another one bites the dust, no more Sizzler @ KSK ?

[Oscar2]

my opinion:

KSK - very good mall for shopping. good selection of goods. not expensive. lots of shoppers. now that Sizzler is gone, it lacks a decent restaurant. food court is still one of the better ones in terms of quality. although little variety now.

Airport Central Plaza - good shopping, good restaurants, prices not too bad. parking is terrible. lots of shoppers.

MAYA - too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese tourists. some good restaurants. parking hit or miss. GREAT cinema; never crowded. rooftop very nice.

Promenada - very beautiful, peaceful grounds. really the only 3 businesses worth a mention are Chi Chang which is excellent, the Dukes, and Rimping. Southern Thai food restaurant very good. GREAT cinema; never crowded. weekend outdoor evenings are a great place to take the Thai family - never a disappointment. cocktail prices are not too bad.

Festival - terrible place IMO. too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese and Japanese and other Asian tourists. very few shoppers; many "window shoppers" , people looking cool, taking "selfies". reminds me of somewhere in Bangkok. way over-priced. restaurants terrible for the most part. parking very easy and convenient. cinema is nice but does not offer the discounts that MAYA and Promenada do, cost us double to see a film there. electric co. easy to make payments, same at True, etc, P.O. easy, good paper shop (Office Mate) in basement. Festival supermarket in basement was good when first opened. has gone downhill.

a far as malls go, we do 70% actual shopping at KSK, 15% at Airport and 15% Promenada. we've never spent more than the cost of a meal, visited the P.O. or paid a bill at Festival. even the same items at Central can be purchased for less money at KSK.

[Duvidl]

With "M-GEN" Card at Central Festival most movies cost me 120-170baht. 100baht on Weds. IMAX 3-D a little more.

[Oscar2]

With "M-GEN" Card at Central Festival most movies cost me 120-170baht. 100baht on Weds. IMAX 3-D a little more.

with card SFX or whatever it is called (Prom and MAYA), 80-99 Baht for me with discount card, 80-99 Baht for wife with her K-Bank. Festival was 360 for 2 of us.

[JaseTheBass]

I just wish malls here had some good restaurants. The best I've been to is Wine Connection which unlike Dukes has to follow the daft licencing laws.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

[Mark123456]

my opinion:

KSK - very good mall for shopping. good selection of goods. not expensive. lots of shoppers. now that Sizzler is gone, it lacks a decent restaurant. food court is still one of the better ones in terms of quality. although little variety now.

Airport Central Plaza - good shopping, good restaurants, prices not too bad. parking is terrible. lots of shoppers.

MAYA - too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese tourists. some good restaurants. parking hit or miss. GREAT cinema; never crowded. rooftop very nice.

Promenada - very beautiful, peaceful grounds. really the only 3 businesses worth a mention are Chi Chang which is excellent, the Dukes, and Rimping. Southern Thai food restaurant very good. GREAT cinema; never crowded. weekend outdoor evenings are a great place to take the Thai family - never a disappointment. cocktail prices are not too bad.

Festival - terrible place IMO. too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese and Japanese and other Asian tourists. very few shoppers; many "window shoppers" , people looking cool, taking "selfies". reminds me of somewhere in Bangkok. way over-priced. restaurants terrible for the most part. parking very easy and convenient. cinema is nice but does not offer the discounts that MAYA and Promenada do, cost us double to see a film there. electric co. easy to make payments, same at True, etc, P.O. easy, good paper shop (Office Mate) in basement. Festival supermarket in basement was good when first opened. has gone downhill.

a far as malls go, we do 70% actual shopping at KSK, 15% at Airport and 15% Promenada. we've never spent more than the cost of a meal, visited the P.O. or paid a bill at Festival. even the same items at Central can be purchased for less money at KSK.

In what way has the food hall at Central Festival gone downhill? I haven't noticed.

[Mark123456]

I just wish malls here had some good restaurants. The best I've been to is Wine Connection which unlike Dukes has to follow the daft licencing laws.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

That's because it's a shop with a restaurant inside it.

[JaseTheBass]

I just wish malls here had some good restaurants. The best I've been to is Wine Connection which unlike Dukes has to follow the daft licencing laws.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

That's because it's a shop with a restaurant inside it.

