For years an English friend has given me his copy of The Economist magazine every week once he's read it, but he's back in the UK and having medical difficulties so I thought I'd pop over to Bookazine to buy one myself. I used to live in Jomtien and at one time we had two Bookazines there. The one on soi 5 closed a long time ago, and now the one on the beach by the Dongtan police box has disappeared too.

 

No problem, I thought I'd just take a trip to the Royal Garden Plaza and get a copy in the Bookazine there, but that also seems to be history. I know there was one at The Avenue but it closed down a long time ago. Central doesn't list a Bookazine, and the only other branch I could find mentioned in Pattaya is in the Central Festival place in North Pattaya, but it's last Facebook entry was dated 2012 so I suspect that it's also out  of business.

 

It seems that Bookazine has closed down across the entire city, does anybody know why, surely there was a large enough market for decent quality foreign language books and magazines to have kept at least one or two branches going? I found out that Asia Books in Central has a reasonable range of magazines, but if you live in Jomtien it's quite a hike every week to get your Economist fix, or Private Eye fix, or whatever.  Is there anywhere closer to Jomtien that sells decent English language magazines? I tried the shop on the corner of soi 6 and Jomtien Beach Road but Der Spiegel seems to have cornered the market there.

 

P.S. I know a subscription is cheaper and easier but I travel a lot and would end up missing a lot of issues.

I used to get mine at Asia Books in Central.

I don't think you will find anywhere in Jomtien selling it.

 

Now I subscribe, which is a pain sometimes,  as I can wait 3 weeks for a magazine and then get three in one week!!

 

But it's a great read.

Edited August 10, 20169 yr by Seizetheday

Bookazine merged with Asia Books years ago...you better face it...physical books and bookstores are a rapidly dying industry. The only new books bookstore I know of currently in Pattaya is the Asia Books branch at the Central Beach Mall. Newspaper and newspaper journalism is also dying on the vine so if it's something you value, you may want to consider buying a print or online subscription to the Economist.

Isn't there still an Asia Books store on the second floor of Royal Garden, too?

14 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

dying on the vine

 

Excellent John Cale track..............for those old enough .........thanks for reminding me

Thanks for the replies, it looks like a trek to Asia Books will be required if I want some decent reading.

 

Yes, maybe it's a sign of the times, I noticed that just down from Asia Books in Central there used to be a Se-Ed bookshop, but it's now been replaced by an Apple store. The way of the future I suppose.

7 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Isn't there still an Asia Books store on the second floor of Royal Garden, too?

 

No idea. Anybody?

7 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Isn't there still an Asia Books store on the second floor of Royal Garden, too?

 

 

it is closed now too from what I know

Villa Market in the Avenue sells Private Eye and some other UK publications like the FT. Not sure about the Economist.

 

I would have thought that these days a lot of people subscribe to online versions.

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

Villa Market in the Avenue sells Private Eye and some other UK publications like the FT. Not sure about the Economist.

 

I would have thought that these days a lot of people subscribe to online versions.

You would think...but I've still got friends who ask me what torrent files are and what they're for ?

You could say what happened to TV, so hard to read these days, i just about gave up