Patong - The Wake

[xylophone]

On 2/4/2019 at 4:35 PM, Patong2 said:

Patong is "a changing" as they say and for those of us who have visited or lived here for several years it is an unsettling experience.

However it still has plenty of delights for all comers but the old Patong has died along with Soi Crocodile.

Yes, definitely changing Patong2, although I don't find it unsettling, but I do "marvel" at the amount of money being asked for the big bars and sois here – – one large bar fronting Bangla can be bought for 50 million baht, or one could settle for Soi Freedom at 90 million baht.

 

Not unsettling, but perhaps crazy?

 

And on the subject of changing, I decided to visit the new Central store here in Patong, but the saga in getting to it was quite lengthy, with traffic backed up for a kilometre or two, not necessarily because of the opening of Central, but a combination of things such as delivery trucks, buses, minivans, traffic lights and poor driving and of course the poor planning. Only to find that when I eventually got to the Central store, I was told that I could not park anywhere and had to go and park under Jungceylon.

 

Now I had wondered why I had been turned away from parking under Jungceylon a couple of times previously, and it's because all of the workers and of course some of the customers are now directed to that car park and its full, and I don't know if it's because there is no parking under the new Central or because it's not ready? Far be it from me to suggest that it was lack of planning!

 

Anyway, I was surprised at what I saw, because there are three floors dedicated to menswear, womenswear and accessories etc, however they were set out just like the old Central in Phuket town, whereby the total floor space was like "open plan" and each brand was vying for its own little space within it, whereas the new Central seems to have gravitated more towards individual shops.

 

Having said that, the basement was just like the new Central and the food on display, particularly in the area serving Western-style food, looked very tasty indeed and this along with a few individual restaurants catering for other Asian needs looked to be doing well.

 

There is a small supermarket area which contains an area for the wine and spirits and if there was ever an indication that this new Central was aimed at a certain market (not the zero baht or cheap Chinese tourist or even impoverished expat) there were no rows of dried seaweed, dried this and that and other cheap snacks, with just the occasional little bit of dried fruit around. 

 

In addition the wine area had no casks/boxes of wine anywhere to be seen and although I did see a couple of bottles of Montclair on display (bottom shelf and out of the way) there were many bottles of fine Burgundy and Bordeaux ranging from 3000 to 9000 baht a bottle, plus some pricey Aussie wines as well as a few nice Italian wines. Of course they had wines from NZ and elsewhere, and not always in the very expensive bracket, but the whole area did not lend itself to the bargain basement type type of shopper.

 

All in all, despite it being upmarket, there wasn't very much on display here that could not be bought at/in Jungceylon (apart from the upmarket food and wine area) and I wondered at the logic of opening such a place.

 

Perhaps this is the start of a change of Bangla and its surrounds or perhaps someone is trying to provide shopping for the upmarket and the wealthy in order to draw them here, however that seems to be at odds with the marketing to the cheap Chinese, Indian backpackers and whomsoever else can afford a cheap flight and budget accommodation.

 

I suppose one could add that Patong is becoming an enigma............and no, I'm not starting another thread!

[schlog]

Perfect describtion of the new Patong Central xylo.

 

Btw today underground car park was open.

 

The new Central feels small. It reminds me of the Robison in Town.

Nearly got nostalgic feelings.

[Mysterion]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

Yes, definitely changing Patong2, although I don't find it unsettling, but I do "marvel" at the amount of money being asked for the big bars and sois here – – one large bar fronting Bangla can be bought for 50 million baht, or one could settle for Soi Freedom at 90 million baht.

 

Not unsettling, but perhaps crazy?

 

And on the subject of changing, I decided to visit the new Central store here in Patong, but the saga in getting to it was quite lengthy, with traffic backed up for a kilometre or two, not necessarily because of the opening of Central, but a combination of things such as delivery trucks, buses, minivans, traffic lights and poor driving and of course the poor planning. Only to find that when I eventually got to the Central store, I was told that I could not park anywhere and had to go and park under Jungceylon.

 

Now I had wondered why I had been turned away from parking under Jungceylon a couple of times previously, and it's because all of the workers and of course some of the customers are now directed to that car park and its full, and I don't know if it's because there is no parking under the new Central or because it's not ready? Far be it from me to suggest that it was lack of planning!

