Dear Hillary,
I see there is another big shopping mall being built in North Pattaya. This one is going to be so big they have a Boeing 747 in the middle of it. Do we need another one? Some of the ones we have at present are half empty. I wouldn’t like to be a retailer, don’t care what you’re selling. Don’t you think we are over-serviced?
Jaime
Dear Jaime,
I do agree with you in some ways, Petal, but not quite altogether. I remember when it was a dirt track going from South Pattaya, up and over Thappraya and down to Jomtien. When they started building shop-houses along the road, we all said, where are they going to find people to live in them? Well, they did, didn’t they? Not only shop houses, but boutique hotels, fancy restaurants and even the odd bar (as Pattaya is a little light on for bars). Against that history, I have to say that I believe that in a few years we will need to build more hotels and shopping centers. Do you remember the Green Bottle pub? When it opened some 20 plus years ago, all the wise heads agreed that it would fail, as it was “too far out of town.” How wrong can you be. It is in the middle of town these days!
