Shopping Malls in Hua Hin

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oakdale160
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Shopping Malls in Hua Hin

Post by oakdale160 »

I have read a couple of articles recently about the number of shopping Malls closing in the US. SM were an American invention, they did it first, overbuilt and are now in decline. About one Mall a week is closing. This is partly due to the increase in on-line shopping which is likely to increase. On line shopping is also huge in China and there, they may be by- passing the Mall era just as they by-passed the land line home phone era.
Malls as we all know are not just shopping centers but are the replacement for the Village green and will continue to have some support, but in the US Sears and Macy's are also closing stores and if the stores that are the traditional anchors go out of business this will hasten the closing of more Malls.
Walmart, the monster that destroyed 'down-town' in many Us communities has also announced the closing of over 200stores in the US. What does this mean for Thai?, the Malls all seem busy, but they were after all copied from the US model and the cycle may be behind the US pattern but it could happen here too.
Locally Bluport is due to open soon, I think I remember hearing that it will be more than twice the size of MV. Is there enough business for 3 MVs?
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by StevePIraq »

Surely there can't be enough business for more malls in HH, MV may have lots of foot traffic however many shops always appear empty and there is a continual opening and closing down of shops. Most Thais I think prefer markets to shopping malls, ok the young ones like the fashion shops but still go to markets to purchase.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by oakdale160 »

Yes, I believe that is another trend. You go to the Mall, check out the items, feel and touch them, then go home and order on-line
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Post by huahin4ever »

Hopefully Blueport will bring some upscale shopping. I am tired of MV and the lack of top brands/items. An example: 100 mobile phone shops, but not easy to get the latest models when they enters the market, like Sony Xperia Z5 Dual and other brands too. MBK in BKK always have it all. Clothing in proper sizes. Hua Hin has lot of farang tourists. I have given up the likes of the Adidas shop. XL sizes here are the same as M or L in Europe. They never have 2XL. This goes for all clothing brands more or less.

When it comes to online shopping it's not easy here in Thailand. Most of the online shopping sellers want money in advance/transferred to account b4 sending. Very few has a system like Amazon etc.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by STEVE G »

I've just spent five weeks in Hua Hin without visiting a shopping mall, so it wouldn't bother me if they disappear. The vast majority of our food comes from local markets and I get the odd thing from the local small supermarkets near home, hardware and home stuff comes from places out of town. Anything else, I just do without rather than visit a shopping mall!
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by jingjoe »

in Thailand the "malls" isn't about the shopping its about the free air conditioning!
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Post by hhinner »

Agree about the aircon. Some weekends it seems that half of Bangkok comes down here just to go to MV. Malls in Thailand seem to be places to hang out rather than for shopping.
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Post by STEVE G »

hhinner wrote:Agree about the aircon. Some weekends it seems that half of Bangkok comes down here just to go to MV. Malls in Thailand seem to be places to hang out rather than for shopping.
It makes you wonder how they make any money, giving away free air conditioning.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by oakdale160 »

1I think the 100 mobile phone sellers with the same products,at the same prices, with the same minimal knowledge about what they are selling and NO info in English is a particularly Thai thing.
2At MV Tesco, Home Pro and the TWO food courts and the beauty shops on 3rd floor seem do good business. Few of the other shops seem to have any customers.
3Huahin4ever, your comments are more about lackof response to customer needs than lack of top brands. There are many BIG farangs and few clothes to fit them (and dont get me started on shoe sizes) it is not lack of top brands, that is just poor planning.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by bsdk1960 »

I have seen a Big Size Shoop near the foodcourt in the basement in MV :D

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by Big Boy »

bsdk1960 wrote:I have seen a Big Size Shoop near the foodcourt in the basement in MV :D

:cheers: :cheers:
There are 2 BIG SIZE shops down there - both very expensive (but I am a cheap charlie according to some :wink: ). Anybody needing large sizes, I'm always happy to share my shopping experiences - I've been quite successful sourcing larger sizes at decent prices.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by Frank La Rue »

The lack of business at Venezia may indicate that saturation is reached allready? I shall be curious how blueport will be faring
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by Big Boy »

IMHO Venezia shot themselves in the foot by charging an admission to get in.

The East Square is probably a better indication of saturation - will it get better? It'll be interesting to see how long before Blueport is running at 90% capacity, and whether it has reached that capacity to the detriment of other places.
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by hhfarang »

oakdale160 wrote:I have read a couple of articles recently about the number of shopping Malls closing in the US. SM were an American invention, they did it first, overbuilt and are now in decline. About one Mall a week is closing. This is partly due to the increase in on-line shopping which is likely to increase. On line shopping is also huge in China and there, they may be by- passing the Mall era just as they by-passed the land line home phone era.
Malls as we all know are not just shopping centers but are the replacement for the Village green and will continue to have some support, but in the US Sears and Macy's are also closing stores and if the stores that are the traditional anchors go out of business this will hasten the closing of more Malls.
Walmart, the monster that destroyed 'down-town' in many Us communities has also announced the closing of over 200stores in the US. What does this mean for Thai?, the Malls all seem busy, but they were after all copied from the US model and the cycle may be behind the US pattern but it could happen here too.
Locally Bluport is due to open soon, I think I remember hearing that it will be more than twice the size of MV. Is there enough business for 3 MVs?
I don't think the same will happen in Thailand any time soon because I do think online shopping is the key to these closings and online shopping there is still in it's infancy. I've done 90% of my shopping online (everything except groceries) since I've been back in the U.S. I hate malls and it's so easy now to find what you want online, compare at different sites to quickly find the lowest price, read customer reviews, ask questions and have the answers posted within hours, buy and it magically shows up on your doorstep a few days later.

When I first moved and was stocking up the house I was getting one or two packages almost daily. It was like Christmas for three months. Speaking of... I did 100% of my Christmas shopping online instead of fighting crowds in the malls. :thumb: Even when I buy things a Walmart, which is 5 minutes from my home, I buy it online to save looking for it in a crowded store and then having to wait in line for checkout. I just click "pick up at store" (to avoid the shipping charge) and it's waiting for me at package pickup where there is never a line.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
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Re: Shopping Malls

Post by oakdale160 »

There are other social factors in Thai as opposed to the USA. I never saw in the Us or Canada a family of five with one shopping cart, shopping asa family outing is not restricted to Thai but is big here.
But online shopping may happen. In China a superb company opened up very reliable, amazingly fast delivery,sometimes same day in that huge country. If it becomes 'The Style" it could happen here very quickly.
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