 

Anyway, I was surprised at what I saw, because there are three floors dedicated to menswear, womenswear and accessories etc, however they were set out just like the old Central in Phuket town, whereby the total floor space was like "open plan" and each brand was vying for its own little space within it, whereas the new Central seems to have gravitated more towards individual shops.

 

Having said that, the basement was just like the new Central and the food on display, particularly in the area serving Western-style food, looked very tasty indeed and this along with a few individual restaurants catering for other Asian needs looked to be doing well.

 

There is a small supermarket area which contains an area for the wine and spirits and if there was ever an indication that this new Central was aimed at a certain market (not the zero baht or cheap Chinese tourist or even impoverished expat) there were no rows of dried seaweed, dried this and that and other cheap snacks, with just the occasional little bit of dried fruit around. 

 

In addition the wine area had no casks/boxes of wine anywhere to be seen and although I did see a couple of bottles of Montclair on display (bottom shelf and out of the way) there were many bottles of fine Burgundy and Bordeaux ranging from 3000 to 9000 baht a bottle, plus some pricey Aussie wines as well as a few nice Italian wines. Of course they had wines from NZ and elsewhere, and not always in the very expensive bracket, but the whole area did not lend itself to the bargain basement type type of shopper.

 

All in all, despite it being upmarket, there wasn't very much on display here that could not be bought at/in Jungceylon (apart from the upmarket food and wine area) and I wondered at the logic of opening such a place.

 

Perhaps this is the start of a change of Bangla and its surrounds or perhaps someone is trying to provide shopping for the upmarket and the wealthy in order to draw them here, however that seems to be at odds with the marketing to the cheap Chinese, Indian backpackers and whomsoever else can afford a cheap flight and budget accommodation.

 

I suppose one could add that Patong is becoming an enigma............and no, I'm not starting another thread!

Thanks for the review. 

 

It sounds like the developer wasted an opportunity to make something significantly new/different/needed in Patong.

 

i wonder what the pricing is like in the foodcourt? 

 

A big clean cheap airconditioned foodcourt could have been a winner in that mall, in the basement floor or top floor.

 

As an example, the huge cheap & clean & air-conditioned foodcourt on the top floor of the Terminal 21 mall in Bangkok is considered by many as a Thai foodlovers paradise. It is packed with both Thais and locals all day and night. It draws in huge crowds to that mall and keeps it alive. Almost all thai dishes are only 30-40 baht each. Compare that to the 100-150 baht thai dishes in the jungceylon foodcourt.

 

Also there is no international “fast fashion” brands in Patong. An H&M, Uniqlo, Forever 21 would draw in big crowds. Sounds like they didn’t include any of those either?

 

 

 

[Destiny1990]

Where in Patong is that new central located ?

[Lashay]

31 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Where in Patong is that new central located ?

Behind Seduction/tiger. Or other enterance opposite jungceylon, beach side

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, Mysterion said:

i wonder what the pricing is like in the foodcourt? 

From what I saw, the prices are very reasonable, with dishes like goulash, lasagne, cannelloni and some lovely roast pork with what looked like gorgeous crackling, at around 50 baht for 100 g.

 

I didn't pay much attention to the other Asian type food places, however there was a place called Premium Burger which was selling its burgers, and they looked very good I must say, at 245 baht for the basic burger, but that in itself looked pretty substantial.......and nothing like a Mac!

 

Maybe they've got it right?????

 

3 hours ago, Mysterion said:

Also there is no international “fast fashion” brands in Patong. An H&M, Uniqlo, Forever 21 would draw in big crowds. Sounds like they didn’t include any of those either?

Sorry Mysterion, I didn't study all the brands that closely, but I will take a punt and say that some of those brands are more than likely there?

 

Whatever the brands, the place reeked of price/class/positioning. so aimed above the cheap tourist market IMO.

[xylophone]

On 2/4/2019 at 4:35 PM, Patong2 said:

Patong is "a changing" as they say

Well I will pick that line up and run with it........

 

As has been previously mentioned, the new Central shopping centre is now open and whoever would have thought a few years ago when the other building was going up, that it would be knocked down and replaced by this??

 

Not only that, but looking down Bangla, as an example, it's easy to see that at one time the small, girly bars frequented by the mongers were prevalent amongst all bars, but that has changed quite markedly so, and one only has to looking both of the Tiger complexes to see the scope of this change – – quite alarming for some I would think.

