Foreign owned business closings ... worse than ever?

[Testacall]

Wow I thought Jingthing opened an interesting thread on the difficulty of running a business in Thailand

Then up jumps j pack (dream on u have a 6 Pac ) and puts the whole thread down ...with I know a successful business man ...all others are mongers trying to survive..dear oh dear

In response to ur original post ...amazing how fast places come and go here

[ttthailand]

If you are going to start a business, let's say a restaurant, then you need to do something with a low food cost and a high profit, like Mexican food. Have you nitch and do the best you can at it. End of story .......

[robblok]

I could tell you the real secret reason robblok.............but then I would have to kill you................

At least it more creative as JT his reply, you made me laugh.

[Jingthing]

I could tell you the real secret reason robblok.............but then I would have to kill you................

At least it more creative as JT his reply, you made me laugh.

Give it a break, dude. Comment on the topic. Not your weird obsession to diss members by name.

To add, anyone that doesn't know the "stuff" I've alluded to, start talking to foreign small business owners about what that might be. Someone will likely talk to you, if you're not too OBNOXIOUS (admittedly doubtful in some cases), and explain it all to you in simple, EASY TO UNDERSTAND, words.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Jingthing

[robblok]

I could tell you the real secret reason robblok.............but then I would have to kill you................

At least it more creative as JT his reply, you made me laugh.

Give it a break, dude. Comment on the topic. Not your weird obsession to diss members by name.

How can I comment on the topic after you told everyone you cant discuss the real reasons here. You derailed your own topic.. well done. Others too have asked for some more proof from you but you stay as elusive as ever. My first post in the topic was 100% legit with questions.. what do you do.. i cant discuss it.. end of topic

Edited May 29, 2016 by robblok

[Jingthing]

I could tell you the real secret reason robblok.............but then I would have to kill you................

At least it more creative as JT his reply, you made me laugh.

Give it a break, dude. Comment on the topic. Not your weird obsession to diss members by name.

How can I comment on the topic after you told everyone you cant discuss the real reasons here. You derailed your own topic.. well done. Others too have asked for some more proof from you but you stay as elusive as ever.

Are you finished now? I explained how you can find out what I'm referring to and even a very simple minded abrasive type person who has no tolerance for indirect ALLUSIONS to things would understand why it can't be EXPLICITLY discussed here.

You realize this isn't the west, right?

Edited May 29, 2016 by Jingthing

[GuestHouse]

I drove past an area of bars in Pattaya on my way home from work and when going out of an evening for a period that was over 7 years, all but one was foreign owned and only the Thai owned bar ever had any cutomers.

The others remained open with staff but no customers.

Perhaps thei business was not selling beer. Perhaps tighter controls over money movements are having an effect on the Pattaya expat businesses.

[robblok]

At least it more creative as JT his reply, you made me laugh.

Give it a break, dude. Comment on the topic. Not your weird obsession to diss members by name.

How can I comment on the topic after you told everyone you cant discuss the real reasons here. You derailed your own topic.. well done. Others too have asked for some more proof from you but you stay as elusive as ever.

Are you finished now? I explained how you can find out what I'm referring to you and even a total moron would understand why it can't be EXPLICITLY discussed here.

You realize this isn't the west, right?

Then only a moron would post something that cant be discussed.. you do realize this is an open forum.

You also do realize that the purpose of a forum is discussing things. Posting something and saying you can't discuss it makes absolutely on sense.

Unless it involves the monarchy (and i doubt it) pretty much else can be discussed.

[Jingthing]

We can discuss some sensitive things in tangential ways, alluding to things without naming them.

This may be difficult for painfully literal people and/or non-native speakers.

This is NOT an open forum! It is NOT a 100 percent free speech forum. You can't say anything here without consequences. For example you can't even name a restaurant that has rats even when it has rats, and you've got pictures of the rats!

No this has nothing to do with royalty, so don't go there.

Next ...

Edited May 29, 2016 by Jingthing

[robblok]

We can discuss some sensitive things in tangential ways, alluding to things without naming them.

This may be difficult for painfully literal people and/or non-native speakers.

This is NOT an open forum! It is NOT a 100 percent free speech forum. You can't say anything here without consequences. For example you can't even name a restaurant that has rats even when it has rats, and you've got pictures of the rats!

No this has nothing to do with royalty, so don't go there.

Next ...

Open forum as in public forum as in everyone can see what you are posting !!! So posting sensitive stuff there is not a smart thing to do.

