Why are there so many shopping malls in Bangkok?
Why are there so many shopping malls in Bangkok!? They take up space, create traffic, draw more people to the area, and more. Have you ever looked and found that another construction is in process, another mall, influx of construction workers, cars, and eager mall goers and found yourself just flabbergasted by the sudden existence of this mall or malls in your area? These are questions and complaints that I am sure many of us have including myself.
On average, people that I personally know have at least two malls that are within walking distance from where they live. Another person I know has an array of three malls in a row so what is responsible for all of these malls?
What is responsible for there being so many shopping malls in Bangkok?
Easily enough, the answer comes down to the fact that malls are profitable for larger business conglomerates to make a profit out of and people in Thailand love shopping too. Since it’s so profitable, it would make sense to continue to build more to become the next space that people in Thailand want to go to.
However, it does not answer the full question. With that, I have pinned down 3 key factors:
1. People in Thailand love malls and shopping
One thing that you learn from living in Thailand for a while is that everybody loves malls. it is not a secret that if you can chart out a portion of a day in the life of anyone (including myself) in Thailand, I can assure you that a good portion involves a mall. But why is that?
Malls in Thailand provide these key things:
- Air conditioning
- Place to shop
- Hangout spot
- Place to eat
In combination, a mall is a space that keeps you cool from the scorching heat of Thailand’s humid weather while giving you a chance to buy what you need or want. At the same time, these malls provide a spot where you can hang out with your friends or family comfortably while looking for something to eat. Furthermore, you are spoiled for choice in what you can buy or eat so whatever your whims may be, you always have something to do, watch, eat, or buy.
All in all, the big word is that malls are CONVENIENT and this gives anyone living in Thailand a reason to prefer to go to a mall instead of staying home. If anything, these malls become more of a social hub rather than just another shopping centre.
Jeff Wright from Quora put it best when mentioning how malls fit into the consumer lifestyle of Thailand.
“Bangkok itself is basically one immense mall or market. It is a dense urban area, and people are used to being together rather than at home alone. Almost the entire city is a combined residential and private zone. In older sections, main streets are lined with shops, many of which are also homes. There are smaller, moveable shops and carts on nearly every street. This pattern repeats on the grounds of malls, and often inside them. At night, many bazaars and night markets appear and then later disappear. Malls are an extension and modernisation of this way of life.”
With that, some might wonder why shouldn’t there be more malls. It’s insanely lucrative and you can be sure that with the right location, it will always be full of people.
2. The improving shopping mall experience in Bangkok
In Bangkok, mall shopping is no longer just a way of buying things but it has become an experience all in itself. When you enter a mall in Bangkok, what you will find are:
- Beautiful architecture and Instagrammable spaces: Malls in Thailand are becoming more beautiful with their interesting designs and gimmicks, such as the new One Bangkok and Phenix Pratunam Mall or the popular Terminal 21 for example. With social media, a lot of people want to share their experiences, and having a nice-looking mall gives people more incentive to go there and post their pictures and videos.
Terminal 21 has a theme of being an airport with various cities from around the world inside each floor | Photo taken from Chatirum website - Deals with high-end brands: These days, malls are full of high-end brands and stores such as Louis Vuitton, Addidas, Nike, Zara, etc. Personal favourites of mine are stores like Salomon and Tank Store which have outdoor gear. With these brands renting spaces in the malls, people will really want to shop at the malls in order to get what they want.
Louis Vuitton store in Siam Paragon | Photo taken from Louis Vuitton website - Food, food, and more food: Malls in Thailand are full of food. Thai, Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, street, high-class, noodles, burgers, crepes, and more! At malls, we are spoilt for choice and whatever you feel like eating, you can find it. Even if you are not looking for anything, you can find it too.
Foodworld at Central World Chidlom which also has a large assortment of restaurants on the 4th and 5th floor | Photo taken from Gurulist.net - Augmented and virtual reality: With this technology, more malls have been integrating them in order to create a unique experience. One example is the Augmented reality fishpond at True Digital Park where you will see an interactive fishpond with the option to scan a QR code on the side for a secret 3D-modelled surprise which you can go and find out for yourself.
Total VR Arcade at Gateway Ekkamai | Photo taken from Tripadvisor - Pet-accessible: More malls are coming upon the realisation that there is a demographic that can be further tapped into; the pet owners. With more pet owners in Thailand these days, malls like True Digital Park and Central Westville allow people to bring their pets along. True Digital Park even has a patch of grassy space where your dog can, play, do their business, and have some doggy gelato on the side as well.
Photo by Facebook user Propholic with his dog inside True Digital Park; there is also a grassy patch of space by the West building for pets as well - Co-working spaces: Malls include spaces where people can sit down and work more often. Whether it is a general space that has conveniently designed furniture like that you will find in CentralWorld (The big steps that connect two floors and the red metal bar space outside of True for example) or the True Digital Park West where you have co-working offices and an entire space dedicated to working.
