pissed and out of their heads on the drugs that are readily available in many of the clubs....I lost count of the number of times I was offered narcotics.

And the worst thing I saw when I was there was that the developers have taken away at least half of the school grounds at the corner of Sawatdirak Road and Rat U Thit in order to build a new luxury hotel. That really sickened me....I used to love walking past on my way back from the beach and hearing the sound of the kids running, laughing and playing as kids should but they’re now cooped up like pigeons in an area not fit for purpose....so much for progress....the greed is disgusting.

Anyway, that’s my story and my final say on Patong...I won’t be back.

[SooKee]

@Dub15. Spot on. In a nutshell. Talk about skewering the goose. The sentiments of most the people I know much the same.

Most now go to Cambodia or VN for their fix. Cheaper, cleaner. Sure they have their downsides too. But overall. Vs Patong? Patong has pissed in it's chips in my opinion.

Of course you need to defer to the content light posters here who claim to know better.

Good post!!!!

Posted via Tapatalk

[billythehat]

Your limited knowledge of Phuket's right up there with your limited knowledge of Chiang Mai.

I really wasn't gonna bother with this because folks like you really just ain't worth the effort. But......

Well, that’s as maybe. But at least MY posts contain some information on the basis of which people can make some kind of an assessment. Which, if they follow up with a visit to either Phuket or CM, I’m more than confident they’ll find are not too far off the mark

Yours? Well, nothing really, is there? Vacuous ‘wanna be smarta55’ one liners with nothing but innuendo or childish blatant baiting. Maybe when you grow up you can start posting with some information and detail so people can assess the extent of your claimed superior knowledge, or you can just keep up with the "I am 12" playground stuff.

IGNORE LIST.

Hee hee, shouldn’t worry about it to mutt. You see the main difference will always be the simple fact that where the occasional visitor can see clearly the decline of the place from year to year, the incumbent inmates only see the day to day crumbling vista disappearing more slowly into the sunset – it’s not that stark a picture to them. Advanced years may be a contributory factor to add in too. I tend to look on the deterioration as once having a rare vintage bottle of single malt Irish Whisky that I used to bring out occasionally to savour a wee dram. When it was all gone, it was gone and I enjoyed it immensely whilst it was around. Pa used to say to me “Son, don’t drink from the same well too often, aye”, which came a bit rich from a Paddy who drank at the same pub for 30 years, but more as a nod to any soul who is a natural wanderer and on the shortness of life. Patong a case in point, it had its time and now it’s gone, time to leave the party and thank Buddha you had no ties! Contributing to the woes of Phuket is the size of the island; there was only so much strain an island a mere 29x12 miles could take with regard to resources, etc. Something had to give. Must have been a real paradise once.

[xylophone]

As other posters, (SooKee and recently Dub15) have said, Patong doesn't offer what it used to and I think that's one of the key points here, because it has changed and certainly not for the better, so I think there would be many people, me included who miss the "old Patong" and the old Bangla in particular. One where you had bar owners who were "characters" in their own right and who would often shout you a drink; where the bar girls were friendly and spoke some English and would not immediately demand a drink from you, but would often hope that they had earned one if they had spent time in your company and in trying to converse in one way or another.

You always knew the bars where you would have fun so you frequented them. There were even bars where you could go and sit and have a drink with the bar owner and not get pestered by the girls, and simply talk and look out on Bangla and watch the world go by; people watching by any other name.

Ping-pong touts were not as abundant as they are now and the whole place had a friendlier "carnival style atmosphere". It was a world within itself and it catered for just about everyone.

It was a party town and the tourists flocked in as did the money and in those days most bar owners were making good money and I remember thinking exactly that in the Christmas of 2006/2007 when Bangla was so crowded it actually seemed to move en masse rather than as individuals.

Indeed, one bar owner I know and I will use him as an example, because there were many more like him, had a bar in Soi Eric and in those days the key money (never could get used to that) was 2.4 million baht for three years, plus monthly rental. Well his bar was so successful that he would live off its earnings, pay for a house for the bar girls, pay his living expenses and his car and still bank between 1.5 and 2 million baht per annum which was surplus to requirements. Having said that he knew full well that he needed to have some funds put by when the next three-year lease (the money) became payable.

