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Promenada - The Beginning of The End?


JLT

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8 hours ago, NaamGin said:

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? 

 

If that is really the case I would expect the mall to soon be bustling with Chinese tourists bargaining over latex pillows and wrestling over the shrimp buffets. Joking of course. But I might realistically expect the mall to be converted into something entirely different. Perhaps offices, condos, or hotels. Strictly as a shopping mall, I can't see a future for it.

 

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On 5/13/2018 at 3:32 PM, 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.

So 5% = 0 ?!?

Fuzzy math... ????

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On 9/29/2018 at 7:01 PM, Lacessit said:

The restaurant next to Rimping seems to do quite well.

One of the biggest mistakes at Promenada was to locate the food court stalls on the top floor, where it was so hot eating food was uncomfortable.

 

Plus the initial prices for the food court were way too expensive, more like prices in a high end professional sit down restaurant with full service. One visit only, never went back.

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On 10/5/2018 at 11:46 PM, YogaVeg said:

Sad situation yet a funny picture you painted

Seems to still be going on as i talk with a lady who cooks for rimping there....

 

Would have happened to me next week on my visa run to laos as monday is a thai holiday..ugh

 

And of course is the same day as my PP expires, another day wandering around laos waiting on visa

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On 5/13/2018 at 3:32 PM, 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.

 

Not true. When I was there after they moved out, most of the parking slots were empty whereas in the past, it was difficult to find parking.

 

I would think 50% drop is the realistic figure for the morning and afternoon crowd.

 

The food shops down at the old imm office were literally swatting flies to kill time.

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On 10/6/2018 at 10:42 AM, YogaVeg said:

So 5% = 0 ?!?

Fuzzy math... ????

I was there yesterday and spoke with my relative. No change. The businesses that do well (Dukes, Rimping, Chi Chang, Sports shop, ramen shop, cinema, toy shop, food court, etc.) continue to do well. The falangs that frequented Dukes or shopped at Rimping, etc. continue to do so. Falangs still come to the cinema as they did before. The food vendors that were near Immigration obviously were affected.

 

Next...

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15 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

Not true. When I was there after they moved out, most of the parking slots were empty whereas in the past, it was difficult to find parking.

 

I would think 50% drop is the realistic figure for the morning and afternoon crowd.

 

The food shops down at the old imm office were literally swatting flies to kill time.

50% drop in bodies. Not in revenue to the businesses that do well. Most falangs there for Immigration dropped 60 Baht at the food stalls outside. That's about it. Those vendors are affected. Gone? The people who shop at Rimping still shop there. People still go to the cinema....

 

The Thursday-Sunday evening events have been 97% Thai since the inception. I rarely ever see a falang there. Never more than perhaps 6 falangs all evening; including myself.

 

Yawn????

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2 minutes ago, elektrified said:

50% drop in bodies. Not in revenue to the businesses that do well. Most falangs there for Immigration dropped 60 Baht at the food stalls outside. That's about it. Those vendors are affected. Gone? The people who shop at Rimping still shop there. People still go to the cinema....

 

Yawn????

Many "falangs" who used go there to do Imm business also used to go upstairs for a coffee and wander around with some "impulse" purchases while waiting .  If you believe small busineses similar to them will not be affected  you're dreaming.

 

Never went anywhere near the food vendors outside Imm. How many go to the cinema during the week ? virtually nobody

 

Would I or others drive all the way from Hang Dong/Mae Hia/Saraphi etc to shop at Rimping ,Promenda, which I did when I went to Imm ? same for anyone living south/west/north of the city.

 

Promeneda is on life support and if it has been sold would not surprise me one bit.I hope the new owners have deep pockets.               The whole project was  ill conceived, history shows that, despite your relatives opinion 

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2 hours ago, elektrified said:

50% drop in bodies. Not in revenue to the businesses that do well. Most falangs there for Immigration dropped 60 Baht at the food stalls outside. That's about it. Those vendors are affected. Gone? The people who shop at Rimping still shop there. People still go to the cinema....

 

The Thursday-Sunday evening events have been 97% Thai since the inception. I rarely ever see a falang there. Never more than perhaps 6 falangs all evening; including myself.

 

Yawn????

 

Only 60 baht? I doubt so. 

 

Good for Promenada if the drop in business is only 5%. I guess most of the foreigners who went there were cheapskates.

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17 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

Not true. When I was there after they moved out, most of the parking slots were empty whereas in the past, it was difficult to find parking.

 

I would think 50% drop is the realistic figure for the morning and afternoon crowd.

 

The food shops down at the old imm office were literally swatting flies to kill time.

