Bangkok is a city of shopping centres but, after almost four years in the Thai capital, I have yet to find “the one”. There are so many to choose from and the scale is on another level, especially compared to what was available in my previous home city, Hong Kong. I challenge you to wander through Central World, one of the largest malls on the globe, without getting lost. (If you manage without a local escort, you deserve the Monocle scout’s badge for Retail Orienteering.) Thais don’t seem to have the same wayfinding issues as I do and flit through these commercial hubs with ease. 
 
Shopping centres here offer everything from supermarkets and cinemas to car showrooms, health clinics and soft-play facilities. Of course, there’s also plenty of air conditioning. Central Bangna’s decision to plonk an outdoor waterpark on the roof was inspired and I relish taking my kids there under the pretence that it’s a treat for them.

Beyond the fun, these malls play an important part in Thailand’s economy. Central Group’s development arm, Central Pattana (CPN), currently operates more than 40 shopping complexes nationwide. Every time CPN opens a new site in a Bangkok suburb or a second-tier city, such as Khon Kaen or Nakhon Sawan, tourists flock in, hotels spring up to accommodate all of the staff visiting from head office and residential towers grow in size. The listed company’s financial results for the start of this year show double-digit growth, with net profit up by 18 per cent – a staggering achievement in a depressed market that’s being dragged down by household debt and millions of absent overseas tourists.

CPN has had a particularly busy year. Central Park Bangkok officially opened in September 2025 just across from Lumpini Parkin the heart of the city, as part of a mixed-use collaboration with prominent Thai hospitality brand Dusit Hotels & Resorts. Earlier this month, it hosted a press conference for the next big project, which is expected to begin in 2027 in Siam Square: Central Central, a joint venture with Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate. Not to be outdone, The Mall Group plans to open Bangkok Mall in 2028. The huge construction site will dwarf Central World and continue Bangkok’s eastward expansion towards Suvarnabhumi Airport.

As the industry grows, new operators with deep pockets are trying their luck with mixed results. I’m writing this at Cloud 11 during a music-festival-style opening party. Singers and bands are performing across the mixed-use development, including inside a 7-Eleven convenience store. Property developer MQDC is not short of a penny, nor lacking in ambition. A former Universal Music Group executive is leading the project, Snøhetta designed it and Bangkok’s The Commons has created a shopping mall concept. MQDC’s second mall opens in August; Happitat will be a “destination dedicated to happiness” with an index that will track customer satisfaction.

These property developments deserve top marks for creativity but it might take time for the CFOs to crack a smile. Shopping centres are not for the faint-hearted. On the surface, they look a lot like coffee shops: a simple business model with a licence to print money. But they exist in a competitive environment and require high volumes of people to generate fairly low profit margins. Success requires retail industry know-how, long-term brand relationships and a secret sauce that turns a concrete edifice into a bustling emporium. The likes of One Bangkok, a gigantic mixed-use project backed by a beer conglomerate, have shown the difficulties that newcomers can run into. Central Park nearby, however, has become an immediate hit and slotted comfortably into Bangkok’s existing landscape. 
 
It’s not close enough to become my mall, though, so I’ll continue to shop around. And this being Bangkok, I won’t have long to wait. Indeed, CPN is opening another new one at the end of this year – up the road from my apartment and nextdoor to the first that it built in the early 1980s. 
 
James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Further reading:
 
– Thrifting gears: The secondhand festival winning Bangkok’s retail market

– Meet Natira Boonsri, CEO of Central Department Store, on the Thai retail giant’s future

– How Supaluck Umpujh turned Bangkok’s malls into a model for Asian luxury retail

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