 

Then you have the new type of bar such as "Bar Funk" which seems to be a hybrid of some sort, and I've not really got a handle on what it is!

 

I don't remember any bars in Bangla 10 years ago, having any bands (perhaps I'm wrong) but now those bars with bands are the only ones that are thriving.

 

One thing that hasn't changed is the fact that some of the bars in Bangla, such as the Kangaroo bars, which never purported to be "girly bars" as such and were successful back then, still seem to be successful now as they would have more than their fair share of punters crowding the place out, and it would appear that these folk are there for a beer, meet up with friends, listen to a little music and at the same time people-watch, whilst at the same time being served by attractive wenches.

 

And on the point of "changing", perhaps what used to be known as the "high season" has changed or shifted, because last night Bangla was more crowded than I have seen it in many years.......don't ask me why because I don't know, as it was just another everyday Wednesday night.

 

Looking further afield, the Chinese are staying at the cheaper guesthouse type accommodation in the likes of Nanai road and in doing so are imperilling their lives when they decide to walk two or three abreast along that narrow road, and the amount of near misses from cars and motorbikes is just astounding, but they don't seem to be aware or learn from their near death experiences!

 

Whilst it may well have been like high season in Bangla, it hasn't been good for a couple of small bars near me, one of which has shut up shop, with rumours that the farang sponsor has walked away from it after a split with his Thai girlfriend, and the other which is being remodelled into something which will closely resemble the previous infrequently visited one – – go figure?

 

There have been a few more closures of shops along Nanai and I don't see that changing in the near future because it is an area which one has to "get used to" and certainly does not have its fair share of upmarket places, but feeling like this when I first came here, now I see that it has a certain sort of" charm" (probably not quite the right description) to it and I don't mind living there at all although I could choose just about anywhere in Patong or its surrounds, to live.

 

The last point on the "changing" thing is the fact that the traffic situation has changed for the worse, and how! But then those of us who have been here a while saw this coming when they started to muck around with the traffic flows and the building of the new middle road, and not forgetting the many new buildings which were thrown up, all adding to the congestion – – and on that point, we all know that the infrastructure here could not cope with those new buildings and that's why many new drains etc were put in, and the digging up of many roads would attest to this.

 

Irrespective of all of the supposedly remedial work which was done with regards to drains, wastewater and sewage etc, I noticed a familiar smell at the junction of Soi Banzaan which took me back a few years and reminded me of the bad old days, or were they the good old days??

[phuketrichard]

Quote

From what I saw, the prices are very reasonable, with dishes like goulash, lasagne, cannelloni and some lovely roast pork with what looked like gorgeous crackling, at around 50 baht for 100 g.

A LOT more than 50 baht/100grms, same guy runs the same food in the new central in Phuket and Patong prices were  higher.

PS: cheek out the prices in the thai restaurant next to Pizza company?  199 baht for Phat Thai LOL

 

I too dont understand why three floors of a dept store for tourists>
 

spent 20 minutes there, ( all the free parking you get) and headed over to JC>

wont be going back, everything is cheaper and more selection in JC and Big C

 

[xylophone]

24 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

A LOT more than 50 baht/100grms, same guy runs the same food in the new central in Phuket and Patong prices were  higher.

PS: cheek out the prices in the thai restaurant next to Pizza company?  199 baht for Phat Thai LOL

 

I too dont understand why three floors of a dept store for tourists>
 

spent 20 minutes there, ( all the free parking you get) and headed over to JC>

wont be going back, everything is cheaper and more selection in JC and Big C

 

I'm sure that the price of 50 baht per 100 g was placed in front of the goulash I was looking at as well as the cannelloni?? I don't know about the price of the pork and other dishes and I certainly didn't look at the Thai restaurant, which seems expensive if what you say is true.

 

I can't see that the owner would have put the prices up after opening day, but there again anything is possible here, so perhaps I will take a wander over there again and have a closer look at the food and the prices – – as for the other items on the other floors, well I have no need or intention to buy any of that stuff, so I will focus on the basement area!

 

I have to agree with you that I don't really see why this place has been built, especially, as you say as well, most of everything else can be bought in Jungceylon, and more cheaply so from what I've seen.

[madmitch]

17 hours ago, xylophone said:

I don't remember any bars in Bangla 10 years ago, having any bands (perhaps I'm wrong) but now those bars with bands are the only ones that are thriving.