Example of a co-working space that you can find in True Digital Park – East
Malls are looking to continue to improve the experience to the extent that they can hyperbolically be said to be your second home. With these new improvements, it equates to more stores that want to open there so they rent the space in the mall which equates to more customers to create a lucrative cycle of profit.
Considering that construction costs in Thailand can be relatively cheaper than abroad there is an incentive with less cost to have more malls, hence more malls are being built.
3. Thailand’s recovering economic growth
One major factor that helps with the numerous mall construction projects in Thailand is that the Kingdom is experiencing some major growth, especially within the last few years.
Economic growth
Thailand’s economy has been experiencing a huge part of Thailand’s growth especially with the increase in the tourism industry and foreign investment finding its way into Thailand. According to this report made by one of the biggest international accounting and professional services firms, Delloite, Thailand has not reached the pinnacle of its growth yet before Covid-19 but its growth since then has been undeniable. Keep in mind that the report was measured on July 24.
To begin with, the tourism industry has experienced instant growth post-Covid which culminated through a combination of soft power campaigns and good marketing which has brought more attention to Thailand.
| Year | Foreign tourist arrivals forecast |
| 2019 | 39.9 million |
| 2020 | 6.7 million |
| 2021 | 0.4 million |
| 2022 | 11.2 million |
| 2023 | 28.2 million |
| 2024 (Forecasting included) | 36.5 million (20.6 million reported, 15.9 million forecasted) |
| 2025 (Forecasting included) | 39.0 million (Forecasted) |
It’s relatively more important to focus on the arrival of foreign tourists because when looking at the rest of the report, as noted in July this year, the economy of Thailand is still unstable with the housing market experiencing a decline and the industries, both automotive and tech, are experiencing slow recovery in the first half of the year.
What has recovered in Thailand, other than the GDP, is that the foreign investment in Thailand and tourism has increased and/or recovered very well. According to this article from ReTalk Asia, using information from Knight Frank Thailand’s research, A good portion of the growth of malls in the second half of 2023 is spurred on by tourism.
“In 2023, the return of international tourists, reaching 71% of pre-crisis levels, spurred significant recovery. Service usage exceeded 80%, and rental discounts decreased to no more than 4%.
“Shopping centres saw a 43% revenue growth and a 38% profit increase compared to pre-Covid-19 levels. Total revenue reached approximately 1.2 trillion baht by the end of fiscal year 2023, with profits around 250 billion baht.”
With the increase in Foreign investment and tourism, Thailand is experiencing major economic growth and is incentivised to build more shopping malls because of that.
Will shopping malls in Bangkok ever die out?
It is safe to assume that shopping malls might be facing more issues regarding how many people will want to go there to shop, especially with online shopping services such as Lazada and Shopee for example.
And with the reduction of people who will be going to the malls, could we also see a reduction in new malls being built?
For those who despise malls, I am sorry to say that it will not be the case because I have to remind you that these malls are not just limited to shopping.
According to a Reddit user, xsicho, who was responding to a post about whether malls in Bangkok will suffer the fate of irrelevance due to online shopping platforms, he eloquently confirmed that malls do not just provide shopping.
“Personally I don’t think malls will die out in Thailand within twenty or so years. One main factor is the heat, there are no parks, no avenues, nothing that could rival the feeling of an air-conditioned mall during daytime here. Got dates? You’ve got to be in a comfortable place. Meeting with potential business partners? A comfortable place. You get the idea.
“True, there’s Shopee, Lazada, grab, lineman, etc. for all the online shopping but our malls are built as a complex that could be a one-stop service for anything from government stuffs, banking, eateries, theatres, luxurious goods, and hotels, to even an amusement park. To add to that aspect, middle-class families that have kids would also bring them out to malls on weekends because kids get bored staying at home and the best place for everything is at a mall with an air conditioner.
“Most of the time you have one thing you need to do inside a mall, leading you to just browse through everything if you have free time.”
That being said, we can not expect malls to die down anytime soon as they will continue to be an integral part of our lives in Thailand.
Who is the culprit?
In the end, there are many factors that point to why there are so many shopping malls in Thailand. It’s hard to pin down one reason but we must look at every factor as a contributor to the cause. Malls are a big part of a person’s life in Thailand which is a lucrative business that is spurred on by the growth of Thailand.
When you have the chance, go out and look around these malls. From the big and modern malls like Central World, Siam Paragon, Gaysorn Plaza, Asiatique, Iconsiam, and True Digital Park to the newer malls like One Bangkok, Gaysorn Amarin, Phenix Pratunam and Emsphere (which came out last year).
Looking deeper, you will find malls with more obscure or specialised stores such as Fortune Town or Mega Plaza. You can even find malls that are connected together or are nearby too such as Siam Paragon to Siam Square and Siam Center which has a BTS bridge that leads to Central World. You can also find a smaller mall like Major Cineplex Ekkamai that is nearly directly across from another mall like Gateway Ekkamai.
Whatever you need or want, there is a mall you can go to.
What do you think caused this? How many malls are next to where you live? How often do you go to a mall in Bangkok or Thailand?
