The global financial crisis has well and truly taken it’s toll on Thailand’s super rich and now there’s even a flea market in Bangkok selling luxury cars and plots of land.
Spookily the market’s official name is “The Market of the Formerly Rich” and it’s operating out of a Mercedes car showroom in downtown Bangkok.
One seller, Jiraporn Keawtanan, who was getting rid of her collection of antique silverware explained “I have a lot of businesses so when the economy is bad, it effects my business. So I decided to collect cash.”
Wasant Pothipimpanon set up The Market of the Formerly Rich 12 years ago when Thailand was affected by the large Asian economic crisis. First time round it stayed open for a year but Wasant opened it again in August after seeing that the recent financial problems in the world had affected Thailand again.
Wasant said “Most Thai businesses are not as badly hit as they were in 1997, but banks are not willing to lend money now, so everyone is stuck.”
It likely could be fascinating to see what different folks have to say.