And so it was, and that's why many people flocked to open bars, because many of them were profitable.

It didn't matter that the local powers that be colluded to extract money from the party town via operating a tuk tuk and taxi Mafia, extracting monthly payments from all business owners and generally lining their own pockets, because there was plenty to go round and no one seemed to mind too much.

Soi Eric was packed as were Soi Crocodile, Soi Easy and the original Tiger complex and it looked to all intents and purposes that this would go on forever.

But something changed and Patong didn't………….

Although the GFC started in late 2007 it wasn't until about another year later that this had spread and was affecting the global economics, and still does to this day.

As an example, holidaymakers from the UK could get 68 baht for their pound, now it is about 44; the euro would buy you 55 baht, now it buys around 39; the Australian dollar would buy you 34 baht now it's around 24. And all of this made it a lot more expensive for the normal holidaymakers to come here, not to mention the fact that they had other pressing needs for their money, other than to spend it in a place like Patong.

The effects spread worldwide through 2009/10/11 and to this day, and if you were to chart the fall of the number of patrons frequenting the bars and like here you would see a remarkable similarity to the falling currency rates.

It was plain for many people to see and I will use my bar owner friend as an example again, because he was shrewd enough to know that business had fallen off so much (he used to measure it on a daily basis) that there was no future in owning a bar, so I helped him sell it. Other bars in Soi Eric were struggling and at one time where you could not get into a bar at the back of Soi Crocodile, there was now plenty of room with far fewer patrons and this was plain to see throughout the whole of Patong.

Yet, more bars were being built, more bar complexes, more condos, more roads and just about more of everything and with falling incomes, the people who run the place had to get their fill of greed from somewhere, so more construction, illegal buildings etc, you name it, as long as it ensured a stream of money into the pockets of those here and further up the line, then all would be well.

And so we come to now, where desperation has set in as stated by many posters being hassled by ping-pong touts, bar touts and aggressive bar girls and of course, many bars are struggling as are many businesses come to that and the empty bars and shops bear witness to this. This, IMO, has led to an underlying air of tension about the place and it's something which I am acutely aware of, but perhaps others aren't.

10 years ago, the main source of income was from the Brits, Europeans, Australians and a few other nationalities, however because of the GFC and the fall in tourist numbers, the tourist authorities here are touting for business amongst the Chinese.

The only problem being that the Chinese business folk are shrewd enough to ensure that only a small amount of the disposable income of these people actually gets spent here, so despite crowds of these new tourists who are supposedly going to save the day in Patong, they spend very little and certainly just about nowhere on Bangla will be seeing any benefit.

For all its faults Bangla is still the main nightlife centre of Patong and it has its good and bad days, and although the demographics have changed quite markedly and will continue to do so, perhaps it will just stumble on, and who knows it may well come back in fashion again given time, or will become a venue for the cheapies and bogans.

That being said, it would surprise you how many first-time visitors to Bangla are absolutely enthralled with the place and want to know how easy it is to buy a bar, so perhaps there are some fools waiting in line only to have their dreams dashed when they go bust.

Patong as a venue outside of Bangla now offers……not a lot at all. Poor planning and infrastructure, open drains, part finished and derelict condominiums, rip-offs from tuk tuks to taxis to timeshares, abysmal traffic management, flooding, an average beach with average quality seawater and of course the ever present corruption, just to name a few things.

If I were to apply the phrase "Patong is dead" I would probably apply it to Nanai Road these days because nothing seems to be going right for the business owners in this Soi, with desperation written all over the place – – rooms for 9000 baht per month, beers at 49 baht, happy hours from midday till 6 p.m. and longer, bars for sale, roller blind shops opening and closing within months, again and again, almost empty bars and unfinished buildings……..not a place which inspires confidence in this microcosm at least.

No matter which way you look at it, Patong is a mess, yet I can operate within this mess and seek to get out of it what I want, which suits me at the moment, but it may not suit many other people and it doesn't seem to be advertising itself as a drawcard for the big spending, rich and famous tourists, so perhaps the "experts" who held the recent property investment meeting need to take a good hard look at what they have done, which is nothing positive, but to seek to ruin the place through greed, lack of planning, mismanagement and plain stupidity.

