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In a huge metropolis filled with shopping malls, Pratunam Centre finds itself playing Where’s Waldo.

The idea for Pratunam Centre probably looked good on paper. Execution, however, has not gone well. Another shopping mall in a district filled with shopping malls, even a downscale one mall aimed at the 99%, might just be one too many. With all the shopping opportunities within a five minute walk, the Centre needed to stand out from the crowd, it needed a draw. It just never quite found one.

Years ago, next to Gaysorn Plaza there was an old worn shopping arcade with a basement filled with cheap clothes, jewelry, silk, and those products the government tries to market as OTOP (One Tambon, One Product) – supposedly native handicrafts made in villages that help sustain rural life. It was a crowded dark ramshackle affair, a street market under a roof (okay technically under a floor) where savvy shoppers could pick up great deals and less savvy touri could still find bargains.

Cashing in on its proximity to the wholesale Pratunam market, a small sign dangled precariously at the top of the stairs leading down into the black hole of Bangkok that promised wholesale goods were available inside. They were. But you had to search those vendors out, separating the wheat from the chaff, or in this case the wholesalers from the knock-off T-shirt vendors. It was a lackadaisical attempt at a wholesale market that worked nonetheless. And it was one of those places that just screamed Bangkok.

The first two floors of Pratunam Centre are filled with OTOP products, as well as with pirated DVD sellers.

Developers, not happy with the status quo, decided an upgrade was needed. And built the 4 story Pratunam Centre down the street at the corner of New Petchburi and Ratchaprarop Roads. That should be a great location. And will be when they find the right identity for the mall. But they started with moving all the tenants out of the old place and tearing it down. And the plans were to expand the number of wholesale silver dealers, enough to fill the entire basement level of the new mall. They did manage to convince more silver and jewelry wholesaler to set up shop there but never have found enough to fill the floor. And they did no better with the first two floors, which were supposed to be devoted to OTOP products. As long as you consider pirated DVD’s to be a handicrafts.

Somewhere in the middle of nearby Platinum Mall and Gaysorn, both in quality and price of goods offered and the press of shoppers crowding the aisles, Pratunam Center had a small but loyal following. If you were looking to buy small quantities of merchandise and knew how to haggle prices the shopping mall was a bonanza. Even strictly retail shoppers could find good deals there, easily half off what the same merchandise would run you at the far more popular and often over-crowded MBK mall.

But retail is a numbers game and the number of shoppers directly corresponds to the number of baht flowing into store owners’ bank accounts. The mall never managed to deliver on the former which resulted in a steady decline of the latter. In 2011, Great China Millennium Co., operators of the Bobae wholesale market, bought out the former owners and spent about 5 billion baht to renovate the barely five-year-old complex.

Some of the best prices on silver jewelry in Bangkok can be found at Pratunam Centre’s basement Grand Silver Center.

The new owners renamed the mall Palladium Square, and then renamed it again to Palladium World Shopping even while renovation were still underway. It seems even with new ownership the mall is still suffering from an identity crisis. That may change if their plans for the enormous complex come to fruition. Working off the original scheme, Palladium World is intended to be a combo wholesale/retail extravaganza shopping experience, complete with a ginormous food court, super market, theater, and hotel. Or as they put it: The Kingdom of the Shopping Variety In Lifestyle As You. Okay, so may be the marketing department is a bit confused over the mall’s identity too.

If they can get the word out in a language understandable by the shopping public, Palladium’s food court already is enough to entice the public through the mall’s doors. Food courts are popular among touri and locals alike. All large malls have at least one. But both nearby Platinum and Pantip Plaza have food courts that were afterthoughts, small cramped affairs that can never handle the crush of shoppers that flock to those two malls. And the packed lanes that make up the Pratunam Wholesale Market, just across the streets, are filled with shoppers who need both food and a bit of air-conditioning to soothe their weary bodies. Palladium’s food court could easily fill that need and put the mall on the map. Provided anyone can figure out where Floor B2 is. I’m very familiar with the mall and I haven’t a clue where that floor would be.

It seems management has copied the humongous Central World, just up the street, in it’s layout nomenclature. Zones are important in that scheme. Laying your mall out so customers can determine where they want to go or where in the hell they are it isn’t. Central World gets away with it because of size and fame. Palladium is already fighting an image problem, confusing potential customers over something as simple as its layout isn’t the best idea. But maybe when the supermarket goes in, which is suppose to be on the same floor, and the 800 room 5 star hotel gets built along with the movie theater things will make more sense. Whether or not the mall will be able to attract enough tenants to fulfill their plans – which includes a daily customer count of at least 200,000 – though, remains to be seen.

Pratunam Centre has been rebranded as Palladium Shopping World. What that has to do with polar bears is beyond me.

Even in its current half-way there mode, Palladium is a good place for touri to load up on souvenirs and gifts from their trip. Prices are similar, though possibly just slightly higher than you’ll find at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, but at Palladium you’ll be shopping in air-conditioned stores and wandering down aisles that are not packed with what seems like half the population of the city.

The basement’s Grand Silver Jewelry Center offers incredible deals on genuine silver jewelry (as opposed to the questionable silver jewelry you’ll find a night markets), and while the shops there are set up for wholesale customers, most will willingly sell at retail too. Best of all, shop the mall in the late afternoon and as night sets in the street running along the mall’s exterior turns into a night market that is filled with the same goods you’ll find at Patpong’s night market and along Sukhumvit at at least half the price.

In a town known for its shopping, in a district filled with malls catering to all ends of the shopping spectrum, Palladium World Shopping has a difficult row to hoe to cash in on the vast amount of money spent daily by visitors and locals alike as they make offerings to the gods of consumerism. If the new owners can figure out just what their mall is supposed to be, they may be looking at Bangkok’s newest shopping hit. If not, expect the mall to change hands again within the next two years.

The night market at Pratunam offers better prices and more unusual merchandise than what you’ll find at the better known Patpong night market, or along Sukhumvit’s cramped sidewalks.

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