Absolute BS - go out there on a weekend and try to find a carpark. 

I was even out there during a weekday about 2 weeks ago - post the immigration move and there were plenty of people around. The reason most farangs believe that Prom is empty is that they're there in morning before it opens. The place comes alive in the afternoon. 

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43 minutes ago, koosdeboer said:

 

Without some context, putting up a couple of videos doesn't prove anything. The first video looks like one of the early promotional events (hence all the people wearing red shirts). The second video is I think, a one-off event for Children's Day most of which is outside and doesn't show shops full (or not) of customers.

 

Yes, Promenada Mall can get a little "busy" (?) on Saturdays and Sundays, but what about Monday through Friday? Yes, the lovely cinema has customers but are they shopping? In the other, larger shops I think without question, staff generally outnumber the customers. One wonders how long the obvious lack of daily shoppers (compared to Central Airport; Central Festival; Maya and even Khad San Kaew) can go on.

Now Kasikorn bank has closed its doors along with some of the couture dress shops and restaurants. These are not good signs. So it's no use being in denial. The Promenada Mall is probably the loveliest of all the shopping malls in Chiang Mai but in business terms I suspect the lack of footfall and small daily, customer / shopper numbers will eventually and regretfully, see it close.

 

Regards,

 

Joe

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  • 2 weeks later...

More and more unfixed broken toilets -- and I mean a lot. At least they've attached typewritten signs in Thai and English. Obviously, money for maintenance is the first to take a hit in a downward spiral. Too bad -- I park outdoors, where there's nothing but open parking lot, and walk to the nearby elevator. Very convenient for my weekly Rimping shopping. Parking for Rimping Meechok is a joke, at least mid day. Will be sorry to see the Prom close.

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50 Fly Trampoline Club will be opening there soon.

 

The reptile event last weekend was great for the family.

 

The mommy market is a regular essential for my family. And if we time it right I get the first Premier League game in on the big screen outside on a Saturday.

 

Plenty of coffee shops and restaurants, many doing a good trade.

 

Rimping.

 

In January, they're having a jazz festival.

 

Arguably the best cinema in Chiang Mai.

 

This Friday an off road show and meet.

 

This weekend a green community event for the family.

 

I don't know of another Mall in Chiang Mai that offers more. I do notice the other malls have plenty of kids and university students wandering around not buying much. Maybe Promenada should go after them. Or maybe it's doing well enough as it is.

 

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I was there on Sunday. Every parking spot starting at the entrance on Th. 700 yr. all the way back, as well as both buildings were completely full. There were only a few spots in the rear lot. Fortunately we had umbrellas. No idea what was happening but I have never seen it as full - ever. Looks like business is O.K. Even rhe vendors out back by where Immigration was were doing a brisk trade.

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25 minutes ago, elektrified said:

I was there on Sunday. Every parking spot starting at the entrance on Th. 700 yr. all the way back, as well as both buildings were completely full. There were only a few spots in the rear lot. Fortunately we had umbrellas. No idea what was happening but I have never seen it as full - ever. Looks like business is O.K. Even rhe vendors out back by where Immigration was were doing a brisk trade.

I was there yesterday and it was virtually dead. Visited the Rimping supermarket, only saw one other customer besides myself, and on the main floors areas could count the amount of people walking about on one hand. All the shops, never saw a customer. I was looking in the window of the Big Camera shop, one of the male staff approached practically pleading with me to go inside the shop.

 

The car park was full yesterday, but have no idea who those vehicles belong to, they certainly were not in the mall.

 

 

 

 

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Selfish? Hell yes! I like it as it is now....half empty car park all day long, nice cinema with hardly any viewers apart from me,  Fuji at lunchtime last Thursday, there were four people including two of us, compared to trying to park at Airport Plaza, compared to trying to even access the very stupidly placed Maya ( traffic wise), Promenadas a breeze......but please if you read this, dont tell anybody cos its great empty!

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56 minutes ago, EL159 said:

Selfish? Hell yes! I like it as it is now....half empty car park all day long, nice cinema with hardly any viewers apart from me,  Fuji at lunchtime last Thursday, there were four people including two of us, compared to trying to park at Airport Plaza, compared to trying to even access the very stupidly placed Maya ( traffic wise), Promenadas a breeze......but please if you read this, dont tell anybody cos its great empty!

Good points.

 

What I would prefer is that Promenada be sold to a much more market oriented and strategic owner who instantly creates many many more lock up shops and with big variety and undertakes a big in your face marketing campaign to get folks to visit and see it's changed for the better and is an attractive place to shop.

