New Phuket Weekend Market opens at Boat Lagoon

PHUKET: The Boat Lagoon Weekend Market opened yesterday to a welcome reception by local vendors and market goers.

With pitch rentals as low as 100 baht, vender Jantima Tanpitakpong saw the opportunity to set up a stall of her own.

“We buy handmade items, add value to them and sell them on. We don’t have our own shop yet, so this is our chance to have people know about our products,” Ms Jantima told the Phuket Gazette.

Vender Rattanaporn Ubonsuwan, 32, saw the same opportunity. “We have yet to set any sales targets, We will see how this first week and the rest of the month goes. Boat Lagoon has its own customers, so I think we will do well,” she said.

Boat Lagoon Deputy Managing Director Boon Yongsakul said the response he received so far bode well for the future of the market.

“Feedback from today was very good. This is quite what we expected. Some foreigners even came from as far as Chalong and Patong to the market. They said they knew about it from the Phuket Gazette. Thank you Gazette very much.

“They said they had been looking for this kind of market and that this was the type of place where they like to hang out on the weekends.

“We expect this will be hub for Thai and foreign families on the weekends. We have a tin mine bar and stage performances to entertain everyone,” he added.

Numfon Vittaya came to the market with her sister, who lives in the area. “I think this a good choice for people who live nearby. We don’t have to go in town,” she said.

Loes Klaves, a tourist from the Netherlands, said, “This is our first time in Phuket. We are here on holiday. We have been here for a week and will be staying 10 more days, then we head to Langawi.

“We have seen open markets before on other islands, so we will just go look around – it looks good,” she said.

The market continues today from 3pm to 10pm.

— Chutharat Plerin