What's all this about "The Arab"?

[Old Hippie]

[The_Munchmaster]

....But I used to prefer the old style Cowboy myself.....

Me to.

 

[bust]

You guys are sounding like a bunch of old men in a retirement village waffling on about the good old days.

 

Change with the times and enjoy.

[sanddawg1]

You guys are sounding like a bunch of old men in a retirement village waffling on about the good old days.

 

Change with the times and enjoy.

 

 

I have only just begun to defile myself!!!

[shygye]

He would want to be loaded to buy up all of what Pattaya has on offer (it is just not one strip) - once he gets past the russians that is.

 

Besides, market forces, soi cowboy will die as did Nana, another will spring up.

 

... like Clinton Plaza!

[Old Hippie]

You guys are sounding like a bunch of old men in a retirement village waffling on about the good old days.

 

Change with the times and enjoy.

 

 

I have only just begun to defile myself!!!

 

 

 

 

I generally don't like a lot of change unless it is "change for the better." This guy and what seems to be following in his wake is definitely not having a good impact.

 

[ozpharlap]

Clinton plaza went by the wayside, maybe Soi Cowboy will last several years to come before it does so.

 

My memories of Clinton Plaza are a lot different to some of the long time posters to this board. Whenever I was there, it was dark, never crowded, barflies couched on stools with cobwebs ... some places were that dark I would shudder to wonder how anyone could decide what the girl looked like before they bar fined her. However, getting up early along sukhumvit some days and seeing punters with absolute pigdogs, I wondered if they got take away from Clinton Plaza.

 

So market forces will dictate, if there is a need for it, it will spring up. Besides, there are lots of other places besides the big 3 (Soi Cowboy, Nana & Patpong), you just have to look for them.

 

Also, if the Arab has put up prices, surely people will vote with their feet and go to the other bars along Soi Cowboy, as will the girls who work in the Arab establishments.

 

[Old Hippie]

"...Also, if the Arab has put up prices, surely people will vote with their feet and go to the other bars along Soi Cowboy, as will the girls who work in the Arab establishments..."

 

 

The trouble is, 1) he is buying all the places he can it seems. 2) buy creating a demand for these places, he is driving up rents on the remaining places. These remaining places will need to jack prices to cover their higher costs, and in the end we all lose...

[Wallenda]

Clinton plaza went by the wayside, maybe Soi Cowboy will last several years to come before it does so.

Not sure why everyones predicting the end of Cowboy -- how long has it been going now? 30 yrs? more? The place has remarkable staying power for whatever reason.

 

My memories of Clinton Plaza are a lot different to some of the long time posters to this board.

I agree, it never seemed great to me. Smaller than the other 3 areas (therefore fewer girls) -- so what advantage did it have exactly? Just lasted a few short years...3 was it? And wasn't it real estate development that caused the end there? I think SC is more resistant to those forces due to its geography: 2 long sides with many different properties and an unpurchaseable publicly-owned lane down the middle of it. Doesn't seem to really lend itself well to an office complex or anything. All the separate properties there would have to be simultaneously bought by one entity, only to have an awkwardly long narrow strip of land to build on as a result. Oh and, on the opposite side of the lane would still be a strip of go-go bars -- so they'd need to buy up BOTH sides. I don't see any of these areas dying out due to lack of customers, it'd take more than that. Contraction maybe, but some will survive through the downturns, and when the upturns happen, new ones will sprout up again.

 

Also, if the Arab has put up prices, surely people will vote with their feet and go to the other bars along Soi Cowboy, as will the girls who work in the Arab establishments.

Surely not "surely". I think a more likely result is that unless there's a resulting obvious downtown in his bars' business vs others, then other bars would RAISE their prices instead to match his. I hope you're right, but my gut says no. The only way I see prices coming down is if someone lowers prices and a lot more business happens as a clear result. But that doesn't seem to happen. Prices instead seem to continually RISE, not just at SC and the Arab places but across the board in every other place too. So it seems as if market forces are the real reason. They're finding they can charge more and be more profitable by doing so. If they were losing money doing it, they'd lower prices.

 

[Old Hippie]

"...Not sure why everyones predicting the end of Cowboy -- how long has it been going now? 30 yrs? more? The place has remarkable staying power for whatever reason..."

 

 

Soi Cowboy has been around 40+ years? The predictions of it's demise are 1)nothing lasts forever and eventually it will die 2) the real estate it sits on is in high demand 3)the area is becoming more prominent to the mainstream, and thus the demand for the land goes up, as well as the number of people who want to see it go away. Of course you could say the same about PatPong as well.