The Scoop on Shopping in Bangkok

Shopping in Bangkok, from the narrow sidewalks to the enormous Siam Paragon, Bangkok has got you covered.

I've shopped all over the world and Bangkok is one of the best. The shopping is personal, fun and entertaining.

A list of the hottest Bangkok Shopping spots

Siam Paragon Bangkok

Siam Paragon Bangkok, the king of malls, and something to witness. Right in the middle the BTS Sky Train exchange, this is grand central, prime real estate. Siam Paragon is one of the most beautiful and biggest malls I've encountered.

Fantastic restaurants, cigar clubs, the most expensive list of liquor I've seen anywhere in the world, a BMW, Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari dealership are all inside Siam Paragon. This mall even has a huge aquarium and exercise fitness center.

On a budget? The Food Court has very good cheap food. The top floor has an absolutely massive movie theater (with cheap prices) playing films from all parts of the world.

Explaining this place doesn't do justice. If you miss Siam Paragon Bangkok you’ll miss a great deal.

Siam Square and MBK Mall are opposite Paragon.

Siam Paragon Review

The Emporium.

This upper class indoor mall has recently come under competitive pressure from its closest new arrival, Siam Paragon. To respond, The Emporium renovated the entire top floor which now has a very nice food court with many dining options to choose from. It also has an interesting cultural museum. The Emporium is actually a mixed use development with serviced apartments, a hotel, condos and even a grocery store. I personally love the location of The Emporium as that area of Sukhumvit has everything that appeals to me.

MBK (Mah boon Krong).

Across from Siam Square and near Siam Paragon. This mall is a lot older than other malls but just as busy, if not more. Each floor has a certain theme. One of the most popular floors is the teeny bopping cell phone floor. The amount of cell phone vendors on that floor is ridiculous. You can buy and sell phones, get ring tones, memory, whatever.

MBK (Mahboonkrong)

They have a good selection of food and is a good place to bowl or hang out. I even saw hip hop rapper Ice-T here.

MBK also a great exotic skin seller on the top floor near the escalator. He sells crocodile handbags, stingray belts, lizard watchbands, and much more for a decent price. You can also wholesale with him but you need to know him for awhile before he'll give you the wholesale prices.

Siam Square, right next to MBK and in the middle of Bangkok Shopping. It's not a mall but an area of vendors and restaurants. During the day it's very popular with the very young crowd. At night it's known for Hard Rock Cafe, CM2 Bar & Club and some absolutely great restaurants. The prices are not bad but the vendors buy most of their products from Pratunam.

Central World Plaza.

They recently built a beautiful towering hotel as a part of the mall. This mall is not as busy as others but very big and has under gone a great deal of much needed renovation. It's looking very nice now but in all honesty Paragon is stealing the spot light. This mall is popular with Japanese for some reason and it has a King Power Duty Free Shopping Zone on one of the upper floors.

This mall is connected to the World Trade Center Bangkok and not far from Siam Paragon and Pratunam. There are malls on every corner of this area. Opposite to this mall is the most famous Buddha statue in Bangkok that people from all over Asia come to see.

Central World use to have outdoor beer gardens here at night which was cool but the political turmoil of the last few years closed it down. Hopefully it will open again one day.

Central Lat Phrao.

One thing you should remember about the Central Malls is that if you are trying to tell someone where you are going; you should say Cen-tan, not Central. Thai people don't use R's and L's and replace it with other words they know. If you say central they will be lost.

Central Lat Phrao is pretty far from the common tourist and even expat areas but if you'd like to know what shopping in Bangkok is like for most Thais then you might want to stop by here. This mall is almost devoid of Westerners, it only has Thai people for the most part. Central Lat Phrao is a major retail mall similar to Central World.It's close to the last stop on the MRT subway.

Panthip Plaza

Panthip Plaza, right next to the Grand Diamond where I lived. This is computer software and hardware central. This building is old and has uniquely Thai feel to it. Every two steps you'll be hassled by someone selling something, mostly pirated. Don't look them in the eye and don't talk to anyone unless you really feel like it.

However, I do like going here when I need something and you'll see tons of tourists and expats as well. Panthip is notorious for its copied DVD's, software and games. Any computer thing you need for personal or business use is here.

If there is one thing I know about Thailand, its wholesale shopping. I taught myself a great deal about Bangkok Shopping because I had to, it was a business necessity for me. I had to find out where to buy wholesale products and compare prices all over Thailand and I was always looking for a better supplier.

The following shopping spots are good places to buy cheap retail or wholesale items.

OTOP

OTOP is basically a building with a basement that wholesales all kinds of handicrafts. I think OTOP is best for buying wholesale silver. I bought tons of silver from this place. The area around Khaosan Road is also a great wholesale silver spot.It's across the street from Pratunam.