 

One thing that hasn't changed is the fact that some of the bars in Bangla, such as the Kangaroo bars, which never purported to be "girly bars" as such and were successful back then, still seem to be successful now as they would have more than their fair share of punters crowding the place out, and it would appear that these folk are there for a beer, meet up with friends, listen to a little music and at the same time people-watch, whilst at the same time being served by attractive wenches.

I think you're spot on there. My increasingly infrequent visits to Bangla nearly always start at Kangaroo Bar and have done for years.

 

I remember a few bars with live music 10 years ago: Scruffy Murphy's, Margarita Bar, right at the end of Bangla, which was pretty popular back then and still is under a different guise, and there were a couple of tiny bars in Soi Seadragon where the three-piece band members often outnumbered the customers!

[xylophone]

23 minutes ago, madmitch said:

I think you're spot on there. My increasingly infrequent visits to Bangla nearly always start at Kangaroo Bar and have done for years.

 

I remember a few bars with live music 10 years ago: Scruffy Murphy's, Margarita Bar, right at the end of Bangla, which was pretty popular back then and still is under a different guise, and there were a couple of tiny bars in Soi Seadragon where the three-piece band members often outnumbered the customers!

You are right on about the music bars mm...........actually watched the band in Scruffy Murphys whilst enjoying a steak and Guinness pie!! Shame that it closed as it was very popular, but rumour had it that the landlord increased the rent dramatically so the bar "owner" left.

 

Tums bar was in Soi Seadragon then and is still there now, with a 3-4 piece band playing nightly from around 11 pm onwards, and another bar further up had a 2-3 piece band in it for a while but the bar was far too small to accommodate it and the customers comfortably, so short lived.

 

Don't remember much about Margarita Bar I'm afraid??

 

Now the bands are bigger and better (IMO) with the band in Red Hot being exceptional.

[SooKee]

Buddy of mine told me that they big Aussie bar about half way down Bangla on the right (heading towards the beach) had closed down its upper floor? Not sure if that's right?

[xylophone]

1 minute ago, SooKee said:

Buddy of mine told me that they big Aussie bar about half way down Bangla on the right (heading towards the beach) had closed down its upper floor? Not sure if that's right?

Went past Aussie Bar on Wed night but didn't notice I'm afraid SooKee, but I have noticed a fall off in customers over the past year or so, so wouldn't surprise me!

 

Add the dwindling custom in Sois Freedom, Tigers, and Sea Dragon, but look at the large crowds in the band bars and more people than ever just walking and looking, and one can see what is happening.

[SooKee]

Went past Aussie Bar on Wed night but didn't notice I'm afraid SooKee, but I have noticed a fall off in customers over the past year or so, so wouldn't surprise me!
 
Add the dwindling custom in Sois Freedom, Tigers, and Sea Dragon, but look at the large crowds in the band bars and more people than ever just walking and looking, and one can see what is happening.

Yeah. Last time I went didn't really warrant an update TBH, would just be repeating your experience. Previously in old Tiger it used to be the last two or three rows towards the back that were empty or closed. Last time seemed to be all but the first 3-4 rows. Just a few of the big front facing bars in New Tiger too.

Couple of new bars seemed to be doing well, Follies for example. Not sure that's still the case. Took the guys down Sea Dragon. SW same as always but, IIRC, Harem was 350 for LDs and the guy who asked one of the girls told me the BF was 3k!! Yikes!!!

[xylophone]

23 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

A LOT more than 50 baht/100grms, same guy runs the same food in the new central in Phuket and Patong prices were  higher.

PS: cheek out the prices in the thai restaurant next to Pizza company?  199 baht for Phat Thai LOL

 

I too dont understand why three floors of a dept store for tourists>
 

spent 20 minutes there, ( all the free parking you get) and headed over to JC>

wont be going back, everything is cheaper and more selection in JC and Big C

 

Went back today to have a look and the goulash, lasagne, American meatloaf etc all at 59 baht per 100 gm, as were the veges etc to accompany the dishes, and the small sauteed potatoes looked delicious! 

 

As for the Pad Thai, well I make it at home sometimes and by the time I've bought the ingredients incl chicken, prawns, spring onions, tofu, ground nuts, bean sprouts and all that goes in it, it must be getting up there. The Pad Thai I had in the JC foodcourt was smallish and not at all tasty and was around 129-149 baht if I recall correctly.