Flippin' annoying it was when I used to live near Promenada, as it was pretty much the only place I liked to eat at.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

[kaptainrob]

I just wish malls here had some good restaurants. The best I've been to is Wine Connection which unlike Dukes has to follow the daft licencing laws.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

Wine Connection seems to have lost it's gloss; stretched too thin in CM perhaps? We used to enjoy an evening meal or lunch special but were sadly disappointed at 3 venues, Kad Farang, Prom and Central... Our homemade pizza's pizz all over the WC 159bt lunch special.

Dukes (Prom) is consistent and Kad Farang has many good eateries now.

[JaseTheBass]

I just wish malls here had some good restaurants. The best I've been to is Wine Connection which unlike Dukes has to follow the daft licencing laws.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

Wine Connection seems to have lost it's gloss; stretched too thin in CM perhaps? We used to enjoy an evening meal or lunch special but were sadly disappointed at 3 venues, Kad Farang, Prom and Central... Our homemade pizza's pizz all over the WC 159bt lunch special.

Dukes (Prom) is consistent and Kad Farang has many good eateries now.

I'm in Nimman now so spend too much time and money at Why Not?

Never been a fan of Dukes. Their sauces taste like plastic mass-produced stuff to me, unfortunately.

[MickeyMaow]

KSK is my favourite shopping centre here but it has been dying a slow death for some time now, it's inevitable that it's to close down.

[Oscar2]

my opinion:

KSK - very good mall for shopping. good selection of goods. not expensive. lots of shoppers. now that Sizzler is gone, it lacks a decent restaurant. food court is still one of the better ones in terms of quality. although little variety now.

Airport Central Plaza - good shopping, good restaurants, prices not too bad. parking is terrible. lots of shoppers.

MAYA - too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese tourists. some good restaurants. parking hit or miss. GREAT cinema; never crowded. rooftop very nice.

Promenada - very beautiful, peaceful grounds. really the only 3 businesses worth a mention are Chi Chang which is excellent, the Dukes, and Rimping. Southern Thai food restaurant very good. GREAT cinema; never crowded. weekend outdoor evenings are a great place to take the Thai family - never a disappointment. cocktail prices are not too bad.

Festival - terrible place IMO. too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese and Japanese and other Asian tourists. very few shoppers; many "window shoppers" , people looking cool, taking "selfies". reminds me of somewhere in Bangkok. way over-priced. restaurants terrible for the most part. parking very easy and convenient. cinema is nice but does not offer the discounts that MAYA and Promenada do, cost us double to see a film there. electric co. easy to make payments, same at True, etc, P.O. easy, good paper shop (Office Mate) in basement. Festival supermarket in basement was good when first opened. has gone downhill.

a far as malls go, we do 70% actual shopping at KSK, 15% at Airport and 15% Promenada. we've never spent more than the cost of a meal, visited the P.O. or paid a bill at Festival. even the same items at Central can be purchased for less money at KSK.

In what way has the food hall at Central Festival gone downhill? I haven't noticed.

when they first opened they had a huge selection of fresh deli meats and superb selection of cheeses. they also had some great bakery items and there was a falang overseeing the bakery. they had promos almost every day on the meats and cheeses. now they have mainly prepackaged deli meats and cheeses. when we asked what happened they told us "not enough interest, couldn't sell, many items had to be tossed". the bakery still has some O.K. bread but the pastries are all the typical Thai pork and bean buns....etc. same stuff as everywhere. falang is no longer there.

[Oscar2]

KSK is my favourite shopping centre here but it has been dying a slow death for some time now, it's inevitable that it's to close down.

it's mine too but yes many shops have been closing recently. still lots of traffic and many people shopping but things have changed/are changing...

[namatjira]

One problem also is that kad suan kaew is clearly in the development plan now in place,

It's red zone....which implies all buildings have a height limit....nothing higher than 12 meters,

Which is either 3 generous stories or 4 stretched down.

I am pretty sure it is non negotiable this red zone building restriction....

