SHOPPING COMPLEX
Seri Centre targets locals
the seri centre on Bangkok’s Srinakarin Road is to devote more space to IT booths, educational and entertainment services.
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Will focus more on IT and 'edutainment' to pull in shoppers living in the vicinity
The Seri Centre shopping complex is fine-tuning its tenant mix, adding more retail space for information technology booths, and expanding its educational and entertainment services, to encourage those who live in the vicinity to spend more money closer to home. As rising fuel costs make shopping closer to home more attractive, the centre will bring a wider range of services and products to those who live within easy reach of the complex's Srinakarin Road site in Bangkok, said Vorapong Sukteera-anantachai, assistant managing director Seri Centre Management Co Ltd. The complex will continue to focus on shops that provide products and services for daily living rather than luxury goods, he said. The number of people living in the area provides a customer base that is large enough that the mall does not need to draw customers from outside the area, Vorapong said. A recent survey estimat-ed that about 50,000 customers visited the mall during the weekend and 28,000 from Monday to Friday, Vorapong said. Renovations this year will expand the IT centre on the second floor and the "edutainment" zone on the third floor. An area for the sale of tropical fish, the Aquatina, will also be opened on the third of the centre's five floors. Seri Centre has about 90,000 square metres of retail space. Vorapong said the edutainment zone was due for a 2,500-sqm boost, which is due to be completed in the third quarter. It will see about 10 schools added to the current 24. "We are spending about Bt50 million on renovating the edutainment areas," Vorapong said. The schools offer dance, music and language lessons. He said there will be more than 70 IT booths, ranging in size from with a size of nine to 12sqm each, in the IT zone. The Aquatina will open this month and occupy 1,000sqm. Vorapong expects that the expansion will see the centre's sales rise to Bt460 million this year from Bt410 million last year. Seri Centre's major tenants include @ease Department Store, Home Pro, Major Cineplex and Major Bowl, Sports World, Mahidol University, AUA Institute, and Clark Hatch Fitness Centre.
Sasithorn Ongdee The Nation
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