A friend told me there is a hardware store about 4 times bigger than any in Chiang Mai, about 6 kilometres out of the city.

Anyone know the name of the place or have any more location details?

If they are talking about the place south of the city on Route 11, then they are referring to Thai Watsuda. Yes, it's pretty big, on the East side of the rode while heading South.

It is probably Boonthavorn which is on the left as you drive towards Lamphun. I have never seen a place that has so much wasted space and so little merchandise. I cannot see how it can survive as there is nothing there to make it worth a visit.

http://www.thaiwatsadu.com/intro/index.html

It is probably Boonthavorn which is on the left as you drive towards Lamphun. I have never seen a place that has so much wasted space and so little merchandise. I cannot see how it can survive as there is nothing there to make it worth a visit.

Agreed, such a lavish complex and prices a lot higher than Sukkapan. Thai Watsadu is further south with retail stocks same as Baan&Beyond plus builders supplies more like Global House.

Most likely Thai Watsuda as was previously stated... And if the OP is unfamiliar there is also Global House south of the city...

I believe that Baan and Beyond is owned by Thai Watsadu.

Thai whatsuda. Everytime i have gone there, left disappointed.

More staff than customers. Staff clueless about products. Their only purpose is to tell "mai mee" when you show them a peice of plumbing, which you then find an entire isle full of 2 minutes later.

Thai whatsuda. Everytime i have gone there, left disappointed.

More staff than customers. Staff clueless about products. Their only purpose is to tell "mai mee" when you show them a peice of plumbing, which you then find an entire isle full of 2 minutes later.

ROFL. Yes, I always ask 3 employees anywhere I go before I take 'mai mee' for an answer.

Both Thai Watsadu and Baan & Beyond are part of the Central Group, along with a huge portfolio of other retail stores. TW is clearly targeted at a lower sector of the market than B&B and while it's good for some building supplies it's weak on others. HomePro, Global House, TW and Home Sukapan all have their strengths and if you're building or DIYing it's worth an in depth recce of each.

   DoHome about 10km south of the city has become my favourite big store ,left hand side of the highway going south . It's about 5km past Saraphi turn .

Global House has just woken up to the Baan & Beyond threat (as they see it) and gone into housewares in a big way.  The entire store has been refitted and reorganised over the last four or five months and if you haven't been recently you can spend ages looking for stuff you previously knew the location of.  The staff at GH are much more helpful and better trained than Thai Watsadu as well.

18 hours ago, carver 2 said:

   DoHome about 10km south of the city has become my favourite big store ,left hand side of the highway going south . It's about 5km past Saraphi turn .

 

Agree great venue, enormous range, friendly, focused and helpful staff, now my favorite.

 

I always try to take a couple of smartphone photos of what I'm looking for, perhaps photo of an item we already have at home or from another shop or google for a photo of what you want, even photo of the item on Lazada. Helps a lot. 

 

 

On 4/11/2015 at 5:03 PM, STUDMEYER said:

Thai whatsuda. Everytime i have gone there, left disappointed.

More staff than customers. Staff clueless about products. Their only purpose is to tell "mai mee" when you show them a peice of plumbing, which you then find an entire isle full of 2 minutes later.

Then take the item back to the staff and ask them nee mai chai ?? 

If going to the diy stores you have to learn to focus on what you want and try to compare all products yourself.

If you get an approach just ignore, pretend you are deaf of put earphones in.

They are great at asking inside or outside, daylight or warm white or focussing on a product they want to sell not the one you are holding.

To ask them a question is futile, as they send smoke signals to find tbe one person in store that can speak English.

You are far better and quicker asking your question here, getting the advice on what to buy and where from and going to get it.

 

Sadly the Global makeover is just papering over the cracks and they have lost many building lines at the expense of kitchen appliances and homeware.

I actually saw 5 staff at TW last week that worked in Global paint and electrical sections that have now been cut back to nothing.

 

However GH is very often a good 10% cheaper than Home Pro And TW.

TW in its defence carries the best range of stock,materials,tools, and its well worth a browse.

I'm a regular at Thai Watsadu, like the store and am willing to search for items that I sknow they have or have had in the past. The only problem I have is their return desk, takes an absolute age and then a supervisor has to sign off.