| Telephone |
(662) 269 1000 Ext. 1726, 1727 |
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| Opening Hours |
10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. everyday |
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| BTS |
BTS Skytrain - Prompong Station |
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| Address |
The Emporium Shopping Complex
Customer Service
622 Sukhumvit Rd., Klongton, Klongtoey,
Bangkok, Thailand 10110 |
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| Email |
customerservice@emporiumthailand.com |
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| Credit Cards |
All Major cards accepted |
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| Discounts |
Get an Emporium Discount card for 5% discounts |
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| Pros |
Good selection, good supermarket, well presented, Good food hall and a decent movie theater complex. |
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| Cons |
A little pricey . . |
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Steps to skytrain station outside Emporium
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The Emporium was Bangkok's premier shopping center until the Siam Paragon was completed. However, the owner's won't be too concerned because Siam Paragon is under the same umbrella as The Emporium. But the Siam Paragon is certainly the better of the two shopping centers in Bangkok.
If you go to Siam Paragon and then go to The Emporium afterwards, it seems quite small and almost old fashioned.
However, The Emporium is still a quality shopping center and is home to many top brand name shops such as Channel, Fendi, Gucci and Loius Vuitton and the Emporium Department store is well stocked and has a wide selection of goods for men, women and children.
Situated on Sukhumvit Road and on the corner of Sukhumvit 24, the Emporium is an up market shopping centre divided into the Emporium Department Store and The Emporium Shopping Center. The Department Store is a self contained store with various departments similar to Selfridges or Macey's, whereas the Shopping Center is a selection of independant shops and restaurants.
You can enter the Emporium directly from the skytrain station or from ground level, front and side entrances.
The Emporium and Central Chidlom (which is just a couple of BTS, skytrain stops away)are very similar and the only real difference between them is in the kind of independant shops that occupy the area around the dapartments stores.
The Emporium has a good CD store called CD Warehouse and an excellent book shop called Kinokuniya ( also at Siam Paragon ) which Central does not have, so if you are looking for books or CDs, head of to The Emporium or Siam Paragon.
Central does have a book section and a CD section but they don't really compare.
The Emporium also has a movie theater which is something Central Chidlom does not have. The theater is relatively modern and clean, with standard tickets costing in the region of 220 - 250 Baht. Once again though, The Emporium is starting to show its age with much more modern cineplex's and movie theatre's opening up and offering the latest technologies. The Emporium SFX Cinema is still a decent place to go and see movies though.
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V.I.P. Waiting lounge fo SFX Cinema
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Stairs up to the SFX Cinema
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The Emporium has always had an upstairs food section which had a smattering of restaurants, but since Central Chidlom introduced its very popular "The Lofts" food court which introduced the concept of various International food stalls and a card that records what you have ordered, The Emporium and Siam Paragon have both adopted the format.
The Emporium's food court is set back a bit from the rest of the restaurants and can be found to the left of Burger King.
When you enter the food court you will be presented with a credit card type card. Each person who enters will be presented with a card with the exception of children. You present this card to each stall you order from and they will swipe it through their machine and the card retains the cost of all items you order. This goes for drinks as well which must be ordered separately froma separate stall.
Take your time to wander around and view what's on offer. You can choose from Tony Roma's which serves up quality burgers, spare ribs, fries, onion rings etc, or you can go for Vietnamese food from Madame Nga's.
You can also have Indian food, Thai food, pizzas and Japanese. All of which is excellent.
Order your food, take a seat and someone will
bring you your food and cutlery. When you've finished, walk back to where you came in, present your cards and the amount you've spent will be quickly calculated for you.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of good restaurants on the top floor so the food hall is only an option.
There is a second food hall, but this serves mainly Thai food. It's a lot cheaper and works by buying coupons before
ordering. You then use the coupons as a type of cash. You then cash in any remaining coupons.
The Emporium department store is standard fair with a large selection of top quality brands on offer. There is a good men's section, women's section and a comprehensive children's section. The sports section is respectable and there are a number of golfing outlets at various locations.
It has a fairly good electrical department for TVs, mobile phones, MP3 players, home cinema, computers equipment etc but is very poor for Hi-Fi equipment. If you like Hi-Fi and like specialist equipment, this is not the place for you.
Supermarket
The supermarket is situated on the top floor which is a bit strange as you've then go to navigate back to the car or to the BTS etc, but the supermarket itself offers good quality fruits, vegetables and meats. There is a very good Australian meats and cheeses counter but it is pricey. There is a local meats counter that offers very good quality meats as an alternative.
I once bought the Australian sausages and found them very fatty as well as heavy on the breadcrumbs to fill them out. On cooking the sausages they split immediately even after making puncture holes to avoid this. Cooking them was difficult as they spat ferociously and basically ended up a rather sorry mess. Don't forget, this is my experience and might have been a one off, but having said that, the rest of the counter looks splendid and it's difficult to walk past without wanting to buy a bunch of steaks and lamb cutlets.
The Emporium Tower has many aspects to it.
The usual visitor sees the shopping mall and the individual shops, but there are offices and serviced apartments called The Emporium Suites. The offices and serviced apartments can be accessed from inside the Emporium but it's not easy to find and so the best option is to enter from around the right of the main entrance.
The offices section houses desing businesses, martial arts schools, English language schools, Starbucks and Au Bon Pain.
The Emporium Suites is a luxury Serviced Apartment block with very nice serviced apartments, with excellent views and facilities. The swimming pool is very nice.
The Emporium Suites is very popular and it is not easy to get a short term let. Most people staying there are booked in for 6 months to a year +
There is usually plenty of parking but it is messy and not well laid out. There also seems to be a constant stench of sewage in most areas of the car park which is quite off putting. I and a few friends have been stuck in there for much longer than necessary due to people parking and then putting on the hand brake. They eventually got towed out of the way, but it's to be considered when parking.
There are usually plenty of ATM / Cash Point machines scattered about the store.
Discounts: apply for an Emporium membership card for 100 Baht and get 5% discount on almost all things.. Card takes just moments to obtain and can be done within the store itself. Well worth the effort.
