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Promenada - The Beginning of The End?


JLT

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Is Immigration moving to the Promenada Mall or is this just another mall story. I am tired of reading 16 pages of threads that seem to hint about this important subject. Important to me anyways. Going by past experience it would not surprise me to see Immigration hang the "CLOSED" sign on the door at the end of the last day. If anyone can flesh out this question it would be much appreciated. Like the so called phantom bus service here in CM this would be a well kept secret. Can someone elaborate on this or is this April 1st all over again. If this is true the exact location would help as well inside the mall or across from the mall.

Thanks

But what is more hilarious is that just a few meters away from what will be the entrance to the Immigration Department is a straw covered pen full of goats and sheep! I kid you not. Quite delightful and friendly animals but couldn't work out what on earth they were doing in that location.laugh.png
Then I wandered back towards the shopping centre I noticed a small " rural looking " structure advertising the sale of goats milk!giggle.gif

They've been there for a number of weeks now. They are there to entertain the kids who come with their parents for the weekend evening music/drinking/eating festivities. Parents tend to let their kids run loose there as it's a relatively safe environment, and it's something to occupy them. They also sell goats milk ice cream at a booth.

Haven't noticed the sheep before though.

or if ECC is bankrupt (as stated in the post following yours) maybe they're looking for a way to keep down costs such as using sheep and goats to keep the grass downtongue.png

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Rent in Central Festival is 1500 / m2 / month. I doubt Promenada ever came close to that .... You'd have to do your sums carefully before jumping ship to Festival.

Thats actually not too bad. I'm sure it depends on the floor and area but I was quoted 2500baht. Prom on the other hand 1000baht m2.

Where in the central Festival would they find the room to do the job properly? Parking on site would be better but you might have to walk twice as far to get to the office.

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I very rarely talk about shopping malls because I don't visit them very much, but I have made three or four visits to Promenada to eat or to visit Rimping. The other day I saw a news article about people being disaffected with shopping malls in America. I don't know about that, but Chiang Mai (if you are to read ThaiVisa) is enamoured by shopping malls, and so are local people.

In Chiang Mai, I would say that Promenada is probably in the right place but built too soon if you are a believer in "urban sprawl." Its design is probably too innovative for a mall, and you can become disoriented by the two buildings and where things are. If you look at Central Festival in comparison, Central Festival is a money machine. Maya is a smaller "speciality mall," with bars on the roof. With the Grandview and new Eastern hotels nearby and the Huey Kaew Super Highway and Nimmenhammen access, it attracts tourists and has some "flair."

Kad Suan Kaew, the "ugly sister," struggles on. It was poorly designed to start off with, but it seems to have a relatively strong core. Of course one should not expect to find international brand stores there. But so what? Too bad the management are such "sticky sh*ts," to translate the vernacular, about taking care of the place.

But the really hurtful effect of these malls is what they have done to ruin local businesses. Yes, malls are convenient, et cetera, et cetera, but it is sad to see smaller shops get squeezed out by malls and the "big box" stores. They obliterate a sense of place --- what is your neighborhood and what is Chiang Mai.

Perhaps it is sentimental silliness to think so, but I think it is sad.

A lot of shop owners jumped their lease and moved to Central Festival that is one of the reasons for few shops and this is from the hoses mouth one of the restarurant owners.

Yes, that's true and unfortunate IMO. And it really isn't fair to criticise them for doing so. But, those being a privileged few tobe able to make that jump, what is the overall impact on the community? Is this Chiang Mai's version of the Walmart devastation of old downtown businesses in America, probably elsewhere, as well?

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Well I got it from a fairly reliable source that Immigration will be there in about two weeks and the company that owns the mall is not bankrupt.. They have secured one way or another and it might be another way money to continue.

I have to admit I was wondering. I translated the Dutch ones and they just said there was money problems. Then I looked up to see what the movies were going to be and it showed none. I see the movies are on the web site now. I was in immigration the other day and forgot to ask. I probably would have got a don't know answer any how.