Also there is a limit on the " footprint ". So much free space has to be maintained

Given the cost of demolition and the building laws a knock down and rebuild will not happen

Edited July 20, 2016 by namatjira

[junglechef]

my opinion:

KSK - very good mall for shopping. good selection of goods. not expensive. lots of shoppers. now that Sizzler is gone, it lacks a decent restaurant. food court is still one of the better ones in terms of quality. although little variety now.

Airport Central Plaza - good shopping, good restaurants, prices not too bad. parking is terrible. lots of shoppers.

MAYA - too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese tourists. some good restaurants. parking hit or miss. GREAT cinema; never crowded. rooftop very nice.

Promenada - very beautiful, peaceful grounds. really the only 3 businesses worth a mention are Chi Chang which is excellent, the Dukes, and Rimping. Southern Thai food restaurant very good. GREAT cinema; never crowded. weekend outdoor evenings are a great place to take the Thai family - never a disappointment. cocktail prices are not too bad.

Festival - terrible place IMO. too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese and Japanese and other Asian tourists. very few shoppers; many "window shoppers" , people looking cool, taking "selfies". reminds me of somewhere in Bangkok. way over-priced. restaurants terrible for the most part. parking very easy and convenient. cinema is nice but does not offer the discounts that MAYA and Promenada do, cost us double to see a film there. electric co. easy to make payments, same at True, etc, P.O. easy, good paper shop (Office Mate) in basement. Festival supermarket in basement was good when first opened. has gone downhill.

a far as malls go, we do 70% actual shopping at KSK, 15% at Airport and 15% Promenada. we've never spent more than the cost of a meal, visited the P.O. or paid a bill at Festival. even the same items at Central can be purchased for less money at KSK.

In what way has the food hall at Central Festival gone downhill? I haven't noticed.

when they first opened they had a huge selection of fresh deli meats and superb selection of cheeses. they also had some great bakery items and there was a falang overseeing the bakery. they had promos almost every day on the meats and cheeses. now they have mainly prepackaged deli meats and cheeses. when we asked what happened they told us "not enough interest, couldn't sell, many items had to be tossed". the bakery still has some O.K. bread but the pastries are all the typical Thai pork and bean buns....etc. same stuff as everywhere. falang is no longer there.

I believe some of it was due to mismanagement. I asked the GM for Mexican food products and she didn't even know what Mexico was nor knew what products her store sold.

I liked the that the deli offered sandwiches but they didn't know how to make one even after it took 5 min to get bread from across the aisle.

Store is hard to shop in, if looking for a certain brand of mustard one need to look in the half dozen places they display it, often which have many of the same ones in different locations within the store.

Not an enjoyable shopping experience.

[Trujillo]

Rumor mill here....

Before any more speculation on refurbishing or demolishing the mall, understand the benign fact.

A reliable source inside the mall informs me that although the Sizzler there appeared to do a decent business, the corporation decided, when the lease came up, that it did not make good enough business sense to remain.

I don't know for sure, since I was not privy to the details, but like many landlords in Thailand, they may have decided to raise the rent. It's pretty common for a landlord here to see a lessor doing good business and thinking, "Then they can afford to pay more in rent."

Anyway, no conspiracy here -- Sizzler just decided renewing in that location was not worth doing. Period.

[Oscar2]

my opinion:

KSK - very good mall for shopping. good selection of goods. not expensive. lots of shoppers. now that Sizzler is gone, it lacks a decent restaurant. food court is still one of the better ones in terms of quality. although little variety now.

Airport Central Plaza - good shopping, good restaurants, prices not too bad. parking is terrible. lots of shoppers.

MAYA - too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese tourists. some good restaurants. parking hit or miss. GREAT cinema; never crowded. rooftop very nice.

Promenada - very beautiful, peaceful grounds. really the only 3 businesses worth a mention are Chi Chang which is excellent, the Dukes, and Rimping. Southern Thai food restaurant very good. GREAT cinema; never crowded. weekend outdoor evenings are a great place to take the Thai family - never a disappointment. cocktail prices are not too bad.

