Jim Thompson Shopping Tips

One of the main reasons for me to spend a little time in Bangkok, while in Thailand is to do a little shopping. There are three locations that are essential stops for me each time I'm in town, custom made dress shirts at Stylos on Sukhumvit, cotton sheets at Green Cotton in MBK and Thai silk ties at the Jim Thompson Silk Company. Having made these trips frequently over the years has allowed me to know where to find the best selections at the most attractive prices. Well this year, while shopping for ties I made a few mistakes that I am hoping this post will help you avoid or to spark an interest in some of these great commodities.

First thing, if you are still working or simply enjoy having excellent quality neck ties, ┬аyou can't go wrong with a visit to Jim Thompson (Silk Company), as they make some of the best neck ties in the world and at very affordable prices. With Thailand, being a major producer of silk, you also have to bare in mind that not all that you see out there is good. This is especially true with ties in Thai tourist stops, on the streets and even in a lot of respectable stores. The best quality ties should look right at home, if they were on a table or hanging from a rack in the most respectable western, fine dress shops and this is precisely what you'll find with many of the new designs offered at Jim Thompson.

One of the best places to start, if you want to have a look is the Surawong location near Rama IV and virtually across the street from the bars in Bangkok. With this being their flag ship location, you can expect the newest designs and the most expensive prices, ranging from about 1600 baht to 2300 baht. Compare this to the several hundred dollar price tag you may pay for the same designs and quality back home. There are also Outlet stores in Pattaya at the Royal Garden Center and out by Big C on Sukhumvit, also in Pattaya. There was an outlet store in the lower level of Central Festival, but this location had been closed for renovations and is advertising a re-opening soon, if it hasn't re-opened already. Also in Bangkok is the actual factory outlet located way out on Sukhumvit at Bang Chak along Soi 93. If you miss all of these opportunities you can also visit Jim Thompson at the airport on the way home.

The mistake I made was in respect to prices and selection from one location to the next. In the past I have spent what baht I had left, if any at the airport location at slighfly inflated prices. This trip though, Itook the time to make the trip all the way out to E10 and Bang Chak, expecting to find the best selection at the factory and at the best prices. At the factory location, the first 3 floors are reserved for bulk silk, rolls and bolts. On the 4th floor are the end of the line items, perhaps returned to the factory to make room at the stores for the new stock. This is certainly not what I was xpecting, instead hoping to have a bit off the Surawong prices. The 5th floor has home decore items, pillows, drapes (things for the house, made of silk) these sort of goods and plus they have a small cafe consisting of a few tables in the corner of the showroom floor. They rave about the Cafe on Trip Advisor, but I never took the time. The prices here on most things are good, but only marginally with ties raging between 1000 baht at 1300 baht. Even though I found a few, I was dissaappointed with less popular designs and the need to carefully inspect each tie for blemishes....and I saw several that appeared soiled or damaged. You can find much better selection at the Outlet locations in Pattaya, with prices ranging from 1000 baht to 1600 baht....and the factory store only had a few of their latest designs. The airport location, however, was one of the better deals, with several new designs and prices in the 1400 to 1600 baht range.....considerably cheaper than the Surawong store. The overall selection wasn't as vast as the Surawong store, but in several cases they had more varieties in color of the newer designs. Another big issue I have with the Surawong store is the amount of tourist traffic through the store and many shoppers who don't know that you shouldn't be handling the ties with your dirty sweaty hands. Obviougly, the ties can be lifted off the racks by their metal hangers to be examined more closely without having to handle the actual ties with your hands or fingers. Quite often, a sweat stain ┬аor dirt from someone's hands can soil a tie so bad that a prayer and a very good dry cleaner is your only hope to bringing it back to its original condition. On my last visit to the store, I lost it on a Chinese shopper that was grabbing the ties as if she were picking a chicken up by the neck, giving them a quick look at jamming them back on to the rack. This while the staff in the store just watched her and doing nothing. Then she pretended to not understand English when I gave her a blast after just having asked the clerk something in English.

If you are interested in checking out some of the best ties on the planet ( A Thai Tie) this should help guide you to the best options while hopefully saving you a bit of money.

Surfcrest

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