As for moving to Central there is room I see already some of them have closed their doors there. People walking up and down the hall do not make for a successful business.

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  • 2 years later...

Walking around the mall the other day I noticed a few more shops closed. The only form of customer life support is due to people having to come for immigration issues. 

 

When the move back to the new building by the airport comes, which is supposed to be soon, what will happen then? 

As it is now, the mall can't be profitable. When immigration is gone, will they "decommission" the mall? 

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8 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

Walking around the mall the other day I noticed a few more shops closed. The only form of customer life support is due to people having to come for immigration issues. 

 

When the move back to the new building by the airport comes, which is supposed to be soon, what will happen then? 

As it is now, the mall can't be profitable. When immigration is gone, will they "decommission" the mall? 

Probably get swallowed up into the Central empire.

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It will fail, be sold, fail, be sold... until someone buys it cheap enough so that it is economically viable about the time when the city grows out to surround it with customers.



Sent from my iPod touch using Thaivisa Connect

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2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

If you were assigned to bring Promenda to life , to make it successful and busy

What would you do to make it a successful location ?

Making it a Chinese Theme park might work

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4 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

Indoor Nana Plaza gets my vote. 

Way too big and out the way , there just wouldnt be enough customers to travel such a distance to make it profitable .

   Most of the bars in Loi Kroh are empty , people just wouldnt go all the way to Prominada for a drink with prostitutes 

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1 hour ago, sanemax said:

If you were assigned to bring Promenda to life , to make it successful and busy

What would you do to make it a successful location ?

Fill it with Bars, Betting Shops and a massive Casino open 24/7.....guaranteed winner.    Oops; i forgot i was in 'The Land that Time Forgot ' !    Lol.

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6 hours ago, Trujillo said:

Walking around the mall the other day I noticed a few more shops closed. The only form of customer life support is due to people having to come for immigration issues. 

 

When the move back to the new building by the airport comes, which is supposed to be soon, what will happen then? 

As it is now, the mall can't be profitable. When immigration is gone, will they "decommission" the mall? 

The falangs that go to Immigration only account for perhaps 5% of the business there according to a relative who works at the Prom. That has been my observation as well.  When Immigration moves it will have ZERO impact on business at the Promenada.

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Turn one building into a children's education/entertainment plaza with open study areas, private study centres, Kidzania, Lazer Game and such things.

 

The other building can be cafes, restaurants and pubs. And Rimping.

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2 hours ago, elektrified said:

The falangs that go to Immigration only account for perhaps 5% of the business there according to a relative who works at the Prom. That has been my observation as well.  When Immigration moves it will have ZERO impact on business at the Promenada.

To say it will have zero impact when Imm leaves is a bit of a stretch .On the few occasions I've had a coffee upstairs on completion of business I see the same people that were queued up downstairs.

 

People post all the time  that they have lunch at Ragu/Dukes while waiting for their number to come up. 

 

Time will tell but I would have thought the Management at Promenada would love to see Imm stay.

 

Never had an anchor store,can't really call Rimping that, poor business model IMO

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6 hours ago, sanemax said:

Its rather too big to be just a Chinese theme park .

Maybe they could have an Asian themed shopping center

Possibly...... and by the time you add a couple of water slides and a make believe film set where tourists can take selfies,obviously providing commision to bus companies...bingo

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7 hours ago, sanemax said:

If you were assigned to bring Promenda to life , to make it successful and busy

What would you do to make it a successful location ?

Put a tunnel under the road so that you have a captive audience from the new apartment blocks over the road and stop cars having to U turn like Auchan did on route 11.

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On 13/5/2561 at 6:53 PM, Dellboy218 said:

Put a tunnel under the road so that you have a captive audience from the new apartment blocks over the road and stop cars having to U turn like Auchan did on route 11.

 

one factor is the small number of lock up shops with lots of variety which would to some extent attract customers because of more options of items for sale. Prom in fact has a very small number of lock-up shops, quite a few never occupied.

