PATTAYA SHOPPING

Shopping Overview

Pattaya offers many kinds of shopping. You can imagine it is from bustling open-air markets that sell food and non-food items, noisy night markets, street stalls/vendors and local shops to western style department stores, supermarkets and upmarket specialist shops. Although many of the shops are small, some open-air without air-conditioning, there are plenty of shops and services available in Pattaya and they all welcome barganing. While department stores, supermarkets and malls hold a lot of product items but bargaining is not allowed. Most shops usually open late morning and close late at night. Department stores, supermarkets and malls tend to open earlier.

Shopping in Pattaya area can be very different from shopping in your country. You probably won't find the same selection but because of the relatively high proportion of farangs here, a reasonable choice of products is now on sale. The larger department stores, supermarkets and malls are usually near the centre of the towns and many of the outlying shopping areas consist of small shops called shop-houses.

Shop-houses are a combination shop and home for the owner. The shop is on street level and the family lives in the rooms at the back and above the shop. They are usually fully open in the front with a variety of goods ranging from cooking needs to cleaning products. When they close, the shutters slide down and cover the shop front.

General Tips

Bargaining - is expected everywhere except in the big department stores, supermarkets, malls and food markets. In toruist centres of Pattaya and Jomtien, the prices may be inflated to almost twice the real price to allow room for bargainning. Most shop keepers use a calculator so you can make your counter offer. Start at half the price and work your way up, depending on your bargaining skills and the will of the vendor. Remember that bargainning is norm here. Expect to pay from 10-40% less than the original asking price. While most department stores and large retail outlets have fixed prices, so bargaining is not applicable.

Purchases - in Thailand are mostly a cash basis. You can use credit cards in some stores but there are limitations and precautions. Use your credit cards only at the reputable businesses and with caution because credit card fraud is growing. Do not let your credit card out of your sight because someone might make more imprints. Major department stores and supermarkets accept credit card purchases but a few charge a 3% or more handling fee.

Smile - bargain with a smile and you will be rewarded. Many Thais work long hours, so they appreciate a smile and good humour - you'll get better bargains.

Beware of Touts - the Tourist Authority of Thailand warns against touting taxi drivers and tour guides who offer to take you shopping and receive commissions for bringing tourists to various places to shop. Often the experience is a waste of your valuable shopping time.

Export restrictions - be aware that it is forbidden to take images of Buddha, deities, and some antique artifacts from the country without first obtaining approval from the Fine Arts Department in Bangkok.

Department Stores/Malls

In general, department stores and supermarkets have many of the same items you would find at home, but probably with a smaller choice of brands. Most department stores have a supermarket section. Generally, stores are open daily from around 1000-2300hrs.

All the main supermarket chains, many of them household names in Europe, moved into Pattaya some years back. Bangkok's department stores opened branches too, some of them more elaborate than their namesakes in the capital. At outlet mall was the latest edition sporting genuine brand items that are made locally.It's all part of Pattaya's friendly new image. Visitors can escape the midday sun for a cool shopping mall where ice-cream parlors and the familiar logos of international food chain restaurants for attention. On the top floors are state-of-the-art cinemas that feature the latest movies with English soundtrack and entertainment complexes that target teenagers.

Big C and Central Festival Pattaya - on Pattaya 2nd Road. Big Shopping Centre with big signs. Can be accessed from Pattaya 2nd Road or North Pattaya Road. Tel: 361443, 361445. Hours: 1000-2300 daily. This mall has a big supermarket (Big C), smaller boutiques and shops, restaurants on the ground floor as well as KFC, Mister Donut, Burger King and a large four-screen cinema on the 2nd floor. Large parking area.

The Big C Shopping Center, also known as the Central Festival Center, is a two story shopping center with a huge open area for public shows, concerts and special events. Big C Shopping Center features numerous restaurants, and many independent retail shops making up the major area of the shopping facility. However, the Big C Department Store at the far end away from Pattaya Second Road, is the main drawing card of the facility, with an extensive food market, household goods market, hardware, appliances, automotive and garden supplies, television, stereo and other electronic goods, mostly at "cut rate prices.". Above the second floor of Big C Department Store is a third floor area built especially to house four cinema theaters. These cinemas ordinarily feature two or three films with English sound tracks (with Thai language subtitles), and one or two with Thai soundtracks, although some are Chinese films with Thai subtitles. The theaters are fully modern, with especially comfortable seating. All motion pictures are shown on a very current basis, equal to that of films distributed in the Bangkok metropolitan area. (Most American films are shown within several weeks after their first release in the U.S.) The entire main section of the shopping center, except the outdoor festival area, is now enclosed and air conditioned, providing a great socializing and meeting area for the elderly and the young people of Pattaya, as well as an outstanding shopping opportunity.

Laem Thong I Department Store - on Sukhumvit Road, Sri Racha. Tel: 322876, 322269. Hours: 1000-2100 daily. Large shopping area with several small boutiques spread over two floors. There is also a supermarket.

