Demise Of The Sukhumvit Petrol Station

[StoneSoup]

For the past seven years, I have traveled continually between my company's head office at the BB Building on Soi Asoke, and my home on Sukhumvit Soi 79. For all that time - and up until about six months ago - there were six petrol filling stations between my office and my home:

 

One on east side of Soi Asoke, just south of the GMM Grammy Building

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, near the corner of Soi 23

Two stations almost side-by side on south side of Sukhumvit Road, in-between Soi 36 and the Thonglor BTS Station

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, at the corner of Soi 59

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, in-between Soi 77/1 and Soi 79

 

As of January 2012, only two of those stations remain - those being the stations along Sukhumvit Road, at Soi 23 and Soi 59.

 

What has happened is that the value of the land has grown to the point where it makes no sense to try to sell price-controlled gasoline using that frontage. There is simply no way to generate enough income from selling low-priced products along that corridor. My guess is that one or both of the remaining stations will also be driven from the marketplace, sooner or later.

 

That leaves just two other stations along Sukhumvit - the one at Soi 4, and the one underneath the Ploenchit BTS Station, north side of Sukhumvit.

 

All through the years, I never saw tremendously heavy patronage of any of the six stations along my route, but they all served a steady stream of customers all day long. I wonder how the remaining two stations are doing, now that two thirds of their competitors have vanished?

 

If the trend continues, there will be no petrol anywhere along Sukhumvit, or its direct feed side-sois. Motorists in search of fuel will have to divert to Petchaburi, or Rama IV Roads.

 

Or - could a mobile tanker-style filling station emerge, "Mad-Max" style?

 

Cheers!

SS

[gobbledonk]

For the past seven years, I have traveled continually between my company's head office at the BB Building on Soi Asoke, and my home on Sukhumvit Soi 79. For all that time - and up until about six months ago - there were six petrol filling stations between my office and my home:

 

One on east side of Soi Asoke, just south of the GMM Grammy Building

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, near the corner of Soi 23

Two stations almost side-by side on south side of Sukhumvit Road, in-between Soi 36 and the Thonglor BTS Station

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, at the corner of Soi 59

One on north side of Sukhumvit Road, in-between Soi 77/1 and Soi 79

 

As of January 2012, only two of those stations remain - those being the stations along Sukhumvit Road, at Soi 23 and Soi 59.

 

What has happened is that the value of the land has grown to the point where it makes no sense to try to sell price-controlled gasoline using that frontage. There is simply no way to generate enough income from selling low-priced products along that corridor. My guess is that one or both of the remaining stations will also be driven from the marketplace, sooner or later.

 

That leaves just two others station along Sukhumvit - the one at Soi 4, and the one underneath the Ploenchit BTS Station, north side of Sukhumvit.

 

All through the years, I never saw tremendously heavy patronage of any of the six stations along my route, but they all served a steady stream of customers all day long. I wonder how the remaining two stations are doing, now that two thirds of their competitors have vanished?

 

If the trend continues, there will be no petrol anywhere along Sukhumvit, or its direct feed side-sois. Motorists in search of fuel will have to divert to Petchaburi, or Rama IV Roads.

 

Or - could a mobile tanker-style filling station emerge, "Mad-Max" style?

 

Cheers!

SS

 

I often wondered how those businesses could possibly be profitable - who would risk their 'place' on Suk to pull into a petrol station then have to try to get back into the chaos after filling their tank ? The station near Soi 4 clearly saw the writing on the wall when they installed a Maccas, and they have a steady stream of motorbike taxis through the place, but several of the others seemed to be in exactly the position you describe, particularly as you got further down Upper Suk. Even more astounding are the residential compounds that back onto Suk - that land must be worth far more than the dwellings on the land. Not hard to imagine wall-to-wall highrise within 10-15 years, but I guess plenty of folk would have said the same thing in 1992 ...