Bangkok's Empty Mall

A showpiece mall, sadly devoid of customers

By Grant Cameron

February 5^th, 2020

A HIGH ENERGY MEGA MALL

Tripadvisor states that SHOW DC is "high-energy mega retail complex that caters to the shopping needs of both locals and tourists, showcasing contemporary Thai and Asian goods, entertainment, and unique dining opportunities." Perhaps that was the plan, but sadly for the mall owner, and the tenants, that's not how things have worked out.

SPACIOUSLY GHOSTLY

Thailand, and particularly Bangkok, is well served by a number of major retail mall outlets. Names such as Siam Paragon, Emporium, Emquartier, Centralworld, Terminal 21, Siam Discovery and MBK easily come to mind, as well as the most recent, Icon Siam across the Chao Phaya river.

The one thing that each of these malls have in common is that they are mobbed with customers on a daily basis, and at weekends they are especially busy. But the 6 storey mega mall of SHOW DC remains a haven of quiet tranquility.

28 DAYS LATER

I recently took a walk round the shopping complex on a mid-week lunchtime. Very quickly I was reminded of the movie 28 Days Later, and the opening scene where the main actor wakes up in hospital with no-one around, and walks into the familiar streets of London which are absolutely deserted. No people. Nothing stirs. Bright mid-day sunshine, and the actor is absolutely alone.

That's how it felt in SHOW DC. There were no customers. In very few of the shops that were open (and there are not many) there were no signs of shop assistants or servers. There was the occasional cleaner, and security guard, a couple of whom have been captured in these images, but in the main, this was essentially a ghost town (mall!).

DESERTED CORRIDORS . .

. . and deserted shops. There are 41 photographs in this blog post, and only 3 of them have images of real, living, breathing people, as opposed to the many mannequins and cardboard cut-outs. 9 people in total, of which 7 are in a single image; can you spot which one?

McDONALD'S AND NIKE

Despite the feeling of abandonment, both big brand names of McDonald's and Nike have an established presence, as well as a Starbucks.

While there was behind-the-counter staff at McDonald's, both Nike and Starbucks were able to boast that they had some customers at the time of my visit.

OPEN SPACES

Like many malls, there are few areas where one can view the "outside" world as generally every space is taken up for retail use, but on the ground floor, the daylight shining in from the entrances emphasises the mall emptiness. The first of our images showing a real live person is in the below image grouping.

EMPTY RESTAURANTS

The mall has a food court on the ground floor, and a "Food Street" on the 5th floor. There were many vacant lots for the establishment of cafes and restaurants, but many had been set-up, and were open for business. Sadly, they were lacking the most basic of food ingredient: customers.

BLACK & WHITE TO COLOUR

I chose to shoot in black and white for these images, to convey sadness for the owner whose substantial investment in this shopping mall has not yet begun to show financial reward, and for the tenants whose early establishment of their retail premises has not (yet) delivered the promise of success they likely had hoped for.

But in some areas of the mall there is hope. Signs show units for rent and units that have something coming soon. And on some of the frontages of empty units there are splashes of colour as a sign of optimism, and sadly, showing more people in the large posters than were actually in the mall. Yep, in the image group below there is my capture of a second person, a security guard.

SHUTTERED AND EMPTYING

It is clear that the tenants who have still maintained a retail presence, and who have their shops open, are operating with minimum staff to save costs, for in almost every open unit, it was difficult find someone to serve you.

Outlets that were open just a few weeks ago seem to have succumbed to the heavy cost of maintaining a business without customers, and have closed and shuttered their units.

FOOD STREET

The busiest spot in the mall. And the photograph, mentioned earlier, with 7 people in it. All staff. No customers.

Even the Bombay Belly was empty, seemingly of staff, too, unless they had perhaps succombed to the infamous Delhi belly.

HOPE

I finish this photo essay with hope in my heart. That the Mall owner can find a way to turn the business around to win back tenants and customers.

It is, and was, a massive investment for all parties, owner and tenants alike, and they deserve to be successful. Best wishes to them all.

GETTING THERE

It is fairly easy to get to SHOW DC by taxi, or even your own car, but not so easy by public transport. The mall is so close to Asoke and the massive residential conurbation of Sukhumvit, but by being sited next to the overhead expressway, and with no other point of interest nearby, it is almost off the "beaten track" - and easily overlooked.

There are several entrances to the mall, but I give the GPS coordinates of the entrance to the underground carpark. At the time of writing, there is no security, just drive in.