17 Best Places to Go Shopping in Sukhumvit

Button Up is a luxury tailor and fashion brand based in Bangkok which can claim celebrity A-Listers as customers. American rapper Snoop Dogg and teen-drama 90210 actor Matt Lanter are both customers along with the cream of Bangkok’s glitterati. In fact, the team at Button Up worked as stylists for Snoop Dogg’s music video No Guns Allowed.

Along with the flagship store in the fashionable Thong Lor area of Sukhumvit, Button Up has 8 separate branches spread throughout the top shopping malls in the city. Siam Paragon and Central Chit Lom both have off-the-rack shirts and apparel for sale starting from 2,000 baht, but for bespoke tailoring and refined service, you must visit their standalone store next to Thong Lor Soi 5.

Dasa Book Cafe is a hip secondhand bookshop in Sukhumvit where you can cosy up with the latest Murakami and sip a mocha. Located in a 3-storey shophouse and decorated in subdued earth tones, the esteemed Dasa boasts over 17,000 genre-spanning titles, while also doubling up as a café serving a selection of cakes and fresh coffee. 

Most of the books here are in English but they also stock French, German, Scandanavian and Swedish editions. Prices are good, and you can also sell or trade your books here.

Emporium Shopping Mall is filled with glamorous boutiques selling both international and Thai designer brands. On the 1st floor, you'll find the usual suspects: Dior, Hermes, Chanel and more, but head up into Emporium’s department store to discover some fabulous Thai fashion including names such as Sretsis, It Happens to be a Closet, and Disaya. Other Thai brands we love are Greyhound for clothing and Ginger for colourful home decor and accessories.

With direct access from the BTS at Phrom Pong, Emporium Shopping Mall isn’t just about clothes shopping – it's also a great place to buy homeware and gadgets, with almost an entire floor dedicated to laptops, photography and mobile phones.

EmQuartier Bangkok is part of an expansive retail hub in the Phrom Phong part of the city. You may have already heard of or visited the popular Emporium Shopping Mall – EmQuartier mall stands on the opposite side of Sukhumvit Road.

Expect to find a long list of designer brands at EmQuartier Bangkok, as well as a distinctly futuristic design with dozens of restaurants, offices, event halls and a cool atrium garden – complete with a waterfall. There’s also direct access from Phrom Phong BTS Skytrain and a link to Emporium Mall across the road.

If you fancy a Korean barbecue dinner but can’t be bothered to marinate the beef, then head over to this supermarket. The meat section has ready-cut meats, both pre-marinated and freshly cut, ready for the grill. 

While here, pick up other groceries, whether fresh gimchi, cooking sauces, barbecue marinades, spicy bean pastes, bagged snacks or Korean-style stainless steel utensils, bowls and cooking pots.

A trip to Gateway Ekamai is meant to tap into Thailand’s fascination with Japan, and the decor includes an elephant-sized maneki-neko (lucky cat) that welcomes you from the Ekkamai BTS Skytrain Station. The ground and 1st floor at Gateway Ekamai are dedicated to food, but on the 2nd floor, you'll find beauty salons offering eyelash extensions and facials. 

Go up to the 3rd floor for a bazaar-style shopping experience with a handful of independent clothes, accessories and jewellery shops. The 4th and 5th floors are dedicated to electronics, with some impressive photography and camera equipment and dedicated branches for Samsung, Apple, Acer and Toshiba mobile phones and laptops.

Jaspal Home Collection is a local brand that’s been around since the 1950s and now has showrooms at high-end shopping malls along downtown Sukhumvit Road. With a presence at leading furniture stores throughout Bangkok and major cities in Thailand, the brand offers a range of classic and contemporary pieces, fabrics and accessories for your bedroom, bathroom, dining and living room. 

Jaspal Home Collection is an ideal shopping destination for those who fancy a vintage boudoir look or the understated elegance of a modern classic style.

K Village is a modern-looking mall featuring some 100 air-conditioned shops in its 5 zones, including Fashion & Accessories, Café & Restaurants, Health & Beauty, Lifestyle & Technology and Gourmet Market. The main highlight, though, is dining, and the place is often packed at weekends.