If you have pics of a restaurant with rats you can make it a lot more clearer where it is and stil hiding it then what your doing in this topic.

My take on it and a few other members take on it reading the replies is that you don't have anything to back your stuff up so you go for the secret route. I stick with that scenario unless proven otherwise.

[lovelomsak]

I remember the first time I came to Pattaya. There was nothing beyond 2nd road.as far as tourist development. And every one was concerned the boom was over.Condo's and Townhouses were discounted to 150,000 baht to sell them.Many felt it was over. It seems to go in cycles.This was 30 years ago and look now developed all over the place.So who knows,maybe just an adjustment.But is interesting.

[colinneil]

Jingthing/robblok

Cold shower time, chill out, calm down, you are both old enough to know better, play nice.

[Jingthing]

Jingthing/robblok

Cold shower time, chill out, calm down, you are both old enough to know better, play nice.

Indeed. There is no love lost.

[namatjira]

Sometimes the person you argue with becomes your best friend......

[A1Str8]

Contrary to popular belief, its not about the nationality of the owner. Nobody cares, where you were born, as long as you pay, when its due or needed.
Business can get slow at times, yes but it doesnt do so out of hatred, because you are a foreigner.

[Bender]

the backbone of pattaya was girl. And i mean young, fresh, slim, easy sexy girl. Tourists would come for party and fun,spend as much as they can and come back again 6 months later. That was several years ago.

Today these girl are 50 yo, 180 pounds and 4 feet tall. You can understand the usual repeated tourists are not anymore attracted to this town. You seriously think, that a dirty beach, an ugly town, very unfriendly locals will attract people to crime city?

Edited May 29, 2016 by Bender

[Chivas]

I cant put my finger on the exact reason but there is a dangerous feel in the air lately (last couple years) in Pattaya. Perhaps "menace" a better word. Most seem to be aware that the army are taking a bigger interest within City Hall from a couple weeks time and I really expect them to come down heavily on foreign owned bars especially in one well known location and probably others

I suspect it may well be savage, time will tell but the repeated open offerings that some offer up on Facebook on a daily basis telling all and sundry makes me wonder if the owners are indeed brain dead !!

Edited May 29, 2016 by Chivas

[Bender]

And its not only foreign business who suffer. In another thread about the new shopping center , the Harbor mall. We have multiple witness and pictures that show several floor completely deserted....

My feeling is the goose is cooked.

[bamukloy]

I think the reason is obvious.

Its a bit like all the overstayers who came out of the woodwork to clear their overstays, before the stiff penaly deadlines kicked in.

[johnatong]

Business fail because

1, No "due diligence" was undertaken.

2 No business plan was set out .

3. The fool "bar owner" could not calculate the number of bottles of beer needed to be sold, every week, to cover the outgoings before any profit could made .

There is always another one willing to step into the fools shoes.

[Scotwight]

Soi LK Metro always popular with Brits and many Falang owned businesses. I agree with the poster below who says

Without actually counting there must be around a dozen agogos in the soi that vary in quality but with the majority continually proving popular.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/920983-the-changing-face-of-pattayas-lk-metro-by-the-pattaya-sleuth/

I believe you have to take the opinions of JT with a grain of salt because he didn't make it in Thailand and has to go home if his other posts are any indication. A better source would be the Inspire group who actually works in Thailand.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Certainly right Jingthing. Friend, who supplies mostly foreign run restaurants & pubs etc. in BKK area tells me more than 40% of his clients have shut down last 18 months and he expects worse to come. Just check out the hundreds & hundreds of shop-houses along main roads closed down in Pattaya. Seems that many of the businesses in prime area like Bouakao keep rotating owners. Plenty of suckers around... Guess, only few really make a living, but might be wrong. Glad I never got sucked into starting something here, must be very! difficult. MS>

Just exactly where are these "hundreds and hundreds [which is at least two hundred]" empty shophouses along the main roads in Pattaya? I only see a few here and there along all the major streets, which is nothing more than normal retail churn. North, Central, South, Beach, Second, Sukhumvit, Thepressit, Naklua, Bua Khow all full. Even over here on the Darkside, Kao Talo, Khow Noi, and SSCC are just about all available shops are full up. The only places that have vacancies are all the new places that have been build recently...and you can't really blame their vancancies on a faltering Pattaya market now can you.