[sebastion]

As other posters, (SooKee and recently Dub15) have said, Patong doesn't offer what it used to and I think that's one of the key points here, because it has changed and certainly not for the better, so I think there would be many people, me included who miss the "old Patong" and the old Bangla in particular. One where you had bar owners who were "characters" in their own right and who would often shout you a drink; where the bar girls were friendly and spoke some English and would not immediately demand a drink from you, but would often hope that they had earned one if they had spent time in your company and in trying to converse in one way or another.

You always knew the bars where you would have fun so you frequented them. There were even bars where you could go and sit and have a drink with the bar owner and not get pestered by the girls, and simply talk and look out on Bangla and watch the world go by; people watching by any other name.

Ping-pong touts were not as abundant as they are now and the whole place had a friendlier "carnival style atmosphere". It was a world within itself and it catered for just about everyone.

It was a party town and the tourists flocked in as did the money and in those days most bar owners were making good money and I remember thinking exactly that in the Christmas of 2006/2007 when Bangla was so crowded it actually seemed to move en masse rather than as individuals.

Indeed, one bar owner I know and I will use him as an example, because there were many more like him, had a bar in Soi Eric and in those days the key money (never could get used to that) was 2.4 million baht for three years, plus monthly rental. Well his bar was so successful that he would live off its earnings, pay for a house for the bar girls, pay his living expenses and his car and still bank between 1.5 and 2 million baht per annum which was surplus to requirements. Having said that he knew full well that he needed to have some funds put by when the next three-year lease (the money) became payable.

And so it was, and that's why many people flocked to open bars, because many of them were profitable.

It didn't matter that the local powers that be colluded to extract money from the party town via operating a tuk tuk and taxi Mafia, extracting monthly payments from all business owners and generally lining their own pockets, because there was plenty to go round and no one seemed to mind too much.

Soi Eric was packed as were Soi Crocodile, Soi Easy and the original Tiger complex and it looked to all intents and purposes that this would go on forever.

But something changed and Patong didn't………….

Although the GFC started in late 2007 it wasn't until about another year later that this had spread and was affecting the global economics, and still does to this day.

As an example, holidaymakers from the UK could get 68 baht for their pound, now it is about 44; the euro would buy you 55 baht, now it buys around 39; the Australian dollar would buy you 34 baht now it's around 24. And all of this made it a lot more expensive for the normal holidaymakers to come here, not to mention the fact that they had other pressing needs for their money, other than to spend it in a place like Patong.

The effects spread worldwide through 2009/10/11 and to this day, and if you were to chart the fall of the number of patrons frequenting the bars and like here you would see a remarkable similarity to the falling currency rates.

It was plain for many people to see and I will use my bar owner friend as an example again, because he was shrewd enough to know that business had fallen off so much (he used to measure it on a daily basis) that there was no future in owning a bar, so I helped him sell it. Other bars in Soi Eric were struggling and at one time where you could not get into a bar at the back of Soi Crocodile, there was now plenty of room with far fewer patrons and this was plain to see throughout the whole of Patong.

Yet, more bars were being built, more bar complexes, more condos, more roads and just about more of everything and with falling incomes, the people who run the place had to get their fill of greed from somewhere, so more construction, illegal buildings etc, you name it, as long as it ensured a stream of money into the pockets of those here and further up the line, then all would be well.

And so we come to now, where desperation has set in as stated by many posters being hassled by ping-pong touts, bar touts and aggressive bar girls and of course, many bars are struggling as are many businesses come to that and the empty bars and shops bear witness to this. This, IMO, has led to an underlying air of tension about the place and it's something which I am acutely aware of, but perhaps others aren't.

10 years ago, the main source of income was from the Brits, Europeans, Australians and a few other nationalities, however because of the GFC and the fall in tourist numbers, the tourist authorities here are touting for business amongst the Chinese.

The only problem being that the Chinese business folk are shrewd enough to ensure that only a small amount of the disposable income of these people actually gets spent here, so despite crowds of these new tourists who are supposedly going to save the day in Patong, they spend very little and certainly just about nowhere on Bangla will be seeing any benefit.

For all its faults Bangla is still the main nightlife centre of Patong and it has its good and bad days, and although the demographics have changed quite markedly and will continue to do so, perhaps it will just stumble on, and who knows it may well come back in fashion again given time, or will become a venue for the cheapies and bogans.