This lifestyle mall, frequented by local celebrities as well as the hip and well-to-do of Bangkok, is a welcome alternative to the glittering mega-malls flanking downtown Sukhumvit Road. It features 2 open-style buildings, each offering 2 levels of retail space, an activities ground which doubles as a beer garden in cooler months, and an outdoor parking lot.

Major Ekkamai is more of an entertainment centre, rather than another ordinary Sukhumvit shopping mall – with a whole host of activities spread across numerous levels. As well as a few decent shops and all your usual fast-food chains downstairs, on the upper levels, you’ll find a big cinema, bowling lanes (with a bar), karaoke rooms and a games arcade. 

There’s direct access from Ekkamai BTS and the entrance to the hugely popular WE Fitness Society Ekkamai Club is next door. 

Rajawongse Clothier, at first glance, appears no different to the rows of other bespoke tailor shops that line Sukhumvit Road around Bangkok's lively Nana area.

Even so, take a minute to stop and observe the narrow, no-frills looking shop front and you’ll notice one crucial factor that sets Rajawongse Clothier apart from the rest of the competition: their glass door is constantly being opened and closed all day long – not by an overly pushy salesman telling the passing crowds, “Nice shirt my friend, you want one more?” – but instead, by a constant stream of customers. 

Rain Hill feels a little out of place in Bangkok… but in a good way. Laid out over 5 floors, this eco-friendly shopping mall, decorated with manicured trees, focuses on independent eateries and boutique fashion stores. 

The real draw here is the specialist restaurants with the chance to pick up some unique fashion an added benefit. Located on Sukhumvit 49, Rain Hill is halfway between Thong Lor and Phrom Phong BTS stations, and even though it lacks the convenience of direct access from a Skytrain station, it’s little more than a 10-minute walk either way.

The Sukhumvit Market, also known as the Middle Eastern quarter –'Little Arabia’,  is where many Arab businesses set up shop. A lot of Nana shopping exists on the street, with the vendors that make up the roadside market fringing the main road. 

Street stalls selling counterfeit T-shirts, bags, trinkets, and eastern-influenced apparel contribute to the bustling vibrancy of the place. This is a great location to pick up interesting tokens for friends and family back home.

Terminal 21 is one of the largest shopping malls in Sukhumvit. If you love shopping you're going to love the almost 600 shops here, but this is no ordinary shopping experience. The mall takes you around the world as you explore the 5 floors, with some of the best-themed decors we have ever seen.

You can take a trip to London (men’s clothing), Paris (fashion brands like H&M and Nike), Tokyo (women’s clothing), and even the Caribbean (food). On the top floor, you'll find Hollywood where you can enjoy the latest blockbusters, or head down 1 floor for restaurants and an impressive food court in San Francisco.

Nana Square has 5 floors of shops selling a wide variety of goods: electronics, clothes, souvenirs and accessories with a focus on handbags. On the ground floor, you'll often find a super sale focused on specific goods, such as end-of-line clothing, sportswear or even lingerie.

Nana Square Shopping Mall is also the place to come if you are looking for an internet cafe, bank and currency exchange, laundrette or beauty salon. Given its handy location, it tends to be frequented for practical reasons. If you’ve left your gift buying to the last minute and are staying in the area, head to this mall to pick up some bargains.

Eight Thonglor is a fun lifestyle mall with a focus on food located along Thong Lor's Sukhumvit Soi 55. Restaurants and cafes take over most of the ground floor. Popular spots include Paul Bakery and Din Tai Fung. Downstairs in the basement is Foodland, a 24-hour supermarket selling international products. 

There’s a great range of unique boutiques at Eight Thonglor. Shop for beautifully crafted children’s clothing at Chateau de Sable, rare and collectable records at 8 Musique, or pre-owned designer clothing and handbags at The Vintage Store. Eight Thonglor is within a 15-minute walk of the Thong Lo BTS Skytrain Station, but you can also get there by motorbike taxi.