New Central Festival in Pattaya

Finally, Pattaya has a proper department store (central) in a new shopping centre between Beach Road and Sai 2.
7 floors of retail space, usual restaurants and shops, food court and the new SFX Cinema which has First Class screening room (600 Baht per seat). There is also quite a large Central Food Hall.
Lots of car parking space but for opening day, it took 30 mins to get into a space! I am sure it will better in a week or so.

It is what Pattaya needed, a good shopping centre for all the needs of tourists, locals and expats - a welcome addition to the City.

[x in pattaya]

Finally, Pattaya has a proper department store

It is what Pattaya needed, a good shopping centre for all the needs of tourists, locals and expats - a welcome addition to the City.

When I first came here, shopping meant either Friendship Supermarket or the old BigC up near Pattaya Nua. I had to go to Bangkok to buy furniture for my condo. Tukcom was just an empty building and that place at the corner of Second Rd and Pattaya Nua was nearly empty after BigC opened.

Haven't been in the new Central Festival yet. I guess it'll be nice, but between the Carrefours, Centrals/Big Cs, Avenue, Royal Garden, Mikes, Tukcom etc I think we may have reached over saturation, just as we have with the proliferation of condos. Hopefully things won't get as bad as 1997, but I think we're going to see a number of half finished condos, half empty condos, empty shops & theatres (as is already the case in Royal Garden).

It's the boom & bust cycle all over again. I know change is inevitable and is sometimes good, but I think in some ways the Pattaya of ten years ago was a nicer place to live.

Well if itтАЩs that good, you can tell for a start, it will have a descent perfume shop.
IтАЩm always looking to buy my favorite After Shave EAU DE TOILETTE ISSEY MIYAKE try it your love it. 3900 baht.100 mil

Second, it will have a decent cloths shop instead of just shirt after shirt shop, like MIKES SHOPPING MALL..

Does it have a good Steak House or all Asian food stalls? Is there a good food hall where you can buy quality imported Wines and Food.

In the screening room is there an bed type Chair with blankets like some VIP seats where you can have a bit of Nooky :tongue:

Hopefully in 3 or 4 years time when the turn around starts Pattaya will be in a good position to take advantage of all the Top Hotels built and on the drawing board, Good homes to be rented and bought, now good Department Shops all the y had when I first came to Pattaya was Day and Night department store but now they need to have nice beaches and Infostructure. Like Roads and drainage.

Thats Just for starters.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

oh dear.. Issey Miyake is soo yesterday. But whatever.

I'm a luddite..please..what is a "SFX Cinema " and why should I go there ?

[colmx]

SF cinema is the company that used to run the cinema in the Royal Garden
They closed tht royal garden cinema down last week and will run the cinema in the new Central festival centre instead...

There is a food hall there...but i think Villa is still better for that kind of thing

I have to say i was very impressed with the centre... A proper shopping centre for Pattaya at last...Crowds there today were unbelievable... Looks like its going to be a very busy weekend in Pattaya!

That Central Festival has been there quite a while, hasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was there a couple years ago...or am I thinking of something else?

[x in pattaya]

That Central Festival has been there quite a while, hasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was there a couple years ago...or am I thinking of something else?

The C in Big C means Central as in Central World in Bangkok and Central Dept Stores. The Central Festival is just opening for the first time on 23rd January. Among other things it should ensure that traffic on Beach Rd and 2nd Road become even more congested.

[joe552]

Just what we need - another place for the 'off' to shop!

[x in pattaya]

Just what we need - another place for the 'off' to shop!


Another nice thing about having your friend go shopping with you is that they have an innate mall oriented GPS. I think it refreshes each night while they sleep. No need to bother with those schematics that state "You are here" and then shows the location of shops that went out of business two years ago. Take your friend into any mall, no matter how large, no matter that he's never been there before and whisper "mobile phone shop" or "video games" and watch a professional at work.

I recall recently being in a department store looking for something a little out of the ordinary. He allowed me to try a couple of shops without success and then stated, as one would to a backward child, "it's on the fourth floor." I didn't even realize there was a fourth floor. I'm almost certain he hadn't been there before. Of course, he was right. It's almost spooky.

[Smiles]

Back in late December we were strolling southward along the Pattaya beach promenade and looked across the road at this gigantic contruction project, seemingly in the close-to-opening phase. So that was it, the new Central Festival Mall.

The main feature (I remember thinking) was it's mind-numbing size, and it's consummate ugliness. Thinking (again!) back in my memory, it brought back a vision of once walking alone along the north bank of the River Thames in London on a typically grey day, looking out across the river at the gigantic Battersea Power Station. Kind of a majestic stength in it's size ... perhaps it's what the mall should really look like!

(CLICK TO ENLARGE):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Personal/battersea.jpg


Cheers ...

[x in pattaya]

it's mind-numbing size, and it's consummate ugliness. Cheers

Ah some more ruminations from our country cousins in the Outback of Beyond. Pure jealousy...


The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.
Salvador Dali

[Smiles]

" ... Ah some more ruminations from our country cousins in the Outback of Beyond ..."
Do you mean Hua Hin or Canada or Australia or all?
I've had many an outback experience in my life, some of which included a country "cousin", in a hut, on a river.
I kid you not.

Cheers ...

Just what we need - another place for the 'off' to shop!Is there decent cruising in the lavatories?

