Malls add to retail space

[webfact]

MALL INVESTMENT
Malls add to retail space
Pichaya Changsorn
The Nation


Manamgent of the 10 members of the Thai Shopping Centre Association will spend Bt103 billion to grow their shopping-mall space from 12 million square metres this year to 14 million square metres by 2017.

BANGKOK: -- Shopping-mall developers are spending Bt150 billion from this year to 2017 to expand their retail space from 18 million square metres to 21 million square metres in three years.

Some of the 10 members of the Thai Shopping Centre Association will spend Bt103 billion to grow their shopping-mall space from 12 million square metres this year to 14 million square metres by 2017, chairwoman Wallaya Chirathivat said yesterday.

Among the mega retail development projects are EmQuartier by The Mall Group on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok and CentraPlaza Westgate in Nonthaburi. Both were opened this year. Another is the IconSiam project being developed by Siam Piwat and Charoen Pokphand Group.

Slated to be opened by the end of this year are CentralFestival EastVille and Crystal Park's Phase 3, both on Praditmanutham Road, and Zpell@Future Park by Rangsit Plaza in Rangsit.

In major cities outside Bangkok, Central Group is developing a Central shopping mall in Phuket, while The Mall Group has its Blu Pearl project there.

Battered by slowdown

In Nakhon Ratchasima, Central, The Mall and Siam Retail Development are building new shopping plazas or expanding existing ones.

Kaveepan Eiamsakulrat, managing director of KE Retail, the developer of Crystal shopping malls, said that after spending about Bt3 billion for Phase 3 this year, the group would invest heavily again in 2017 on an over Bt3-billion project that will include office buildings and showrooms for home decor and furniture.

He said shopping plazas in the central areas of Bangkok and in the provinces have been battered by the economic slowdown and decline in tourist spending, while those in suburban areas are less affected.

The TSCA's Wallaya said revenues of shopping malls were growing by about 5-10 per cent so far this year, despite a significant increase in their retail space.

"To reach the 10-per-cent growth target for this year, many of them will have to work very hard," she said.

The TSCA is to meet with the Tourism Authority of Thailand soon to discuss plans to help stimulate spending by foreign tourists in the country, including a possible joint campaign with TAT.

Shopping-mall developers would like the government gradually to reduce import duties on luxury goods such as perfume, cosmetics and other brand-name products, making them on par with Singapore and Hong Kong. This would help establish Thailand as a regional shopping destination for tourists, especially the "nouveau riche" from countries that levy high taxes such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Russia.

Lure new anchors

Chanchai Phansopha, managing director of Platinum Group, whose Platinum Fashion Mall is near the Erawan Shrine, where a deadly bomb exploded on August 17, said tourist arrivals at his shopping mall had almost returned to previous numbers. By the end of this year they should exceed the target that the company had set. Jittinan Wanglee, executive vice president of Rangsit Plaza, the operator of Future Park, said that after successfully attracting a 15-bed hospital run by Paolo at Future Park, the group wanted to lure new anchors to set up branches in the area, such as hotels and residential projects.

The group has 200 rai (32 hectares) of land next to Future Park that can be used for future development.

The company expects its Zpell@Future Park, due to open in November, to help better serve the "A list" of customers, since many new higher-end shops and restaurants will be opened in the new zone.

Future Park has been fully occupied and serving quite a wide range of customers, Jittinan said.

Future Park earns income mainly from renting out retail space, so it does not have first-hand knowledge of sales and the purchasing power of its tenants' customers.

"Nevertheless, Robinson, which just reopened after renovating, said it was satisfied with its sales in the first month," she said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Malls-add-to-retail-space-30269801.html

-- The Nation 2015-09-30

[Thian]

Yes more malls! I like malls because they show the retailprice while marketvendors always hide it.

But malls take much time to go into, why not make a better faster parkinggarage and one next to the entrance for motocy customers?

[jaywalker]

This must be part of Prayut's "sustainable growth" plans.

Build, build, build........

[taony]

Good. More places with stupid names.

[clockman]

Some where for poor people to go when it is hot outside!

[clockman]

Tourists from asia, are not going to buy luxury goods here. The totally corrupt custom department ensures this!

Edited September 30, 2015 by clockman

[Thian]

Tourists from asia, are not going to buy luxury goods here. The totally corrupt custom department ensures this!

Have you ever noticed the qeueu's infront of the Chanel shop in Paragon? Why would there be qeueu's anyway? Because it's even more expensive in Singapore/Hongkong in the same shop.

[elgordo38]

Must be the same principle that applies to items that do not sell put the price up and they will come or is it build it and they will come confused?

[Thian]

Must be the same principle that applies to items that do not sell put the price up and they will come or is it build it and they will come confused?

Since all BKK-girls have a LV purse the real rich need to beat that of course. Chanel purses cost a lot more and they only let 1-2 customers in their shop at the same time. The rest have to be in the qeueu outside. Everything in that shop costs 1-2-5000 us$ to give you an idea.

[Praematura]

Mall retail space does jack shit for the economy, why not do some infrastructure projects. Last thing this country needs is more mall space in bangkok..

[fred Kubasa]

More and more US malls are becoming vacant or converted to other uses and

the buying shifting slowly but surely to the Internet, ( only about 5 to

7 % now but making steady invasion and Thai malls etting bigger ? I suspect that in 5 years, or so, a number of these will be merely parking lots !