MBK Center, also known as Mahboonkrong, is a huge shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand and one of the city’s most popular. It consists of approximately 2,000 shops and restaurants contained in eight floors of shopping heaven. A branch of Tokyu, one of Japan’s large chains of department stores, the swish Hotel Pathumwan Princess Hotel next door completes the complex.
The MBK Center welcomes over 100,000 visitors daily and is particularly popular with tourists and Bangkok locals who descend on the mall’s 89,000 square metres. Everything from clothes, handbags and other fashion accessories to electrical appliances, cameras, mobile phones, laptops, DVDs and CDs, luggage, furniture and leather goods can be found here, generally at bargain prices. The complex also has a mini indoor craft market selling a variety of local arts and crafts. There are plenty of refreshment choices, with two food courts, one international and one local, on the 5th and 6th floor respectively. Besides the centre’s vast shopping opportunities, the top floor is home to an entertainment complex with a computer games arcade, multi-screen cinema and 3D Trick Art Museum. The Center is connected to the upmarket Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon shopping malls by elevated footpaths.
The Skytrain’s National Stadium is the most convenient stop for the MBK Center. Alternatively, hop off at Siam and walk through the Siam Paragon and Siam Discovery shopping malls first.
The MBK Center opened in 1985 and was at that time the largest shopping mall in Asia. The Center was named after the developer’s parents, Sirichai Bulakul, Mah and Boonkrong whose statues can be found on the ground floor.