Visit Bangkok these days, as ever-increasing numbers of Middle Eastern travellers are doing, and you might be forgiven for thinking that the last thing the city needs is another shopping mall.
You might, that is, unless you were the Vice-President of Marketing for Thailand’s Central Group, the family-owned conglomerate founded in 1947 by Tiang Chirativat. An immigrant from Hainan in southern China, Mr. Chirativat’s children today oversee international holdings in the realms of retail, real estate, hospitality and restaurants. Sirinji Chokchairittikul is that person in question and she definitely thinks that Bangkok has room for improvement.
“We felt there was a gap in the market,” the elegantly dressed VP explains as we sip tea in the restaurant on the ground level of the Zen department store. “Thailand doesn’t really have a genuine luxury shopping mall, just malls that have luxury brands.”
Set on 144,000 square metres that were previously the gardens of the British Embassy (hence the name), Central’s Embassy is intended to remedy that. Indeed, the project has made history even before it was built, for the highest price paid for a single plot of land in the history of Thailand.
“We needed a project that would justify the cost of the land, somewhere simple but elegant,” Chokchairittikul continues, adding that the 340 million USD project, which combines a retail platform and a hotel tower, is aimed at the emerging generation of southeast Asian and Chinese luxury consumers, who are more interested in craftsmanship and legacy than logos. “All brands will be flagship concepts,” she adds, “they will stock special merchandise, including collections exclusive to us. We’ll also offer special services to customers.”
This will include customisation options at some stores and on a more global scale, the complex’s entire gamut of services, from shopping and dining, to spa treatments, film screenings in the state-of-the-art cinema - even rooms in the hotel, Thailand’s first Park Hyatt – will be bookable, either in advance or else on premises, through Embassy’s dedicated concierge service.
“It will be really exclusive,” Chokchairittikul continues. “There will be nowhere else like it anywhere in Thailand and maybe nowhere else in Asia. It will be a real game-changer”
Linked to the group’s existing department store Central Chidlom, which is about to undergo a complete overhaul, the 37-storey complex is intended to become a landmark. Designed by British architect Amanda Levete in conjunction with local practice, P.I.A, it is resolutely contemporary but nonetheless reflects aspects of Thai tradition. The aluminium shingles that make up the shimmering exterior are based on the tiles used in Thai temples and seen from above, the building resembles an abstract figure 8, a symbol of eternity and good fortune in Thai and Chinese culture.
The desire to create somewhere unique - Chokchairittikul uses the ‘i’ word to describe the centre’s appeal – led to a number of design challenge. The two storey, 500-metre glass façade, the longest in Thailand, requires the moulding of technically demanding curved sections of plate glass and the curving nature of the building means that all 200,000 aluminium tiles have had to be individually designed and cut.
In some ways, the concept marks a departure for the Central Group. For much of its history, it has proudly been a retailer to the masses. Its supermarkets (the Tops chain), department stores (Robinsons and Central), specialty retail stores (amongst them SuperSports, PowerBuy and OfficeMate) and international franchises (including Muji, M&S and Uniqlo) are aimed solidly at the middle/upper-middle segment of the market.
This approach has helped make Central an integral part of the Thai retail industry. In 2012, Central Pattana, the branch that oversees the retail section but also includes some hotel, office and restaurant revenues, posted 2.12 billion USD in total assets, a 535.8 million USD turnover and profits of 133.6 million USD, 82 per cent of which was generated by retail.
But in recent years, the company has begun its assault on the upper echelons. Its flagship Bangkok mall, CentralWorld, is the sixth largest in the world and includes a leavening of high-end stand alone boutiques, both home-grown and imported, as well as an upscale restaurant and café promenade on its upper level. This has recently been supplemented with the opening of four new design oriented after-dark spaces; Zense, which brings five of the city’s top restaurants together under one roof, complete with gardens and an all-glass private VIP dining box, Shintori, a minimalist Japanese izakaya eatery and sake bar, Horizons, an international tapas-style restaurant/bar which hosts dance parties later in the evening and finally, Heaven, a private champagne bar on the 20th floor, which is blessed with panoramic views across town.
With three Central branches in China, one in Malaysia and one each in Indonesia and Vietnam opening later this year, the group’s international expansion is matched at home. Almost a dozen new Central/Zen/Robinson Lifestyle Centres will open across Thailand in the course of the next 12 months.
In 2011, the Group bought a 100 per cent stake in Italy’s most famous department store chain, the 150-year-old La Rinascente, for 205 million Euros. Early last year, it also snapped up Illum, Copenhagen’s most venerable department store, which is now undergoing a 60 million renovation USD.
With these two purchases, Thailand’s largest retail group not only has a solid foothold on European high-streets, it has also enlarged the group’s portfolio of brands – thirty per cent of the new brands that will be present at Embassy are a result of these tie-ups. With plans to open new Rinascente flagship stores in Italy as well as east Asia over the next five years, the goal, as Central Group CEO Tos Chirathivat told reporters at the time of the purchase, is to “take things global and to be recognised all across Asia, be it in Thailand, China, Japan or Hong Kong”.
Embassy is very much part of that plan. Once the Bangkok property is finished – at the moment, the mall should open on March 22nd and the Park Hyatt will receive its first visitors in the last quarter of 2014 – Embassies in Phuket and Rome are next in line. Bangkok’s bid to become the retail centre of Asia – and given that prices are lower than anywhere in the Gulf, perhaps of the Middle East as well - is on.
“Hong Kong is too hectic and Singapore is too slow,” Chokchairittikul says, by way of conclusion. “Please don’t misunderstand. I admire both cities very much and we have a lot still to learn from them but I think that with our tradition of hospitality, great food and fantastic tourist destinations, Thailand has an advantage. We will become one of the great retail hubs of the region.”