 

I personally don't mind paying the prices above esp for the farang food (e.g. 118 baht for 200 gm of Lasagne) as IMO it is good value for money.

 

[Mysterion]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Went back today to have a look and the goulash, lasagne, American meatloaf etc all at 59 baht per 100 gm, as were the veges etc to accompany the dishes, and the small sauteed potatoes looked delicious! 

 

As for the Pad Thai, well I make it at home sometimes and by the time I've bought the ingredients incl chicken, prawns, spring onions, tofu, ground nuts, bean sprouts and all that goes in it, it must be getting up there. The Pad Thai I had in the JC foodcourt was smallish and not at all tasty and was around 129-149 baht if I recall correctly.

 

I personally don't mind paying the prices above esp for the farang food (e.g. 118 baht for 200 gm of Lasagne) as IMO it is good value for money.

 

I agree on that farang food place.

 

I took a look at the foodcourt there on Wednesday night around 6pm and only thing that looked interesting/different & fairly priced were some of the farang foods at that one specific farang food vendor. 

 

The rest of the foodcourt vendors offered standard thai foodcourt items, but IMO their prices were at-least DOUBLE what could be considered a fair price for mall foodcourt food in Thailand.

 

They also offered (unneeded) repeats of relatively pricey MK, Pizza Company, Zen Japanese, and Red Chopsticks Chinese in the basement area.

 

The beef burger joint also seemed relatively expensive for beef burgers. Perhaps thats why there was not a soul to be seen eating there. 

 

[billythehat]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

Went back today to have a look and the goulash, lasagne, American meatloaf etc all at 59 baht per 100 gm, as were the veges etc to accompany the dishes, and the small sauteed potatoes looked delicious! 

 

As for the Pad Thai, well I make it at home sometimes and by the time I've bought the ingredients incl chicken, prawns, spring onions, tofu, ground nuts, bean sprouts and all that goes in it, it must be getting up there. The Pad Thai I had in the JC foodcourt was smallish and not at all tasty and was around 129-149 baht if I recall correctly.

 

I personally don't mind paying the prices above esp for the farang food (e.g. 118 baht for 200 gm of Lasagne) as IMO it is good value for money.

 

…hmmmm…but what about the service? As good as Salute in Bangla? Can make a big difference to the eating out experience there. Regarding tipping, and it may come off as a wee bit sexist here, but I see it as a compliment to tip a lass for simply having a fine butt; as in the case of the Salute staff. Helps take my mind off the fact that the pasta was not exactly El Dente.

[billythehat]

7 hours ago, SooKee said:

Yeah. Last time I went didn't really warrant an update TBH, would just be repeating your experience. Previously in old Tiger it used to be the last two or three rows towards the back that were empty or closed. Last time seemed to be all but the first 3-4 rows. Just a few of the big front facing bars in New Tiger too.

Couple of new bars seemed to be doing well, Follies for example. Not sure that's still the case. Took the guys down Sea Dragon. SW same as always but, IIRC, Harem was 350 for LDs and the guy who asked one of the girls told me the BF was 3k!! Yikes!!!

3k + 350bt for sip of coke? sheesh…guess nobody has had a word in these lasses’ shell about how to build a successful business model…play the long game and haul the sucker(s) in gradually.

[stuarty]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

Went back today to have a look and the goulash, lasagne, American meatloaf etc all at 59 baht per 100 gm, as were the veges etc to accompany the dishes, and the small sauteed potatoes looked delicious! 

 

As for the Pad Thai, well I make it at home sometimes and by the time I've bought the ingredients incl chicken, prawns, spring onions, tofu, ground nuts, bean sprouts and all that goes in it, it must be getting up there. The Pad Thai I had in the JC foodcourt was smallish and not at all tasty and was around 129-149 baht if I recall correctly.

 

I personally don't mind paying the prices above esp for the farang food (e.g. 118 baht for 200 gm of Lasagne) as IMO it is good value for money.

 

OMG 150 THB for Pad Thai in Central Food Hall in the most prime real estate position in the resort island of Phuket?  Are you chaps short of a few bob?

[Mysterion]

50 minutes ago, stuarty said:

OMG 150 THB for Pad Thai in Central Food Hall in the most prime real estate position in the resort island of Phuket?  Are you chaps short of a few bob?

