Thanks for reading and thanks for commenting. It is good to know I am not alone in my experiences. I was thinking maybe it is just me.

Hope you come back and visit soon.

It’s good to be back. Thank you. It took me some time to correct my technical difficulties. Finding the answer was the hard part. The process of the fix was simple and easy.

Thanks for the Ubon history as usual. I was here when Makro was the only show in town and was normally crowded. You sound like me. Don’t do shopping for enjoyment, just want to get in, get your purchases and get out. I have heard that Big C Warin is nice to shop but it is not convenient for me. Glad you have a solution to shopping hell.

Thanks for the comment.

For foreigners living in Ubon we have never had it so good in regard to choice of supermarkets and big stores. When I settled permanently in Ubon in 1994 there was very little choice, and most of the small mini-markets offered the same sort of thing. All supermarkets in the 3 larger stores, Ying Yong, Ubon Plasa and Sakun Thai offered the same sort of goods as did Yong Sa-nguan at their big store in the old movie theatre near the river. The latter had an underground car park!

Robinson bought into Ying Yong, changed the shop with Ubon’s first escalator, Tops opened on the ground floor and Makro opened up. Makro’s opening saw huge crowds coming from all over southern Isarn.

And it was here that Mrs Sunee made a pile. She owned the Makro land. Sold it for about 20 million baht to Makro (also earned a friend of ours at Krung Thai bank a nice retirement commission as he engineered the sale). From there Mrs Sunee was able to expand her chicken businesses and of course we know she owns the Sunee complex.

Lotus opened up and then Big C. In the past few years Yong Sa-nguan has upgraded its group of Saveland shops to compete with the big stores and 7-11.

So where do I shop? I have never encountered the problems you experience Darwin but then I drive a car. I don’t like Big C Ubon because of the congested area to get up the escalotors, the dark smelly fumes in the carpark and the very loud music in the shop. It is over 2 years since I been to Big C Ubon. I have never gone to any of the shops etc outside Big C because of the crowds.

But I like Big C Warin because it is convenient for me to pop into on the way back from the university and it is never crowded. I go to Lotus because it always has what I want to buy. I often go early (8am) on Saturday to Makro for certain items that only Makro has. I frequently pop into Yong Sa-nguan on Changsanit Road (next to PTT petrol station) because it is very convenient and close to my home.

The only major complain I have about Lotus, Makro and Big C Warin is that they don’t open enough check-out counters. It really annoys me because by going early in the morning I can breeze around in 15 minutes only to be held up at the check-outs because only 3 are open. I have complained about this many times to managers and the reply is more will be open shortly!

I haven’t been to City Mall or the Sunee store. I try to avoid Chayangkun Road as much as possible. I make a list when I go shopping and if I am not out in 20 minutes I get annoyed. I certainly don’t like the SK shopping centre.

In summary, Ubon is a much better place to live in these days because of the range of goods the large Big stores have bought into the city.