Festival - terrible place IMO. too many useless shops of Chinese-made goods with European names [and prices]. good for Chinese and Japanese and other Asian tourists. very few shoppers; many "window shoppers" , people looking cool, taking "selfies". reminds me of somewhere in Bangkok. way over-priced. restaurants terrible for the most part. parking very easy and convenient. cinema is nice but does not offer the discounts that MAYA and Promenada do, cost us double to see a film there. electric co. easy to make payments, same at True, etc, P.O. easy, good paper shop (Office Mate) in basement. Festival supermarket in basement was good when first opened. has gone downhill.

a far as malls go, we do 70% actual shopping at KSK, 15% at Airport and 15% Promenada. we've never spent more than the cost of a meal, visited the P.O. or paid a bill at Festival. even the same items at Central can be purchased for less money at KSK.

In what way has the food hall at Central Festival gone downhill? I haven't noticed.

when they first opened they had a huge selection of fresh deli meats and superb selection of cheeses. they also had some great bakery items and there was a falang overseeing the bakery. they had promos almost every day on the meats and cheeses. now they have mainly prepackaged deli meats and cheeses. when we asked what happened they told us "not enough interest, couldn't sell, many items had to be tossed". the bakery still has some O.K. bread but the pastries are all the typical Thai pork and bean buns....etc. same stuff as everywhere. falang is no longer there.

I believe some of it was due to mismanagement. I asked the GM for Mexican food products and she didn't even know what Mexico was nor knew what products her store sold.

I liked the that the deli offered sandwiches but they didn't know how to make one even after it took 5 min to get bread from across the aisle.

Store is hard to shop in, if looking for a certain brand of mustard one need to look in the half dozen places they display it, often which have many of the same ones in different locations within the store.

Not an enjoyable shopping experience.

agree. products are scattered all over the store. i took a peek at the sandwiches and passed. the idea was good at first - on par with Bangkok, but there is not the demand here like there is in Bangkok so after time the whole idea fizzled out. now it is no different that Tops, only more expensive.

[Mark123456]

Thanks for your reply re. what has gone downhill, I never really used the deli counter or bakery section so I hadn't noticed. I do agree they have a habit of scattering products all over the place but often this is because of a promo. and the products in question do seem to have a 'home base' as such, where I can normally find them. I find the prices more competitive than Rim Ping, for sealed produce (jars, tins etcetera) but they seem to share the same strange attitude toward stocking, i.e. they won't order anything until it has actually disappeared from the shelves.

[junglechef]

Not strange just don't know how to do thier job. Par stock is not a novel idea, how about removing the rotten produce, do they really think someone is going to buy it or that it's presentable? I once asked for something, they said they'd go check. After 1/2 hr I had someone go in back and look for the person was assisting me. Said they were out so they were ordering for me and expected me to wait while they did. TIT and all but they are charging premium prices for what?

[Oscar2]

Not strange just don't know how to do thier job. Par stock is not a novel idea, how about removing the rotten produce, do they really think someone is going to buy it or that it's presentable? I once asked for something, they said they'd go check. After 1/2 hr I had someone go in back and look for the person was assisting me. Said they were out so they were ordering for me and expected me to wait while they did. TIT and all but they are charging premium prices for what?

right. had the original idea for the store worked it would have been one thing, but it failed and it's just another supermarket like many others but charging premium prices.

[Mark123456]

Not strange just don't know how to do thier job. Par stock is not a novel idea, how about removing the rotten produce, do they really think someone is going to buy it or that it's presentable? I once asked for something, they said they'd go check. After 1/2 hr I had someone go in back and look for the person was assisting me. Said they were out so they were ordering for me and expected me to wait while they did. TIT and all but they are charging premium prices for what?

Well, I still find it strange....not to mention very annoying! When I've mentioned Rim Pings pathetic stock control in the past, others have rushed to their defence and pointed out they may have problems importing certain products. That's all well and good but they run out of organic eggs, bread, and Aura water on a regular basis too, all of which are produced in Thailand and we know where Aura water comes from so there's no excuse for that. Much of the imported stuff they manage to run out of has a shelf life in years and not months, so there's really no credible excuse on that front either. I think they simply buy whatever is going cheap; I can't think of any other reason their brand of margarine changes so regularly. For a couple of months it will be Bertolli and nothing else, then it will be Olivio, and currently it's Flora.

You're right about rotten produce as well. I've seen fruit in Central Festival that's bruised and too soft to buy, along with eggs that have passed their sell by date still on the shelves. Nobody seems to have a clue how to run a supermarket in Thailand.

