Pratunam Market – Bangkok
One of my favorite places to go shopping in Bangkok is the wholesale shopping market in Pratunam. The first time I visited Bangkok I stayed in this area and it has been my favorite area ever since.
Pratunam Market
Pratunam market stretches from Petchaburi Road to Baiyoke Sky Hotel along the sidewalks and into the myriad of tiny alleys branching off in any direction. It consists of hundreds of street stalls and small shops peddling anything related to clothes and accessories and a whole lot more.
People travel here from all over the world to buy wholesale items and take them back to their own country to resell them there.
Want to make your own designer jeans? No problem. For a small cost you can have any piece of clothing made that your imagination can dream up.
But you don’t have to buy wholesale though. Everything is sold one by one too. If you buy more than a couple of items you will probably be offered wholesale prices if you bargain. You have to bargain. There are no price tags and you will end up paying much more if you don’t.
Pratunam Market
Much (or most) of the clothing and accessories found in the Pratunam market are copies. And buying these copies is illegal and supports organized crime. Still they sell them freely with no interruption from the police.
The downsides in my opinion to going there are:
- It can be very crowded on certain days and at certain times.
- It gets very hot in the afternoon.
- It is not easily accessible by public transport such as sky train and metro.
- The traffic in Ratchaprarop Road is normally very bad.
- It is quite easy to get lost in there as everything looks the same. It is not so big that you can’t get out but you run the risk of missing parts of it and walking by the same shops a few times.
Other than that Pratunam is a very good place with a wide selection and good bargains to be made. I go there several times on every visit to Thailand and end up with birthday and Christmas presents for the entire family and too much weight for the airplane ride home.
Happy Shopping!
I did find pratunam chock full of items at good prices. The sizes are small Thai sizes though, so I think it would be hard to sell back in another country. I am Asian and considered petite back in Korea but I have to wear large Thai size.
Yes they are often small sizes. Good tip, that’s something people should be aware of.