Lotus progress?

[Norseman]

Good reports prcscct.
I'm sure we'll come back with many reports after they finally open.
Hope their range of products is better than what we find in the barracks we have to deal with every day.

[usual suspect]

So then..parm-parm-parrrr, the new superstore is nearly complete and ready to accept hundreds of shoppers...hoorah...BUT..

What about Petkasem Rd??..all the traffic comin' southbound outa town
will have to queue-up at the crappy litle U-turn, and vica-versa with
traffic wanting to leave s'bound.

Has the good-old town planners cast any thoughts about this??

(how will Mikes trusty UK fire-trucks get to a fire there when the line o'
traffic is back to hot-pot?)

[Norseman]

Planners?
What planners?
Just wait and see!!

[machersjohn]

Tesco sold of to carffour in taiwan and some others but thaialnd is not affected nor are neighbouring countries. tesco got a lot of eastern european countries in lieu of taiwan stores but parted with a load of cash.

[Jaime]

The sale of the Tesco stores to Carrefour in Thailand was also reported in the UK media at the time but I have heard nothing since.

[lomuamart]

Although I'm totally out of touch now with the grocery scene in the UK, I did work for the main trade publishers to that industry for 11 years.
As has been said before on this thread, Tesco Lotus have no bearing, or comparison with a Tesco in the UK.
Totally different markets, so as I said before, it will be interesting to see what the product range is and who their target market is.
As far as a buy out from/by Carrefour is concerned, do a Google search of William Reed Publishing. They were the company I worked for before and what they don't know about the grocery trade simply isn't worth knowing. Search on "The Grocer Magazine".

[Guess]

Gentlemen,

A market is a market is a market ad infinitum.

If the expectation is that the shopper will be 99% Thai and one per cent farang then only the marketeers with little experience would ignore the 1%.

Hence the availability of imported legs of lamb and beef steaks.

The situation is, here in Hua Hin, that the customer base will be mainly Thai with no farang family connections. Secondly there will be Thais with farang family connections and thirdly there will be the farangs themselves.

If this company has learnt anything from it's parent in the UK it will cater in the best way it can for all of those.

I would suspect it will resemble the Tesco Lotus in Surrat Thani except about ten years more up to date.

I am not sure if we will find steak and kidney pies, back bacon, mushy peas or Roquefort cheese though.

[tuktukmike]

I did reply on this subject some time ago on another thread.

Tesco in Pattaya is crap, and so are the ones in BKK. We used to load the containers at Magor in the UK and i asked the ops manager many times why they did not send more english food.

The response was that this was all down to Lotus, they are the people who run the stores in Thailand????.

So who are Lotus???.

What is really needed here is a good Foodland and even they dont carry much farang food.

The only way to get good stuff is to import it and pay your tea money, problem solved.

Mike.

[Guess]

Tesco in Pattaya is crap, and so are the ones in BKK. We used to load the containers at Magor in the UK and i asked the ops manager many times why they did not send more english food.

The response was that this was all down to Lotus, they are the people who run the stores in Thailand????.

So who are Lotus???.


Mike.

All Tesco Lotus stores are crap IMHO. Big C are marginally better for farang. Most Thais that I have spoken to prefer it also.


Ny understanding of the Tesco Lotus agreemnet is that Tesco bailed out the ailing Lotus group and gave it their name which may have been new to Thailand but have had a presence in other parts of Asia for at least fifteen years.

Apart from revamping of the stores, cash advances and technology and logistics consultancy supervision, they have left the day to day running to the existing management. In other words Tesco Lotus is to most extents an autonomous operation. Maybe Tesco UK should be taking a more active role if they are to protect their investment her in Thailand.

As the farang market in Thailand is confined to only a few areas and is limited to less than 1% maybe that is why they do not seem to cater for them.

Also I would guess that when Tesco did their research before making the aquisition that the farang market in areas where farang lived and visited were more or less already covered by Foodland, Best and Tops.

Any regarding Tesco in Hua Hin, much of this is speculation. As it is a new store it wold have been designed to stock what the management decided athe the time which hopefully was based on local market forces. This practice is mandatory in the UK and in the States.

The range of products found in Safeway in the Bronx varies considerably from what you will find in San Jose.

Let's wait and see.

The real crisis in Hua Hin at the moment in the retail food and drinks business is that the town has run out of Schweppes Tonic which means that I will have to drink neat gin with my cornflakes this morning.

[Bamboo Grove]

There has been a Foodland sign not too far from this new shopping centre for at least four years. Someone said that they had purchased the land but haven't decided to start building a shop yet. Yes, I also wish they'd open here, Villa Market would be too much to hope for.

[sam]

Having only come to Thailand for 3/4 weeks at a stretch I have not yet missed any food in particular, I am curious (nosey) as to what you all miss so I can be prepared for when we move there.

[jambo]

sam
its more the quality of what your used to
like you can buy baked beans but not heinze
you can but cornflakes but not kellogs
you can buy bread but not kingsmill
buiscuits but not mcvities ect
personaly for me it was like colmans mint sauce mussy peas decent bacon and sausage (never tryed hh ham and bacon co )
a good selection of cheeses branston pickle its just the normal things you eventually miss
but when back in the uk you miss a 20baht bowl of noodle
a 10 baht bar b q chicken stick
a lobster looking out on a calm ocean
its more a case of what you get used to
and the tax on our basic items
just think what it would be like for a thai in the uk
yes they can get all the things they like but with a huge price
chok dee
jam

[monor]

I am back home in the north with minus 10 centigrades and longing back to Hua Hin. But it is interesting to get informations and news at this site. A question : Where is Tesco Lotus located ?

[Guess]

Although I'm totally out of touch now.

Now that is the quote of the century. You have admitted to being a yellow belly (Just like Margaret Thatcher and her two retarded offspring fathered by her retarded husband, (Would you like another drink Sir. "yes can me put some more Gin in my Gin And Tonic")

Please Lomu get back to earth we are missing you.

[lomuamart]

Although I'm totally out of touch now.

Now that is the quote of the century. You have admitted to being a yellow belly (Just like Margaret Thatcher and her two retarded offspring fathered by her retarded husband, (Would you like another drink Sir. "yes can me put some more Gin in my Gin And Tonic")

Please Lomu get back to earth we are missing you.

No way. I'm enjoying it up here