[OMGImInPattaya]

In recent years I have been amazed how many business rely ONLY on foreigners as customers. From Italian/French restaurants, premium coffee shops, Irish pubs, new fancy clubs, certain shopping centers, hotels and many many more.

I am sure they have done very well with tourist numbers more than doubling the last 10 years, but it is a risky strategy and with social networking the bad ones don't stay around for long.

Yes, I don't think English pub food has quite caught on with the Thais!!

I go to different restaraunts nearly every day, very rarely do I see Thais eating there, unless a falang is paying for it.

More visitors to Thailand, but spending less money.

Tough times ahead for the Thai economy.

Makes the tourism is vital to the Thai economy error...it makes up only 10% of GNP...and how is MORE visitors spending less a net loss? If it was less visitors spending the same or less i could see it.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Wow I thought Jingthing opened an interesting thread on the difficulty of running a business in Thailand)

This topic has been beaten to death in dozens (if not hundreds) of threads. It seems pretty pointless to me for someone to post another one...and apparently that wasn't even the jist of the op in any case. It was doublely pointless to post on a subject and then say the topic can't be discussed because it's against Forum rules ???

The thread itself should be closed.

[BlindMagician]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough.

The complaints I have heard is that as far as the powers that be are concerned, Chinese foreigners are in a higher class than all other foreign owners.

They feel Chinese were being spared certain things that they weren't.

I can't verify any of that, but have heard it more than once. It could just be sour grapes.

If there is preferential treatment, it's not a class thing. Thailand is costing up more to China than the west, so maybe a few favours thrown in.

[blazes]

The future for business in Thailand speaks Chinese

one Chinese person who was formerly the Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley isn't so optimistic

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1919092/dont-listen-ruling-elite-world-economy-real-trouble

This is an excellent article and should be required reading for anyone reading this thread (to mention only the expat few!).

See also the work of Jim Rickards.

[SantiSuk]

The government of today dont want westerners making money here, I wish western governments would reciprocate the juntas approach to Thais in western countries and that goes for land ownership and residency.

So the proposition here is that because Thailand has a down on westerners and does not want them to bring their investment/spending money here that western governments should close things down and not let Asians bring their investment/spending to western countries.

Seriously?

Symptomatic of current international politics and public opinion. The world is going mad. Desperately in need of high quality thoughtful leadership not sound-bite reality TV generation no-marks.

[ggt]

It is not just Thailand...nor just farang businesses...the entire world...generally speaking, has been in a slump for some time now...small businesses are failing everywhere...the US has many more closings than new startup businesses monthly...

That is the bad news...the really bad news is that all the different tricks the Big Banks have used to try and jump start a country's economy have failed...gobs of money introduced have only inflated the stock markets with false hope...interest rates a near zero, zero, and some in negative territory have helped keep the sinking ship afloat...at least for appearance...as most countries are actually bankrupt with a mountain of unserviceable debt...

I am afraid a day of reckoning is fast approaching...(commonly known as when the dung hits the fan) the world will likely be in a severe depression...paper money near worthless...financial, banking systems temporarily shutdown...and many governments will cease to function until a world reset of unpayable debt is ironed out...history has no equal to the world's current dilemma...

The issue with businesses closings in Thailand...is just a small piece of the much bigger picture...

Edited May 30, 2016 by ggt

[puukao]

it is the worst i have seen......and tomorrow will be worse...

it will keep getting worse for the next 98 years, 11 days and 5 hours, then it will get better for 3 days

then worse again!!!!!

isn't it more fun when things fail??? i just walked by a shop and flashed 1000 baht.....bye bye.....

the apocalypse is coming!!! i have predicted it 3,325 times but now it's really coming!!!!

what, home prices in USA up big time?? oh, this will make a greater apocalypse!!!!

oh, you just made big money??? your money will soon be worthless....

since i am doomed, we are all doomed!!!!!!

Edited May 30, 2016 by puukao

[bamukloy]

Sometimes you drive from walking street area to the direction of Jomtiem and notice door to door businesses with not 1 customer in them.
There are just to many of them full stop.
Even if the place was full there would not be enough business to go around.

As for favouring Chinese: well it might be because they know the patronage system and understand it and have budgeted accordingly?

whereas these arrogant farangs think they are the big man for telling the immigration officers the rules or telling some official to F-off.

then they wonder why their (illegal) business gets raided.5555

Anyway, really nothing to winge about now.


then there will be some sooky la la crying goin on.
555

Edited May 30, 2016 by Rimmer
Off topic removed