TCC adding more IT malls

       TCC Land, the property arm of liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, has opened its latest lifestyle community mall, the 500-million-baht Digital Gateway, in Siam Square.
       The company is also preparing to open a 600-million-baht IT mall in the Bang Kapi area next month, plus another Gateway Mall in Ekamai worth 2 billion baht in the next two years.
       The digital lifestyle centre occupies 698 square wah of land leased from Chulalongkorn University under a 15-year contract. Featuring interactive space-tunnel architecture, the five-storey centre has 54 retail outlets with a total 8,390 square metres of space,70% of which are IT shops with the rest restaurants.
       Wisanu Wangwisut, managing director of TCC Land Retail, the operator of Digital Gateway, said the centre was expected to become a popular, chic and trendy landmark among consumers he dubbed Generation D (digital).
       About 100,000 people visit Siam Square per day, compared to between 30,000 and 40,000 at Pantip Plaza, one of the world's most famous IT shopping malls,also owned by TCC Land.
       Mr Wisanu said the mall not only provided a wide selection of trend-setting IT products, it also offered a new experience in updating digital trends and technologies plus event halls for exhibitions and IT-related marketing activities.
       "Our mall is fully occupied. We expect to earn 240 million baht in rental revenue the first year of operation," he said.
       Mr Wisanu also said Thailand's retail sector was seeing a significant recovery this year with 3-4% growth in the first half. The industry faced a sharp decline of 20-30% in the fourth quarter of last year when political tensions peaked and tourism plunged.
       However, sales of IT products have not been seriously affected by the crisis as people still needed communications.
       TCC Land plans to open its second Pantip-like mall in Bang Kapi next month with a construction cost of 600 million baht. The 24,000-square-metre facility is designed to sell only IT products.
       The 120,000 sq m Gateway Mall in Ekamai is also under construction and scheduled to open in 2011.
       "We are also looking to expand our IT and lifestyle-concept malls in the Bang Yai, Charoen Krung and Krung Thon Buri areas next year," he said.