The Platinum Fashion Mall

The Platinum Fashion Mall, the real shopping in Bangkok. This is an indoor retail-wholesale shopping mall. I have many Thai friends who own shops here and I use to own an Internet cafe and retail shop at this mall.

The store owners actually buy the raw materials from factories around Bangkok to make clothes, bags, luggage, and such and sell them at here. You are getting pretty close to the source at this mall. The next business up the chain would be the actual factory where you'd have to buy large volumes of raw materials.

TripAdvisor's Platinum Fashion Mall Review

Open Air Shopping

Khaosan Road

Khaosan is actually some outdoor, some indoor. You'll find the biggest group of young Westerners here. Sometimes it looks like a scene straight from that movie, The Beach.

Khaosan has some unique items from sale and is worth checking out. Lots of street vendors selling food too.

I did most of my wholesale silver buying from near here. They have a particular silver shop here that does amazing work. They could make anything I wanted. Beginning from ideas, to freehand drawings, to real life silver items. If your interested in wholesale silver stop by this area.

A note on Khaosan Road

Khao San Road gets too packed to handle during Songkran New Year water festival. I would not go here during Songkran unless you like being turned into a human sardine. There are much better places to go during the Thai New Year.

Pratunam

Pratunam, near Baiyoke Sky Tower. Pratunam is an enormous wholesale shopping area. The main difference between Pratunam and The Platinum Fashion Mall is that Pratunam is mostly an outdoor, hot, dirty, crowded wholesale shopping area. The Platinum is an indoor, air conditioned, clean wholesale-retail shopping mall. In the far back hidden walkways of Pratunam you can find Thais on sewing machines making various things. The electrical work in Pratunam is something to see; I can't believe it still works!

Chatuchak or JJ Weekend Market

To be fair this isn't really Bangkok shopping, it is its own destination! The only open air shopping area bigger than Pratunam is Chatuchak. I've been here 10,000 times and have still only seen 25% of it at most. The place is 35 acres. If it's not here it doesn't exist.

You can find a wholesaler for almost anything if you have the time to sift through and find them. You can buy wholesale art, furniture, clothes, crafts, you can even wholesale animals here. I did a huge amount of business here with a family that sold hand-made chopper and motorcycle items.

Chatuchak Market Infomation

Late Night Open Air Shopping

Patpong in Bangkok

This outdoor night market sells all kinds of watches, shoes, flip flops, clothes etc. Prices in Patpong Bangkok are a bit higher on average than most other outdoor Bangkok shopping spots and I think it's because it's more well known so the rent is higher for the vendors. This in turn gets pushed back to you, the customer.

Patpong Bangkok has quite a few Go-Go Bars, restaurants, and discos and the shopping is right in the middle of it all. It's kind of strange but somehow they mixed tourist shopping with bars and go-go's around it but for some reason it works.

You might be better off shopping in Lumphini Night Bazaar for better prices and with-out Go-Go bars.

Suan Lum Lumphini Night Bazaar

If you have a chance check out Suan Lum Lumphini Night Bazaar is a great place to shop, eat food from around the world, check out the beer garden and listen to some live music on stage.

Lumphini even has some great product vendors who you can do wholesale business with. The individual shops with-in this night plaza are too many to see. I've never actually seen all the shops myself, there is simply too much. Almost anything you can think of is sold here. It's not quite as big as Chatuchak Weekend market but big enough!

There are countless other Bangkok shopping venues not listed here, most of them are mostly for locals such as the Carrefour and Big C style shopping malls. If you see one of these stop by as you'll save a great deal of money buying common items you need and you’ll find things that the corner 7-11 or the local Family Mart may not have.

Sukhumvit road has tons of small vendors selling miscellaneous items and brand name knock-offs. However, these guys buy from places like China town (traffic in and out of China town any time day or night is the worst I've seen so if go be prepared) and Pratunam. So if you can wait on buying at Sukhumvit Road until you get to places like Pratunam, you'll save a great deal of money.

Remember to haggle at the wholesale and street vendor markets, it's a must, but be polite.

A word about Thai Theaters

The Thai theaters which are in most of the malls listed above are FANTASIC and blow the doors off of Western theaters, no doubt about it.

The theaters are nicer, cleaner, and bigger, with even better sound and picture. The seating is always reserved so there won't be any fighting over seats. They have someone show you to your seat whocan even serve you drinks.

The price of popcorn and drinks are only a slight mark up from the corner 7-11 store.

The movies are in English and have Thai subtitles so you’re not missing anything and your Thai friend(s) they'll be happy too. They even have beautiful recliningcouch seating with blankets, how cool is that! My friend and I even double dated and went to a theater where everyone was reclining on huge cushions on a multi-tier cushioned floor, no seats anywhere but very cool.

For a complete list of Thailand shopping malls visit here.

Have fun shopping in Bangkok, I know you will.