Owners of Onnuch fresh market open community mall
THE FAMILY that has run the Onnuch fresh market for more than 30 years has diversified to develop a community mall nearby called The Phyll.
Kaweepoj Worayingyong, managing director of Saranrat Development, the developer of The Phyll community mall, said fierce competition and the slow economy had delayed the soft opening of the mall to August, even though |construction was completed midyear.
The company had to cut its first-year rental fees to draw in tenants in order to open the mall, from the Bt900-Bt1,400 per square metre planned earlier to rates starting at Bt600 per square metre.
“Three years ago, it was looking pretty good,” he said, citing the economic conditions when his family decided to use part of its land bank for a mall.
“This was also because we’re quite selective on our tenants,” Amornrat Onnuch, director of Saranrat, added at the official opening of the mall on Wednesday.
He said The Phyll had leased 90 per cent of its total 5,000sqm of retail space, and 60 per cent of the tenants had already opened their shops.
The family spent more than Bt600 million on construction of the mall with financial support from Krungthai Bank.
The Phyll is designed with “feel good” and eco-friendly concepts, with a large green open space – the sales area occupies only half of the total 10,000 sqm space inside the building. It is situated on 4.5 rai (7,200 square metres) on Sukhumvit Road, less than 200 metres from Tesco Lotus’ crowded On Nut branch and On Nut Skytrain station.
Tenants
Among the tenants that have already opened their shops at the three-storey community mall are Tom N Toms Coffee and 7-Eleven that are open around the clock, Subway, Amway, UOB Bank, Sunrise Tacos, GOSH Gourmet Hot Dogs, Kamu, Prik Horm, Prego, New Sushi Bar, Toast Story, and Acts on Green.
The mall houses the first branch of Leo Cafe’s new-concept member-only coffee shop, as well as the first branches in Thailand of Ramen Ifudodo and Kunimoto hair salon, both from Japan.
Whereas most other malls have a supermarket as their magnet, Amornrat said The Phyll chose instead to use its lower floor for fresh, processed and take-a|way foods, dubbed the Onnuch Farm, to offer high-quality foods that are all free from monosodium glutamate (MSG) and foam packaging.
Kaweepoj said The Phyll currently attracted about 3,000 visitors daily, half of them foreigners.
This is below its target of 10,000 daily visitors.
Once it is fully occupied, the mall will earn Bt80 million in rental income annually, he said.
Amornrat said the company planned to open a “Green Zone” to offer health foods. It will also regularly host interesting events to help draw in shoppers, such as to occasionally opening a space for sellers of “hip” and stylish goods from Korea and Japan.
The family still has 1.5 rai behind The Phyll that is yet to be developed. Kaweepoj said a serviced apartment complex could be developed, but it would not be sooner than three years from now.