150baht for the pleasure of having a pad thai in a cramped little basement foodcourt is probably not the best value experience for most tourists. Many 5 star hotels in Phuket actually charge somewhere around that price for a pad thai.

 

But alas, It is possible for them to get their pad thai fix in an actual restaurant with full service for only 60baht just around the corner from Central patong.

 

As noted earlier, 30baht gets you a good pad thai(or choice of many other thai dishes) at the Terminal 21 foodhall, in one of the most expensive parts of Bangkok. It drives huge crowds of thais and tourists through that mall all day and night 7 days a week. Wonder why they haven’t figured out that type of business model here yet.

 

[stuarty]

Pad Thai at my posh golf club is 315. This is central and central patong . I am sure there is 25 baht pad Thai round the corner. So what

[Mysterion]

1 hour ago, stuarty said:

Pad Thai at my posh golf club is 315. This is central and central patong . I am sure there is 25 baht pad Thai round the corner. So what

Street food is super cheap for a reason mate. You can probably get a meal for 10 baht if price is your only concern.

 

The point is, 60 baht for a pad thai in a decent restaurant(or 150 baht at a 5star hotel) just around the corner from the cramped basement foodcourt at Central in central Patong, is a deal breaker for Central Patong for many tourists and almost all locals. Thats what.

 

Big corporations are not immune from making bad business decisions.

 

i would be surprised if Central doesn’t “re-imagine”/redevelop that prime space sooner rather than later.

[Joe Mcseismic]

7 hours ago, stuarty said:

OMG 150 THB for Pad Thai in Central Food Hall in the most prime real estate position in the resort island of Phuket?  Are you chaps short of a few bob?

Nothing to do with "short of a few bob" and everything to do with value for money. Something that everyone, regardless of their finances, looks for.

[xylophone]

11 hours ago, billythehat said:

3k + 350bt for sip of coke? sheesh…guess nobody has had a word in these lasses’ shell about how to build a successful business model…play the long game and haul the sucker(s) in gradually.

Welcome back bth, haven't seen you around for a while, and hope you are well.

 

The problem with the business model you describe is that the owners of these places have set themselves up to be potential architects of their own demise. They pay the girls a fixed salary to entice them into these places, especially as they have to dance naked a lot of the time, so they deem big salaries are necessary.

 

In addition the girls get a good cut from the so-called "drinks" (alcohol or just plain coke/fruit juice), then because any girl taken out of the club/place could mean a potential loss in revenue, especially if she is good looking, the owner deems it necessary to charge a high "rental" for the girl in order to recoup some of the salary and potential loss of revenue.

 

You can see therefore that it is a rather vicious circle and they seem to have no idea that eventually this will mean a lack of customers, and even now in the very few occasions that I visit these places, and then only with newcomers to town who want to go in there, one can see that they are not that densely populated with customers and on many occasions I've seen customers walk in, look at the drinks menu and walk out.

 

As for running successful businesses............hmmmmm, not always a given here in Patong as you know!

[xylophone]

8 hours ago, Mysterion said:

The point is, 60 baht for a pad thai in a decent restaurant(or 150 baht at a 5star hotel) just around the corner from the cramped basement foodcourt at Central in central Patong, is a deal breaker for Central Patong for many tourists and almost all locals. Thats what.

I'm not taking sides here, because I think for what it is and where it is, and looking at what food I have seen on show, I wouldn't mind paying the prices I have quoted, and not only that I really don't want to be queueing up at the likes of Number 6 or Banzaan Market for a plate of cheap food, but that's a different story and that's regarding my preferences.

 

But taking into consideration all that has thus far been posted, and something that I mentioned in my original post, is quite where it fits into the "business model" here?

 

There are hordes of cheap Chinese, and budget flights from India carrying folk of similar ilk, not to mention budget flights from other places even as far away as Australia, so it seems only logical that this place would be a bit of a magnet for budget travellers, and because TAT is purely after numbers, and not spend (even though they do post some pretty unbelievable figures about spend) and markets to these people, it's not surprising that Patong is a magnet for them.

 

That being the case, it's hard to see the rationale behind building a small shopping centre which would appear to cater for the more wealthy/non-budget traveller!

