12/10/2024
We know restaurants come and go in Bangkok with regularity, but how about shopping centers? The Nightingale-Olympic, Bangkok's oldest department store, sadly, has apparently closed down after 90 years of operation. A regular stop on some of the spirit & ghost tours I put together, the shop was exceptionally memorable for it's exceptionally high "creepy" factor. Mannequins whose eyes followed you around the store, cashiers who would have been happier if you hadn't stopped by, the smell of expired perfumes, a grumpy "No Photos" policy (as well as an even stricter no-entry restriction to the beauty salon on the 3rd floor), posters that featured John McEnroe endorsed tennis racquets (nothing more recent than the late-70s), and no matter what time of the day, unless visiting with a friend, you were likely the only one in the store.
I have offered to run over and buy the mannequins and the John McEnroe posters, but unfortunately, the only message I keep receiving back is "indefinite." I'm guessing this is in reference to the closing period and not the expiration date of the 1930s Merle Norman skincare creams that were also part of the store's unique appeal.
