Asset World Corporation Plc (AWC), a property arm of the Sirivadhanabhakdi family, will reposition its retail centres in Bangkok and Chiang Mai to adapt to changes in consumer behaviour.
Wallapa Traisorat, AWC's chief executive and president, said the company's retail business will focus on food and drink and other attractions that will account for more than 50% of total space, targeting tourists and local visitors.
"People's lifestyles have changed," she said. "We will develop a destination, not a pure shopping centre, by putting in attractions like an indoor playground to tap family visitors or a spa to attract foreign tourists to our retail centres."
Tawanna Bangkapi, a community mall in the Bang Kapi area, will add martial arts and boxing events to attract locals and tourists.
Mrs Wallapa said the new concept of the company's retail centres will offer space where people can eat, play, relax and shop.
The biggest change will be at popular IT mall Pantip Plaza in the Pratunam area. IT shops will be downplayed and replaced with food and drink, particularly seafood restaurants, to cash in on the mall's status as a popular tourist destinations.
Opened in 1984, Pantip Plaza Pratunam occupies a 10-rai site with a net lettable area of 69,000 square metres and has an occupancy rate of 65%. Some 70% of tenants are IT shops.
After 2022, the plot where Pantip Plaza Pratunam is located will be redeveloped as a mixed-use project.
The plot has the potential to house a maximum gross floor area of 170,000 sq m.
Mrs Wallapa said AWC will capitalise on a strong network of IT tenants at Pantip Plaza Pratunam by inviting them to become key tenants at other retail centres, since IT repair shops are some of the most popular stores for people visit.
"If our retail centres have components that match consumer lifestyles, they can draw people out of their homes and away from their screens," she said.
According to a filing, AWC owns 11 retail properties with a total lettable area of 415,481 sq m.
The eight operating ones are Pantip Plaza Pratunam, Pantip Plaza Ngamwongwan, Pantip Plaza Chiang Mai, Tawanna Bangkapi, Gateway at Bangsue, O.P. Place, LaSalle's Avenue and Asiatique.
The company plans to develop phase two of Asiatique with a lettable area of more than 90,000 sq m and the Bangkok Marriott The Asiatique Hotel. It will also spend 20 billion baht to develop a mixed-use project in Pattaya during 2021-25.