[kalbo123]

Not strange just don't know how to do thier job. Par stock is not a novel idea, how about removing the rotten produce, do they really think someone is going to buy it or that it's presentable? I once asked for something, they said they'd go check. After 1/2 hr I had someone go in back and look for the person was assisting me. Said they were out so they were ordering for me and expected me to wait while they did. TIT and all but they are charging premium prices for what?

Well, I still find it strange....not to mention very annoying! When I've mentioned Rim Pings pathetic stock control in the past, others have rushed to their defence and pointed out they may have problems importing certain products. That's all well and good but they run out of organic eggs, bread, and Aura water on a regular basis too, all of which are produced in Thailand and we know where Aura water comes from so there's no excuse for that. Much of the imported stuff they manage to run out of has a shelf life in years and not months, so there's really no credible excuse on that front either. I think they simply buy whatever is going cheap; I can't think of any other reason their brand of margarine changes so regularly. For a couple of months it will be Bertolli and nothing else, then it will be Olivio, and currently it's Flora.

You're right about rotten produce as well. I've seen fruit in Central Festival that's bruised and too soft to buy, along with eggs that have passed their sell by date still on the shelves. Nobody seems to have a clue how to run a supermarket in Thailand.

What is also funny is that Rimping and other supermarkets do not realize that bread is a day product, never sell bread from yesterday!

Sometimes I see bread that is a few days old, maybe good to feed the ducks, but not for human consumption.

[Mark123456]

Yep, they are very much like the restaurants that cater to Western palettes (or locals who want to try Western food) in that respect: good at charging Western prices but clueless about what they are selling.

[junglechef]

Not strange just don't know how to do thier job. Par stock is not a novel idea, how about removing the rotten produce, do they really think someone is going to buy it or that it's presentable? I once asked for something, they said they'd go check. After 1/2 hr I had someone go in back and look for the person was assisting me. Said they were out so they were ordering for me and expected me to wait while they did. TIT and all but they are charging premium prices for what?

Well, I still find it strange....not to mention very annoying! When I've mentioned Rim Pings pathetic stock control in the past, others have rushed to their defence and pointed out they may have problems importing certain products. That's all well and good but they run out of organic eggs, bread, and Aura water on a regular basis too, all of which are produced in Thailand and we know where Aura water comes from so there's no excuse for that. Much of the imported stuff they manage to run out of has a shelf life in years and not months, so there's really no credible excuse on that front either. I think they simply buy whatever is going cheap; I can't think of any other reason their brand of margarine changes so regularly. For a couple of months it will be Bertolli and nothing else, then it will be Olivio, and currently it's Flora.

You're right about rotten produce as well. I've seen fruit in Central Festival that's bruised and too soft to buy, along with eggs that have passed their sell by date still on the shelves. Nobody seems to have a clue how to run a supermarket in Thailand.

Well if you still find it strange (strange as in unusual) then maybe I've just been here longer and am use to it as to me it seems to be the norm here (strange as it outside one's previous experience).

Annoying, now that's a different story!

[Trujillo]

Pretty far afield we are now from Sizzler.....

[Mark123456]

Pretty far afield we are now from Sizzler.....

So what?

[Dante99]

Oh for the days when the only supermarket was Tantrapan, Kasem Store was the only place to get a bit of Western stuff and nobody complained.

[daoyai]

ay and no one had a computer to complain on.

Edited July 23, 2016 by daoyai

[namatjira]

ay and no one had a computer to complain on.

Who's Complaining ?

[Sparkles]

Pity CM Immigration didn't move into KSK.They would have paid a peppercorn rent and all the folk who happen to live in and around the city,and don't have transport, wouldn't have to trek out to Promenada.CM is big enough to justify 2 service points apart from at the Airport.

KSK is like an old pair of shoes, worn, decrepit but comfortable Tops and the Banks seem to do good business. Yes I know it looks horrible but Central is hardly an inspiring, architectural land mark.

As for Sizzler most would go to Airport Plaza,especially hi so students.

[Trujillo]

So what?

Indeed. Why have topics at all. Just post anything no matter how off topic it might be.