That being said, it would surprise you how many first-time visitors to Bangla are absolutely enthralled with the place and want to know how easy it is to buy a bar, so perhaps there are some fools waiting in line only to have their dreams dashed when they go bust.

Patong as a venue outside of Bangla now offers……not a lot at all. Poor planning and infrastructure, open drains, part finished and derelict condominiums, rip-offs from tuk tuks to taxis to timeshares, abysmal traffic management, flooding, an average beach with average quality seawater and of course the ever present corruption, just to name a few things.

If I were to apply the phrase "Patong is dead" I would probably apply it to Nanai Road these days because nothing seems to be going right for the business owners in this Soi, with desperation written all over the place – – rooms for 9000 baht per month, beers at 49 baht, happy hours from midday till 6 p.m. and longer, bars for sale, roller blind shops opening and closing within months, again and again, almost empty bars and unfinished buildings……..not a place which inspires confidence in this microcosm at least.

No matter which way you look at it, Patong is a mess, yet I can operate within this mess and seek to get out of it what I want, which suits me at the moment, but it may not suit many other people and it doesn't seem to be advertising itself as a drawcard for the big spending, rich and famous tourists, so perhaps the "experts" who held the recent property investment meeting need to take a good hard look at what they have done, which is nothing positive, but to seek to ruin the place through greed, lack of planning, mismanagement and plain stupidity.

Chinese mass tourism has killed the island. Buses clogging the roads and small businesses dying because they aren't free willed travellers. They are taken to Chinese owned businesses and much to my surprise the Chinese operators offer finance for their holiday purchases and they repay when they get back to China so nothing is done here financially.

Chinese will suck what's left out of the island .

[2fishin2]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

[LivinginKata]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

No surprise there. Already more hair shops on Nanai than the market can support.

[2fishin2]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

No surprise there. Already more hair shops on Nanai than the market can support.

Actually your premise is incorrect.

If there were too many, how do you explain why she has been so successful for over two years?

Are there too many hair shops....probably a few. If there were "too many" they would be closing down often which, is not the case at all.

My point is that this low season is different.

[LivinginKata]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

No surprise there. Already more hair shops on Nanai than the market can support.

Actually your premise is incorrect.

If there were too many, how do you explain why she has been so successful for over two years?

Are there too many hair shops....probably a few. If there were "too many" they would be closing down often which, is not the case at all.

My point is that this low season is different.

Suit yourself what you think. The point of the topic is Patong is dying. Just look about Nanai Road and see the businesses are dying. It's not about low season in my opinion.

I speak with many years of rental business experience in the Nanai area. Any business available has moved to the new road a few years ago. Our business is badly declining. Guests move out and there is almost no new enquiries. It's deader than dead.

Edited July 16, 2016 by LivinginKata

[xylophone]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

No surprise there. Already more hair shops on Nanai than the market can support.

Actually your premise is incorrect.

If there were too many, how do you explain why she has been so successful for over two years?

Are there too many hair shops....probably a few. If there were "too many" they would be closing down often which, is not the case at all.

My point is that this low season is different.

I mean no disrespect, so please don't take it the wrong way, however your gf is either a very lucky lady or has found a way to make some money in a business which is "overrepresented" here.

A lady friend I have known for many years has had a hair/beauty salon for a number of years now and over a year ago she had to dispense with her worker because she was making no money. She is not faring much better now. Another lady friend was helping her sister in her hair salon in Nanai and that closed down over 12 months ago.

The newly opened hair salon at the bottom of Soi Nanai 6 lasted less than two months and is now closed and I bumped into another lady whom I remembered from the Guitar bar a few years ago and she was running a hair salon just off Nanai and said that business was extremely bad.

If you think back, then the last three high seasons have not been that high and the three traditional low seasons have been extremely low, and they have been getting progressively worse, so if your gf has been making money up to now, she has done extremely well, however I think these low times are here to stay, unfortunately for many small businesses.

[2fishin2]

Ill let you know next month [emoji6] but this month is looking to be positive. Agree this low season IS low. Chinese tourists are not good for overall economy and make absolutely NO impact on hair shops.

[KarenBravo]

Does anyone know if the Thais that are affected by this lack of business are starting to ask the question why?

