holiday shopping in Hua Hin

Post by **buksida** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:33 am

Bartering is really most effective if you can speak Thai. Agreed though it is getting tougher in Hua Hin - maybe they're so used to tourists now and sell enough stock that they can afford to let people walk away. I'm sure it will be a different case if you try in low season.

Tuk tuks have a fixed price so they would rather lose the fare than drop the fee.

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:17 pm

buksida wrote: Tuk tuks have a fixed price so they would rather lose the fare than drop the fee.

Fixed alot higher than most places in Thailand though.

I can speak a little Thai but like you say, seems they can afford to let people walk away.

Back in HuaHin in about six weeks so i'll see if I get better prices in low season.

Post by **pinsharp** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 1:43 pm

When I was in Hua Hin in February my wife tried to get a very simple dress copied for our daughter. The prices offered were only a little less than buying a new dress in the UK .. doesn't seem to make sense

Post by **richlfc** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:32 pm

so does that mean that Bangkok is the best place to go shopping? May I ask where you ex pats that live in HH go shopping? I can see from the Forum that there is a Tesco's, If we didn't want to spend a day travelling to Bangkok, is this the next best place apart from the market to get some clothes.

I think I am behind the times here, as I thought it would be quite cheap to get clothes, but times seemed to have changed

Post by **The understudy** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:46 pm

Hallo richi

You can still get cheap clothes here in Hua Hin but you only have to know how to bargain or haggel the price down.
Tesco is within Hua Hin's first real shopping complex which is called "Hua Hin Market Village" There are also a lot of small shops and restaurants. A lot of big cloth brands have stores here. Levi's, Lee, and Lacoste are a few of the top stores located in the Market Village. Compared to the other shoping malls in Hua Hin, Market Village offers designerlabels, cinema, arcade halls, bowling and restaurants etc. The restroms are free of charge and is keept nice and clean. Some Thai youths and tourists are abel to spend their whole day here. Amnog those is Tesco Lotus.
The next best destinaion would be probably Big C Complex in Petchaburi where you can get things in the near vicinity in Hua Hin.
Bangkok is the place where you are best served when you wanna go for shoppping.

Post by **richlfc** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:12 pm

many thanks for you reply Mr/Miss/Mrs Understudy. Yes I appreciate that I will have to sharpen my bartering skills and I am looking forward to that

Are the prices in the Market Village much more expensive than the normal market? ok I know you have to give a bit of margin for bartering, but I know my wife would prefer to shop straight off of the shelf given the chance rather than wasting 20 minutes to haggle the price down. If there is considerable difference, then i'm happy to barter, but if we talk a couple of hundred THB or approx five euros I know where we will end up. Also I don't know if you can help, the designer label shops in the Market village, how do these prices compare to standard europe prices. For example here in Luxembourg you would pay approx 60 euro's for an original La Coste T shirt? Many thanks Rich;

Post by **Winkie** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:34 pm

Don't know about Lacoste in HH, but in the Lacoste shop in Central City Bangna Lacoste Shirts are THB2700 (that's 57 Euros).

The shirts are labelled Made in Thailand

Winkie

Post by **DawnHRD** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:11 pm

There are at least 2 factory outlet complexes on the way to BKK. And one big mall. 2 are between Cha am & Big C in Petchburi. The other (Fly Now) is just past Petchburi. Haven't been for years, but you might get genuine clothes at a discount there. Market Village is not cheap (Tesco is). I went to buy a kids belt for a 5 yr old in those shops. The cheapest I could find was 300 bt - I wouldn't pay that for a pair of trousers for him, never mind a belt! I bought a women's one in Tesco for 99 bt & cut it down.

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:20 pm

richlfc wrote:Are the prices in the Market Village much more expensive than the normal market? ok I know you have to give a bit of margin for bartering, but I know my wife would prefer to shop straight off of the shelf given the chance rather than wasting 20 minutes to haggle the price down.

Market Village is a Mall like a mini Trafford centre, shirts etc straight off the shelf and Lacoste and similar brands are hardly any cheaper than back home.

DawnHHDRC wrote:There are at least 2 factory outlet complexes on the way to BKK. And one big mall. 2 are between Cha am & Big C in Petchburi.

I think a free bus runs from Hua Hin to 1 of the outlets.
Not been myself but has a good selection of brands advertised, including Lacoste.

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:22 pm

Or go to the Grand Market and get an 80% copied polo for 300 Baht.

Post by **richlfc** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:18 pm

oh thats very interesting. So it seems that the cosha designer clothes are not much different in price from europe.

Does anyone have anymore information on the designer outlet village, that would interest me, as I'm not really up to paying over 2500 THB for a t-shirt. 300 THB is fine tho

& if it shrinks after a couple of times in the wash you don't mind do you.

What sort of distances are we talking about from HH to the outlet village?

many thanks,
Richard

Post by **Kraka's Dad** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:43 pm

If you want copy T shirts they are all over Hua Hin. Try the City Beach night market or Naresdamri Road (road the Hilton is on)
I have bought quite a few and the quality seems to be very good. All the top names.
Addidas, Nike, Von Dutch, etc

Post by **richlfc** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:08 pm

and these copy T-shirts go for around 300 THb then ?

Post by **BaaBaa.** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:26 pm

You can get all sorts of normal T-shirts, Adidas etc for 100 baht.

Good fake Polos 300 baht.

Post by **richlfc** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:54 pm

and you can get these from the shops or markets on one of the main streets?

Do you know much about the designer village ?