[x in pattaya]

Do you mean Hua Hin or Canada or Australia ...
Yes

a country "cousin", in a hut, on a river.


Surely that's an incestuous "act contrary to nature." Hopefully anyone bathing downstream was forewarned.

.....between the Carrefours, Centrals/Big Cs, Avenue, Royal Garden, Mikes, Tukcom etc I think we may have reached over saturation.....

And jolly nice it is too!! 6 to 9 months ago, with only half the checkouts manned, it could take up to 15 minutes or more to pay at Lotus - now, with even less cashiers, the queues are minimal even at weekends. It could take a while (particularly if they insist on linking the baht to the dollar until the economy is totally destroyed as exports and tourism decline) but 1997 may be mild by comparison - the "bust" of 1997 mainly affected the wealthy, while this time it is more likely to affect all Thais, starting with the factory workers and the labourers.

[x in pattaya]

The main feature (I remember thinking) was it's mind-numbing size

Somewhat belatedly that reminded me of something that happened in Nairobi in the 60's. An Indian resident there owned some company that had just constructed a new office building of monumental size, at least by the standards of that time.

At the Grand Opening, on the flower bedecked dais, before an impressive gaggle of dignataries & the press, he proudly announced that he now possessed the greatest erection in all of East Africa.

[mahjongguy]

..they insist on linking the baht to the dollar...

The baht is in no way linked to the USD. No way at all. The Bank of Thailand, somewhat indirectly, sets the rates that the consumer banks charge but they can't deviate much from the offshore rates without having to make up the difference themselves. Primarily their only tool to move the baht up or down in relation to another currency is to make its own mass purchases or sales of that currency, but they haven't the resources to make much of an impact.

You are correct that the Thai economy will be waning in 2009 and that will have the effect of cheapening the baht, but only against those currencies that have some innate strength of their own.

If you hold pounds sterling then these are not good times for you, but that reflects the current attractiveness of baht vs. pounds and has nothing to do with the USD. Next year maybe the dollar will be weak and the pound will be aces.

[thrillbill]

SMILES WROTE:The main feature (I remember thinking) was it's mind-numbing size, and it's consummate ugliness.
For a shopping center/mall it is tastefully done -- (for a shopping complex that is);however,it was built in such a hurry I wonder if the various contractors will go back and "polish" some of their work or just leave it.

I would rather take this type of building over the beer shacks that line up along Beach Road--and right next to Central. (Unfortunately) Pattaya is no longer the little fishing village along the sea that some people wish for back in the 60's. It is a big resort city now...but even the city planners don't realize Pattaya requires serious CITY PLANNING and enforcing CITY BUILDING CODES.

..they insist on linking the baht to the dollar...

The baht is in no way linked to the USD. No way at all.

Funny, that seemed to be very much the party line prior to July 1997 when the baht was officially allowed to float from its basket of currencies.

In the last 9 months despite virtually all other currencies fluctuating considerably against the US$ the baht has remained pretty well constant: average 34.6, minimum 33.5 (August 4), maximum 35.7 (December 5). Co-incidence? Who knows .....


.....Pattaya requires serious CITY PLANNING.....

And just how, short of flattening it and starting again, can you "plan" for something which is already there? No matter how much lacquer you put on a pile of excrement, and how many shiny bits you stick in it, the basic item remains the same.

[x in pattaya]

Pattaya requires serious CITY PLANNING and enforcing CITY BUILDING CODES.

I think there's a relatively simple solution. Just have TAT redirect all the packaged tours and all the busloads of Indian & Chinese tourists and plane loads of Russians & Middle Easterners, as well as anyone who has decided to buy a condo in LOS to Hua Hin.

It won't solve all the problems, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction.

[Smiles]

" ... I think there's a relatively simple solution. Just have TAT redirect all the packaged tours and all the busloads of Indian & Chinese tourists and plane loads of Russians & Middle Easterners ... to Hua Hin ... "
PLEASE DON'T FEED THE TROLL :rabbit:

Cheers ...

[mahjongguy]

[quote="Gone Fishing":2pb8sp8w]..they insist on linking the baht to the dollar...

The baht is in no way linked to the USD. No way at all.

Funny, that seemed to be very much the party line prior to July 1997 when the baht was officially allowed to float from its basket of currencies.

In the last 9 months despite virtually all other currencies fluctuating considerably against the US$ the baht has remained pretty well constant: average 34.6, minimum 33.5 (August 4), maximum 35.7 (December 5). Co-incidence? Who knows .....[/quote:2pb8sp8w]

Onshore rates are moderated by the BOT as best they can within their limited ability to do so. Their goal would be to provide some support to the currencies of the countries who purchase the most Thai exports.That is a preference, a bias, but not a "link" (and far from a "peg").

Offshore rates, representing mainly the activity of speculators, fluctuate freely. As seen in this chart
http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/USD/hist2008.html
the average rate for January 2008 was nearly 15% less than the average rate for December 2008.

I don't have access to a chart for onshore rates during that same period, but my sense is that the high to low spread was closer, perhaps around 10%. Closer, but still a sizeable movement.

Anyway, I was only making two points: 1) that there's no numerically-defined link, not like the HKD to USD, and 2) that when it comes to exchange rates the big wheel just keeps spinnin'. A year ago all the Yanks here were in tears, now it's the Brits.