Michael Bacos visited several stores in an airport mall in Chiang Mai, Thailand on a quiet Tuesday afternoon to observe them with a fresh perspective. He found that Watson's pharmacy was laid out like stores back home but inside the mall. Employees' uniforms clearly designated roles. Sofia soap store invoked a spa-like atmosphere and marketed its products as life-changing. Candy Berry elicited childhood nostalgia with familiar sweets. Stores generally arranged products neatly and had pleasant, often sole employees despite small spaces. Common factors included an absence of music and attractiveness of female staff.

1. Michael Bacos
A Crash Course in Creativity

2. Looking at Going to the Mall in a
Different Light
On a Tuesday afternoon, I took a trip to Chiang Mai’s
Airport Plaza Mall to observe shopping in a different
light. I am not an avid shopper and usually shopping
in Chiang Mai is done on the nightly street markets.
Since this was a Tuesday afternoon, the mall was pretty
slow, full of mainly university students and tourists.
However, I still took the opportunity to observe the
mall in a different light….

3. Watson’s

4. Initial Impressions
Watson’s is a chain pharmacy
here in Thailand. Coming
from America, I always
thought it was unique to have
a pharmacy inside the mall.
There was a lot of fluorescent
white lights and many colors
hitting the sight at once. The
store had a lot of merchandise,
but it was evenly spaced, just
like supermarket aisles,
making it easy to move
around. I felt like it was just a
cookie-cutter drugstore, like a
Walgreen’s or CVS Pharmacy
back home, just inside of the
nicest malls in Chiang Mai.

5. Employees
With my Thai language skills at a
low-intermediate level, I was fairly
able to communicate with some of
the workers. It was hard for me to
get candid shots without being
easily noticed. The store was small
enough that someone taking
random pictures would easily be
noticed by an employee. The
employees had different uniforms
communicating their purpose.
This lady in the black worked in
the makeup section. Anyone
dressed in white and looked like
lab technicians were in the
pharmacy. While any in a green
polo shirt was a stocker or cashier.
This communicated well to
customers in that it showed each
employee’s specific knowledge set.

6. Products
The picture shown here is the sales
bin. This shows the price of each
item, while the top bin displayed
shows that 3 items can be bought
for 299 baht (about US$10). The
products beyond the sales shelf
were neatly arranged and
organized by function. The
pharmacy was all the way in the
back along with the other beauty
and health products. There were
no demonstrations being offered,
even at the makeup counter, where
it is not unusual back home for
makeup ladies to be applying make
up to potential customers. Then
again, it was noon on a Tuesday, so
this may have had something to do
with the lack of customers.

7. Sofia

8. Initial Impressions
Sofia is a specialty soap
store. Of course, the initial
impression that it smelled
very nice and clean.
However, I felt like I was
walking into a café with the
counter and two stools to
the right, along with the
hardwood floors. The
displays were very visually
appealing, arranged very
neatly. The store had an
edgy feel to it. Definitely
edgier than a Bath and
Body Works back home.

9. The Center Display

10. Front Display
I found how the soap was
marketed very interesting.
It made it seem that a
simply changing to this
soap brand would
immediately change your
life. There are not many
ads for this brand on TV,
so I think this message is
similar to the ones
brought on by Axe or Old
Spice, but instead of
marketing as a way of
being simply attractive to
the opposite sex, it will
change your life. The
soap is made from natural
ingredients and is 100
baht a bar ($3, which is
kinda pricy here).

11. The employees
There were four employees
working total. The guys in
green were on the sales
floor, while the girls in
black, were dressed like
baristas and working
behind the counter. The
cash register was directly
across from the center
display and I assume all of
the employees had training
in operating the cash
register, since no one was
behind it when I walked in.
Overall, they were very
nice, but the Thais are a
pleasant people, in general.

12. Candy Berry

13. Childhood
Memories
I was drawn to this place
because it invoked childhood
memories. What was even
more surprising was that all
the candy that I had grown up
with in America, was found in
Thailand. The “store” (it
basically was just a huge open
kiosk) was wide open with all
of its sweets insight. The color
scheme made it feel like that I
was in Main Street, USA at a
little candy shop. My
friend, even bought herself a
pack of this cylindrical minty
gum, that brought her back to
her childhood in Thailand.

14. A Wider Shot of the Store

15. The Employee(s?)
From what I can tell, I
assume the lady in pink is
the only one working there
and the other lady in the
black polo shirt just
stopped by to talk to her. It
would be a waste of
personnel to have two
people staff the store, when
it is easy to watch
everything from behind
the counter with a mall
security guard stationed in
between the store and the
exit.

16. Soray Waan (I can read Thai, but I
don’t know what that means)

17. What caught my eye was the American flag
and the Bob Marley banner

18. Inside the Store

19. Personal Thoughts
I obviously thought the store was a little
cramped, especially with two employees running the
show. But despite its cramped quarters, everything
seemed to flow perfectly and arranged neatly.
Everything was arranged by type of products (belts
with other belts, bags with bags, trinkets
altogether, etc.). The least accessible items seemed to
be the stuffed figures, which were behind the cash
register. There are two openings in which a customer
can walk in and out easily, keeping the traffic flowing
smoothly.

20. Teddy House Chiang Mai

21. Once inside….

22. Personal Thoughts
This is another store in the same section as the previous
one. However, instead of two entrances, there was just
only one coming into the store. On a crowded day, it
could cause a traffic problem. The store was perfectly
lit, instead of using long fluorescent lights, which I
thought was fitting for a store that sold teddy bears. It
gave a comforting feel to the place with the paneling
and white floor. There was only one person working,
which was all that was needed to monitor the store.
The bears were neatly arranged and even lined up from
shortest to tallest.

23. Nautica

24. Once Inside…

25. Personal Thoughts
As I expected, everything was very
neatly arranged for a
corporate, higher-end store.
Everything was neatly arranged.
The sale items were right in front
of the store. Unlike in
America, there was no music
playing in a store like this. In a
way, it felt nice. There was also
only one person in the store when
we walked in. A pleasant person to
deal with, but for the most
part, that seems to be the norm in
Thailand upon initial contact. The
store was brightly-lit with
fluorescent track lights but it
seemed to match with the white
fixtures and hardwood floors. It
gave it a bit of an upbeat, modern
feel.

26. Common Factors in All the Stores
 There was no music playing in any of the stores
 95% of the female retail staff looked very attractive
(the Thais put a lot into aesthetics).
 The Thai retail staff are generally friendly people and
are happy to help out (they did seem a little weirded
out with me taking pictures, however, but most were
happy to help)
 Since this study was done on a Tuesday afternoon,
conducting a study on the weekend may have been
different, since there would’ve been tons of people
shopping.