THAILAND. Embattled King Power is to shut three downtown duty-free stores – Srivaree and Mahanakhon in Bangkok and its Pattaya operation – on a phased basis from September, The Moodie Davitt Report can confirm.
The story was broken by leading Thai media titles The Nation and Bangkok Post.
Chief Executive Officer Nitinai Sirismatthakarn told The Nation that the closures are driven by prohibitively high operating costs.
The travel retailer will maintain three downtown duty-free stores, King Power Rangnam, King Power City Boutique (in One Bangkok), and King Power Phuket.
Nitinai told The Nation, “The closure of these three branches is partly due to their unviable business structure.
“Another factor is the need to ‘lean’ our staff to remain competitive in a changing landscape. We’re taking this opportunity to offer a voluntary redundancy scheme across all branches.”
As reported, sister company King Power Duty Free Co is seeking an adjustment to its contract terms at five airports controlled by Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT).
Nitinai told Bangkok Post the three stores to be closed were designed to attract tour groups. However, their revenue has declined as tourism habits are changing and more people are travelling independently, he noted.
Foreign tourist arrivals to Thailand have fallen about -5% so far this year compared with the same period in 2024. Critically, however Chinese arrivals have slumped by some -33%. ✈
