I went to
Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury shopping mall in Bangkok today before having a wonderful lunch with
Tim who generously gave me some time and thoughts on a simulacra post that I want to write at some point - he's massively brainy like that. Tim is a writer who also does restaurant reviews when not contributing to
The Guardian,
The Bangkok Post,
writing a book or
blogging over here, and it was
toptastic to have a humungus steak and a charmingly insolent bottle of red which for professional reasons I was largely forced to polish off on my own.
I was struck how empty
Gaysorn Plaza was. The luxury brands are commencing a world of pain over the next five to ten years and I think it's safe to say that the awful moniker of
masstige brands may finally be buried along with all the other marketing hubris we inflated ourselves on in the bubbled up economy.
I was however delighted to see a few early birds taking a flyer and doing 40% discount sales which is unheard of in the run up to Christmas (widely celebrated in this Buddhist country - not the day - the festive season) but even more pleased to see that one brand has taken an interesting approach to the way that they advertise a sale.
Good recessionary thinking. Think up not down.