 

In addition, one only has to look in the likes of Big C to see that the Chinese travellers favour trolleys full of pot noodles and similar to be able to eat in their room, as well as take back home, and the queues outside of the cheap and cheerful "restaurants", and other pointers such as four or five Indians sharing two beers amongst them and it would appear that what is actually happening on the ground has not been observed by those who build these sort of places.

 

Not only that, I'm sure they are not designed to cater for the average retired expat here, so go figure as to their target market?

[schlog]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

I'm not taking sides here, because I think for what it is and where it is, and looking at what food I have seen on show, I wouldn't mind paying the prices I have quoted, and not only that I really don't want to be queueing up at the likes of Number 6 or Banzaan Market for a plate of cheap food, but that's a different story and that's regarding my preferences.

 

Spot on xylo!

 

They will have enough thai and expat customers. I never get why some fill in their car supreme gasoline but eat low quality cheap unhealth food lol.

 

Btw tried the crispy ham, lasagne and the pork shoulder. All was tasty and the crispy ham was very good. Worth every single baht and no way expensive.

Next visit i have to try the Teppanyaki.

[Mysterion]

On 2/23/2019 at 5:30 AM, Joe Mcseismic said:

Nothing to do with "short of a few bob" and everything to do with value for money. Something that everyone, regardless of their finances, looks for.

Indeed.

 

Most people make spending decisions based on “value for money”. 

 

With the exception of that one farang food vendor, there are better & real restaurants for half the price within a short walk. Thats the critical error with the Central Patong foodcurt “business plan.”

[xylophone]

54 minutes ago, Mysterion said:

Indeed.

 

Most people make spending decisions based on “value for money”. 

 

With the exception of that one farang food vendor, there are better & real restaurants for half the price within a short walk. Thats the critical error with the Central Patong foodcurt “business plan.”

Can't really disagree with what you said because I have said similar, although the prices in the food court don't worry me in particular, but as I have mentioned elsewhere, the whole place is "expensive" and I wonder about its target market?

 

As you say, perhaps the "business plan" is not what it should be, and how about this as "food for thought".........the place has not been very crowded ever since it opened, and I don't just mean in the food court, I mean throughout. 

 

Now take the large new Central which has recently opened in Phuket town, and which has never been that crowded on the occasions I have visited it, with the exception of perhaps just weekends, however a friend in the know has suggested that the rents for the shops in that place are absolutely astronomical?

 

Now onto another thread which mentioned Central in Chiang Mai and how some of the shops in that place are closing, and one could argue that perhaps the business model is not what it could be, and yet on another thread here, where other folk have mentioned about the prices in the place, someone commented, "well Central must know what they're doing"..........hmmm, perhaps they've got it wrong now/this time, or times have changed.

 

Following that line of thought, there will be those of you who will remember the white elephant of a building that stood partly in the place of the new Central in Patong, and this had some shops in it and a food court and the whole place was a disaster and was empty for most of its life.

 

Then take another look at Jungceylon and if one took Big C and Robinsons out of the place it surely wouldn't be profitable. In addition take a look at the basement section called something like "This is Siam" and see the scarcity of customers in this area, apart from the occasional horde of Chinese who descend upon the food court.

 

So my point is that perhaps the/this business model is wrong for Patong, for example, or perhaps even more widely experienced, and it could well be that the local and expat population who live here and elsewhere really don't need this sort of thing and perhaps the tourists who appear to be the budget type these days, don't either.

 

Perhaps relaxing on the beach, in the hotel, around the pool and/or sightseeing are what these tourists come here to do and that the likes of Patong and Central are not places to do their shopping???

 

The budget Chinese and Russians favour Big C and certainly the Chinese can be seen filling up their trolleys with cheap goods to eat here or take home, so the likes of Central would not appeal to them one iota!

 

Interesting times................

[Old Croc]

I tend to seek quality first with price being secondary. 

It's hard to find good produce, prepared to high standards here and, for me, price is not the decider. Value doesn't have to mean cheaper.

That doesn't mean I only eat at 5 star resort restaurants with international chefs, just that I will order the best dish in a good establishment without being concerned with price.

I have more than enough money to see me through my days, and have few people in my life for whom I feel the need to reward with a free run, so I'm not going to deprive myself of the best for the sake of a few dollars. 

 

 

[phuketrichard]

recall how long Villa lasted in Patong?

Great business model.

even so called smart people/groups make mistakes