March 2nd, 2007, 19:47
Central World - formerly World Trade Center. This place is developing magnificently and in my estimation will be superior in many ways to Siam Paragon. It is a little bit of a pain to get there - either skytrain to Siam and a longish walk along the skywalk and direct entrances. Taxis seem to drop one off on Ratchadamri which meant that I had to clamber through piles of equipment being erected on the front plaza. I seem to remember a taxi stop at the rear.
Zen the Japanese department store has been remodeled into very cutting edge design, lots of seating on the ground floor and elegant escalators take you up the atrium. It boasts all the usual stuff plus a Muji store and has a doggie spa and hotel opening soon.
Central - the Thai department store have taken over a floor and opened a superb spacious, state of the art supermarket (stocking McVities Digestives and Ginger Nuts!) and opened another of their superb 'Loft' de luxe food courts. There is another budget priced food hall in the supermarket. There are many restaurants opened - mainly Japanese ones with fabulous decors and the usual fast food places. The superior burger one disappoints. All very good but not yet on a par with Paragon's amazing food floor with multiple restaurants, shops and food courts.
There are two particular things that I like about this giant mall. One is the atriums. The whole place seems flooded with daylight and this is helped by the all white and beige decors. The other thing is that the shops show some new names and products which makes a nice change from the Gucci, Prada, Chanel list in Paragon and Gaysorn malls.
It has all the 'usual' features that we are used to in Bangkok, glass elevators, oodles of escalators, department stores Zen and Isetan, a massive cinema complex including de luxe theatres. The investment in retail in Bangkok in the last few years has been enormous. Along Rama 1 we now have MBK, Siam Center, Siam Discovery Center, Siam Paragon, Central World, Gaythorn, Hyatt and Erewan malls and the flagship Central Chitlom - soon to be extended into the former grounds of the British Embassy.
Singapore had better watch out otherwise it could loose the shopping crown of South East Asia. The government could help by removing some of the punitive luxury taxes and duties and abolishing the foolish ban on alcohol sales between 2 and 5 p.m
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/wowpow/central_world_plaza.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/wowpow/shoppingmap.gif
courtesy virtualtourist.com
Zen the Japanese department store has been remodeled into very cutting edge design, lots of seating on the ground floor and elegant escalators take you up the atrium. It boasts all the usual stuff plus a Muji store and has a doggie spa and hotel opening soon.
Central - the Thai department store have taken over a floor and opened a superb spacious, state of the art supermarket (stocking McVities Digestives and Ginger Nuts!) and opened another of their superb 'Loft' de luxe food courts. There is another budget priced food hall in the supermarket. There are many restaurants opened - mainly Japanese ones with fabulous decors and the usual fast food places. The superior burger one disappoints. All very good but not yet on a par with Paragon's amazing food floor with multiple restaurants, shops and food courts.
There are two particular things that I like about this giant mall. One is the atriums. The whole place seems flooded with daylight and this is helped by the all white and beige decors. The other thing is that the shops show some new names and products which makes a nice change from the Gucci, Prada, Chanel list in Paragon and Gaysorn malls.
It has all the 'usual' features that we are used to in Bangkok, glass elevators, oodles of escalators, department stores Zen and Isetan, a massive cinema complex including de luxe theatres. The investment in retail in Bangkok in the last few years has been enormous. Along Rama 1 we now have MBK, Siam Center, Siam Discovery Center, Siam Paragon, Central World, Gaythorn, Hyatt and Erewan malls and the flagship Central Chitlom - soon to be extended into the former grounds of the British Embassy.
Singapore had better watch out otherwise it could loose the shopping crown of South East Asia. The government could help by removing some of the punitive luxury taxes and duties and abolishing the foolish ban on alcohol sales between 2 and 5 p.m
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/wowpow/central_world_plaza.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/wowpow/shoppingmap.gif
courtesy virtualtourist.com