 

 

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12 hours ago, EricTh said:

I see conflicting statements. Some say business is booming whereas others say it's almost dead.

 

So what's the real story?

"The real story"...

 

I've been going to Promenada since the day it opened (mainly for the lovely cinema). The food outlets are generally NOT busy...yes, there are odd times during the week when there are more customers than staff but not often. The busiest are: KFC, Dukes, Wine Connection; Fuji and the Thai food outlet opposite KFC. Also the outside food stalls at the weekend can get busy...ish. Rimping can't really be called busy (in comparison with other Rimpings), the restaurant seems popular but I've never seen a queue. There are a number of coffee shops, none of which are particularly busy and the largest (Tom n Tom?) seems busy, but it's usually populated by the digital nomad crowd drinking 1 coffee every 2 hours. Other outlets are appallingly quiet..The Sport World staff just lounge around waiting to pounce on any customer, the electrical retailer Chi Chang generates a few customers but nowhere near enough to justify the number of staff. SF Cinema city is popular(not least of all because of the acres of space inside each cinema). The couture and fashion shops are generally deserted but the bicycle retailer (Jinny Bike) does get some customers. I'm fairly sure that the Thai Immigration move hasn't helped either. There's occasionally good weekend entertainment none of which really generate footfall and customers inside and anyway they're too infrequent to make a difference on the P&L balance sheet. There those in denial that will say they went on a specific day and it was "really" busy....but there are 7 shopping days in a week and one good one doesn't pay for the 6 bad ones.

 

All that being said, the Promenada is a great place that has / had potential. It's design has been well thought out and it's a nice place. I wish that there was more life and vitality inside.

 

Regards,

 

Joe

 

PS: Why don't you go there and see for yourself and report back?

PPS: It's still a mystery to me why / how the internal car parks are so full when there are so few customers. The staff seem mostly to use m/bikes....

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5 minutes ago, Shoeless Joe said:

 

 

PS: Why don't you go there and see for yourself and report back?

PPS: It's still a mystery to me why / how the internal car parks are so full when there are so few customers. The staff seem mostly to use m/bikes....

 

I go there only for immigration matters in the past. 

 

I even went there a few days after immigration moved out, but that was in the morning and  it was like a ghost town unlike in the past.

 

The few times in the afternoon when I had to wait for my immigration visa, it was very quiet too.

 

But I have never been there at night or during weekends.

 

I didn't know they have a cinema there... maybe I might drop by for their cinema. Are the movies shown in English or dubbed in Thai?

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I happened to be a Bangkok Hospital for an appointment yesterday and decided to drop by Rim Ping Promenada for a little shopping.  It was a delight to shop in a fully-stocked Rim Ping vs. the little crowded one at Maya Mall and very few people were in the store despite it being the popular after work time of 5:30 pm when people run in to the store to get something for dinner.  

 

If I lived out that way, I'd certainly be going to Promenada more often.  It has the same stores that I patronize most often at Maya Mall -- Rim Ping, Dukes, Boots and the SF cinema only without the crowds, plus a Bangkok Bank and good electronics store, also.  I've found some good buys on small appliances at the ChiChang.  Not really enough to justify a special trip when I needed a new curling iron or hot pot, but it made a trip to Immigration worthwhile.  I'll miss having a excuse to visit that mall.

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On 10/23/2018 at 9:05 PM, cyberfarang said:

I was there yesterday and it was virtually dead. Visited the Rimping supermarket, only saw one other customer besides myself, and on the main floors areas could count the amount of people walking about on one hand. All the shops, never saw a customer. I was looking in the window of the Big Camera shop, one of the male staff approached practically pleading with me to go inside the shop.

 

The car park was full yesterday, but have no idea who those vehicles belong to, they certainly were not in the mall.

 

 

 

 

I'd be a bit worried if one of the male staff pleaded with me to come into the shop and didn't mention buying anything !!! also was he on his hands and knees ? 

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2 minutes ago, alfieconn said:

I'd be a bit worried if one of the male staff pleaded with me to come into the shop and didn't mention buying anything !!! also was he on his hands and knees ? 

No, but he did say he`d like to take me from several directions at long angles.

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I'm sure ALL major, potential tenants like Robinsons,Ikea and the like were approached in the early days of planning by Promenda Management to come aboard with the usual incentive of "relief" on rent over the early period of their lease.

 

That major anchor stores did their due diligence and decided there would not be enough floor traffic tells you all you need to know.

They rarely make mistakes and why they have successful businesses.

 

In years to come, as the city spreads, it may well be viable but as has been mentioned you can't build a business currently based on weekend traffic.

 

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