 

Central Festival on the other hand has hundreds of lock-up shops and from day 1 most occupied. Why most occupied from day one? Because Central are experts at such scenarios, good planning of the extend of variety on each floor etc., and pay outside agents high commissions to find tenants.

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

Happened in there a couple days after immigration had left. Was on the way home from something in that neck of the woods. Basically, the only people there were the folks working the shops. There were a couple of bewildered farangs with papers and passports but the place was deserted. Duke's was deserted at 11am. 

I felt bad for the workers there. Working retail is bad enough without having no customers at all. 

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Some have commented in the past that some shops at Promenada are "doing well" and wont miss the Imm throng there.

 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "doing well"
 

On our rare visits there we pop into that huge Rimping store and at all times never seen more than 2 check out girls.

 

I would suggest thats a pretty good indicator.I doubt whether their turnover /profit marin would even break even taking into account rent/wages /utility bills ,electricity bill alone must be huge.

 

Rimping are fortunate that all their other stores are probably providing a good return and Promenada's overheads are being absorbed.Other retailers maybe not so lucky

 

As a business plan its been a disaster.The owners must have deep pockets.Imm leaving must have not exactly made their day.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Sparkles said:

Some have commented in the past that some shops at Promenada are "doing well" and wont miss the Imm throng there.

 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "doing well"
 

On our rare visits there we pop into that huge Rimping store and at all times never seen more than 2 check out girls.

 

I would suggest thats a pretty good indicator.I doubt whether their turnover /profit marin would even break even taking into account rent/wages /utility bills ,electricity bill alone must be huge.

 

Rimping are fortunate that all their other stores are probably providing a good return and Promenada's overheads are being absorbed.Other retailers maybe not so lucky

 

As a business plan its been a disaster.The owners must have deep pockets.Imm leaving must have not exactly made their day.

 

 

 

IMHO the initial business plan of promenada was a failure waiting to happen. Very few lock up shops, compare to Central Festival, hundreds of lock up shops providing lots of variety etc., Central Festival a success from day 1, Promenada always struggled, not many actual shops with no competition / variety, and half of the few lock up shops now abandoned, plus at least one bank now closed it's doors. It would make a good case study for some MBA students. 

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1 hour ago, Sparkles said:

Some have commented in the past that some shops at Promenada are "doing well" and wont miss the Imm throng there.

 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "doing well"
 

On our rare visits there we pop into that huge Rimping store and at all times never seen more than 2 check out girls.

 

I would suggest thats a pretty good indicator.I doubt whether their turnover /profit marin would even break even taking into account rent/wages /utility bills ,electricity bill alone must be huge.

 

Rimping are fortunate that all their other stores are probably providing a good return and Promenada's overheads are being absorbed.Other retailers maybe not so lucky

 

As a business plan its been a disaster.The owners must have deep pockets.Imm leaving must have not exactly made their day.

 

 

IMHO the Rimping expansion of a few years back may have added little or nothing to the groups bottom line.  Prom, Kad Farang and Mae Hia do not have high t/o.

 

Worst thing about Rimping is their rotten frozen (frostbitten) imported foods, otherwise we like shopping there.

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8 hours ago, Trujillo said:

Happened in there a couple days after immigration had left. Was on the way home from something in that neck of the woods. Basically, the only people there were the folks working the shops. There were a couple of bewildered farangs with papers and passports but the place was deserted. Duke's was deserted at 11am. 

I felt bad for the workers there. Working retail is bad enough without having no customers at all. 

Bewildered farangs!!!!   555     hauled all the way out there and......POOF!!!  ????

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I was talking with one of the shop owners at Promenada recently about the imminent relocation of immigration back to the airport and the lack of traffic at the mall in general. He told me that a Chinese company had bought the mall from the previous owners, so it looks like the mall will stay open for the foreseeable future. After all, the Chinese are masters of buildings cities that no one uses, what's one more mall? 

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