The Mall Brings Style To Revamped Tha Phra Shopping Center

From the Bangkokpost

The Mall Group Co, the country's second largest department store chain, is bringing upmarket shopping to the west side of the Chao Phraya River where existing establishments cater to the mass market.

A European style similar to The Emporium, another Mall property, is part of the new look at The Mall Tha Phra, where young French designers helped with the renovation, said Chamnarn Mayprechakul, the company's senior chief marketing officer.

The Tha Phra branch will officially reopen on Thursday after being closed for four months for renovation.

The company spent 400 million baht to renovate the store to capture a wider range of customers from the growing communities in the area. About 8,000 new condominium and housing units are due to be completed this year in 2007 in Tha Phra, Rama II, Sathorn and nearby areas.

The Mall Tha Phra will also benefit from improved transport access including the BTS skytrain extension crossing the river.

Nattapong Kijnitchewa, operations manager of The Mall Group, said that in line with the changing makeup of its customer base, the company had expanded the retail space of The Mall Tha Phra by 60% to 40,000 square metres. New retail outlets include international brands such as Lowe, Etude, Quiksilver, Charriol and Daks.

New services such as a 2,500 square metre Fitness First and SF Cinema City with 10,000 sq m were added on the fourth floor, along with an educational centre.There are also plans for a 200-metre skywalk to link the centre to the new BTS Ratchaphruek station.

With the store facelift, The Mall Tha Phra will have a more fashionable, trendy and warm look, aiming to appeal top a more youthful market.

With the new product and service mixes, the company aims to increase shopper visits to around once a week from one or two times a month previously, said Vanchai Janvuttarunggul, group general manager for shopping complexes of The Mall Shopping Center Co.

Mr Vanchai added that shoppers normally spend three to four hours at The Mall Tha Phra and he expected they would stay longer in the near future.

''The Mall's Tha Phra branch will become the destination for shopping in Thon Buri,'' Mr Chamnarn said. ''After reopening our Tha Phra centre, we aim to stop people in Thon Buri from crossing [the river] to shop for some high-end items at retail outlets in Bangkok like in the past.''

The company will spend 20 million baht on marketing to promote the new-look Tha Phra shopping centre from May 31 to July 25.

Mr Chamnarn said the company lost about one billion baht in sales opportunities during the four-month closing for building renovation, which also included repairs to cracks in a large support pillar connecting the ground floor and car park.

The company aims to gain sales of three billion baht from its Tha Phra branch by the end of this year, up 20% from the same period last year.