Mike Department Store - owned by the same owner as Mike Shopping Center, Mike Department Store is located in downtown South Pattaya, almost directly across Beach Road from the City's marina pier. The store runs the complete distance from Pattaya Beach Road to Pattaya Second Road, with its second level nearest the beach being its snooker area, and the rest of the second floor and all other floors devoted to the business known as Mike Hotel. The department store features primarily "soft" goods, specializing in name brand clothing, shoes, and other goods needed for the home, generally at reasonable prices.

Mike Shopping Center - located on Pattaya Beach Road between sois 11 and 12, Mike Shopping Center runs the entire distance to Pattaya Second Road, with parking primarily for busses at the Second Road entrance to the shopping center. Five floors of shops and departments, most owned by the Center but some independent, fill the center, offering a wide range of hardware, soft goods, household equipment and furniture, computers, electronic equipment, stationery supplies, beds, bedding, shoes, and virtually anything else needed for the home. It is also the site of many tour bus visits, especially in the early evening hours, as tour operators give their clients the opportunity to shop in "Amazing Thailand" in a facility that offers virtually anything a person needs. Tel: 423523-6, 412000-9. Hours: 1100-2330 daily.

Pacific Park Shopping Mall and Robinson Department Store - on Sukhumvit Road, Sri Racha. Tel: 771001-10. Hours: 1000-2100 daily. Offers the usual mall shops. Robinson's department store is modern and nice. Has a few stall style shops on the top floor.

Pattaya Basa Shopping Centre - at corner of North Pattaya and Pattaya 2nd Road. Across from the Dolphin roundabout.

Royal Garden Plaza - next to Royal Garden Hotel. Entrance from Pattaya Beach Road and Pattaya 2nd Road. Tel: 710287. Hours: 1100-2300 daily. Big air-conditioned mall with three floors. Has many clothes boutiques, video shops, music shops, video games rooms, handicrafts shops, pharmacies, shoes shops, restaurants, coffee shops, magazine and book shops, a cinema and Ripley's Museum. Underground parking available.

The Royal Garden Plaza is a modern, up-to-date shopping center spread over three floors and running virtually the entire distance between Pattaya Beach Road and Pattaya Second Road, in downtown South Pattaya . This center is located between Soi Post Office (the new "Ship's Wheel" type street sign's Pattaya 13.2) and Pattayaland Soi 1 (now designated as Pattaya Soi 13.3 on the new "Ship's Wheel" street signs), and about one-half kilometer from the city's recently constructed marina pier. This shopping center is the home for dozens of shops, small and large; restaurants, a large display area, and the Food Center and Entertainment Centers on the Third Floor. The entertainment centers include two full size cinemas, showing current motion pictures, at least one of which usually has the original English soundtrack with subtitles in the Thai language, in addition to the Ripley World of Entertainment toward the rear of the shopping center. Many "fast food" or franchise type establishments are included: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Sizzler, Swenson's, and numerous others. A bank operates on the first floor during normal banking hours. Tied in with the shopping center is a major downtown high class hotel, The Royal Garden Hotel. The Royal Garden Hotel also features its own Garden Restaurant, and the very popular restaurant, Shenanigan's Restaurant, operated by its separate management, is situated partly underground below Gard

 

Big C Supercenter (North)
Tel: 0 3836 1361 Fax: 0 3836 1432 78/12 M.9 Pattaya 2nd Road, North Pattaya

Big C Supercenter (South)
Sukumvit/Pattaya South Road

Central Festival Center Pattaya
Tel: 0 3836 1361 0 3836 1296-99 Fax: 0 3836 1432 78/54 M.9 Pattaya 2nd Road, North Pattaya

Frienship Supermarket
Tel: 0 3872 3514 Fax: 0 3872 3517 20/390 M.10 South Pattaya Road

Mike Department Store
Tel: 0 3842 3523-4 564/2 M.10, Pattaya Beach Road, South Pattaya

Mike Shopping Mall
Tel: 0 3841 2000-10 Fax: 0 3841 2036 262 M.10 Pattaya Beach Road

Modern City Department Store
Tel: 0 3871 0142-3 11/1-3 M.10 Pattaya Beach Road

Outlet Mall
Tel: 0 3842 7764-7 Thepprasit Road, South Pattaya

Pattaya Shoes Department Store
Tel: 0 3842 3919 0 3842 3939 Fax: 0 3842 3939 109/19 M.10 Phratamnak Road

Royal Garden Plaza
Tel: 0 3871 0294-8 Fax: 0 3841 2139 218 M.10, Pattaya Beach Road

Tesco Lotus Supercenter (North)
Tel: 0 3837 0910-30 Fax: 0 3837 0945 221/19 M.5 North Pattaya Road

Tesco Lotus Supercenter (South)
Tel: 0 3830 0800-24 Fax: 0 3820 0038 408/2 M.12 Sukhumvit Road, Pattaya