Tops Central Chiang Mai Airport — Local services in Chiang Mai Province

Tops Markets in Thailand have been for me one of the high-end supermarkets, they offer also a wide selection international products and the service has been on a high standard. Airport Plaza Top Market has forced me to change my opinion especially in regard of service; as the responsible person at Top Markets is either not willing or incapable to discuss my issues, I will post it here in public. On 29.12.2020 I purchased some items and went to a cashier and gave my Visa credit card (not pre-paid card) for payment. The lady asked if I want to pay in Euro, which I denied asking to pay Thai Baht. The Pin terminal did not ask for pin, but requested to tap the card, which has a chip; instead of this she repeated two more times the process trying Euro payment, with the end result being that the card was blocked did not function anymore. I asked to talk with the manager ! Another lady obviously another cashier came but no manager as requested, both of them started to inspect the terminal and made calls by their mobile phones, the communication to myself was next to nothing, English language knowledge was non-existent. Finally a phone was handed to me, on the line was a gentleman presenting himself to be the manager on holiday. (Few days later it turned out that he was not the manager.) While on the phone he could not find a solution and asked me only to add money to my card account, not understanding the concept of a “Credit Card” So I paid by cash and left; only few minutes later I could pay with the same “Credit Card” without problems at a petrol station and at another supermarket.

On the cash table I found receipts showing the exchange rate and 5.90 % COMISSION to the shop. No wonder they try to make the customer pay in Euro.

Unless you do not want to lose money – in total close to 10%: NEVER PAY IN YOUR OWN CURRENCY AND CHECK THE EXCHANGE RATE.

I tried to meet the “Manager” couple of times without success. Today I was again at the “Top Markets, now a young sales staff introduced a gentleman telling me he’s the store manager; however he did not even bother to greet me of say anything. The credit card issue could not be solved. In the next post I will report about the other issue.

Temperature of food

On the way to the market I have seen also previously a sales booths of TOPS in the centre area of the Plaza. They offered among other things raw salmon as well as grilled fish. As the cooling of the products has always looked for me a little bit inadequate, I decided to use the new medical grade infrared thermometer which I recently bought from a pharmacy.

The raw salmon I could measure +14 to +15 degrees Celsius surface temperature, for the grilled fish +23 to +24 degrees Celsius; the display / storage temperature for chilled products should be +5C at the maximum.

I leave it to your decision if you will take the risk of food poisoning from the inadequate display and storage of ready to eat chilled products.

The management of TOPS did not give any explanation to...

It looks like a more modern supermarket comparing with Big C & Lotus! The top market attached with a top food hall! The food hall offer dishes with reasonable price, like 50-70baht for a meal! And i am soo shocked that even a watch store and a printing service center are inside the top market as well! I believe it helps most of the tourists or short-term traveller here!

Inside the supermarket, you can get what you want inside from snacks, daily necessities to frozen food and vegetable there!! However, the prices are comparatively higher than big C and Lotus! But one thing, they offer more imported products, like from Korean , US and even Japan!!!

As the shopping mall is very near the Chiang Mai airport, it could be a last minute shopping area...

One of my favourite supermarkets to shop in if you are nearby Chiang Mai airport. Great selection of groceries made up of local recipes and products for all to shop. I find the supermarket layout to be well structured and the staff here are very friendly and helpful. There is even a small eating corner that serves local food and beverages, as well as snacks to satisfy your meal craving or just to take a break and breather from shopping at the huge Central shopping plaza. Overall, a pleasant grocery store for all to get your home essentials and...