[2fishin2]

The Thais know and understand fully well what is going on with the Chinese and how it is negatively impacting the average Phuket small business. They dont like it either.

[steelepulse]

The Thais know and understand fully well what is going on with the Chinese and how it is negatively impacting the average Phuket small business. They dont like it either.

The snarling, unfriendly and thuggish attitudes of the locals sure aren't helping lure non Chinese customers back.

[DrDave]

My gf opened a hairshop on Nanai Mar 2014. Last month was the first month she made no money. She was able to pay rent, utilities and her staff but, had nothing left to pay herself. The Chinese tourist do nothing for common Phuket folk. Lets hope this isnt too much of a trend

No surprise there. Already more hair shops on Nanai than the market can support.

Actually your premise is incorrect.

If there were too many, how do you explain why she has been so successful for over two years?

Are there too many hair shops....probably a few. If there were "too many" they would be closing down often which, is not the case at all.

My point is that this low season is different.

I mean no disrespect, so please don't take it the wrong way, however your gf is either a very lucky lady or has found a way to make some money in a business which is "overrepresented" here.

A lady friend I have known for many years has had a hair/beauty salon for a number of years now and over a year ago she had to dispense with her worker because she was making no money. She is not faring much better now. Another lady friend was helping her sister in her hair salon in Nanai and that closed down over 12 months ago.

The newly opened hair salon at the bottom of Soi Nanai 6 lasted less than two months and is now closed and I bumped into another lady whom I remembered from the Guitar bar a few years ago and she was running a hair salon just off Nanai and said that business was extremely bad.

If you think back, then the last three high seasons have not been that high and the three traditional low seasons have been extremely low, and they have been getting progressively worse, so if your gf has been making money up to now, she has done extremely well, however I think these low times are here to stay, unfortunately for many small businesses.

I agree - the market has been saturated to the point no one can make any real money. The thing is, when the owners realize that there's no money to be made, the don't close the shop - they just sell it on to someone else and the cycle begins again. While living in the US, I saw this phenomenon over and over with the Vietnamese nail salons. It got to a point that there was a shop every couple of hundred yards or so, new ones kept opening and they were all dying. None ever closed, but instead they just changed ownership. There was always someone at the ready to realize their dream of business ownership thinking that somehow they'll make it work. In almost every case, they failed.

It's been interesting to watch the same pattern repeat itself here in Patong with bars, guesthouses, hair salons and I suspect we'll soon see Thai BBQ buffets fall in line with the same outcome.

Edited July 16, 2016 by DrDave

[2fishin2]

The Thais know and understand fully well what is going on with the Chinese and how it is negatively impacting the average Phuket small business. They dont like it either.

The snarling, unfriendly and thuggish attitudes of the locals sure aren't helping lure non Chinese customers back.

Since you quoted my response Ill respond to your nonsense post.

There are two groups of tourist in Phuket now, Chinese and everybody else.

"Locals" dont have the thuggish attitudes, thugs do.

Locals have great attitudes, that is until they meet cynical, better than everybody else people portraying your type of attitude. Are some of them jaded, yes of course because they are tired of people trying to rip them off for pennies and drunken people acting like idiots.

Sometimes I wonder if I live in another Thailand or country??

GF and I just went out last week had an awesome seafood BBQ, great attitudes and pleasant atmosphere all for the grand total of 450 baht....

[schlog]

The Thais know and understand fully well what is going on with the Chinese and how it is negatively impacting the average Phuket small business. They dont like it either.

The snarling, unfriendly and thuggish attitudes of the locals sure aren't helping lure non Chinese customers back.

Since you quoted my response Ill respond to your nonsense post.

There are two groups of tourist in Phuket now, Chinese and everybody else.

"Locals" dont have the thuggish attitudes, thugs do.

Locals have great attitudes, that is until they meet cynical, better than everybody else people portraying your type of attitude. Are some of them jaded, yes of course because they are tired of people trying to rip them off for pennies and drunken people acting like idiots.

Sometimes I wonder if I live in another Thailand or country??

GF and I just went out last week had an awesome seafood BBQ, great attitudes and pleasant atmosphere all for the grand total of 450 baht....

Where was this seafood BBQ? 450 p.p.?