In 1973, grocery shopping in Bangkok was done at an open-air market, a mom-and-pop shop, or one of the few air-conditioned stores. But none specialized in imported items for the local community until Villa Market opened its first store on Sukhumvit near Soi 33.
At that time, the local community had been steadily growing because of several reasons. Personnel involved with the Vietnam conflict took holidays or were stationed in the city, foreign companies that invested in Thailand sent executives, along with their families, to work in the city and many of these newcomers settled in the Sukhumvit area.
The locals quickly discovered that Villa Market had the widest selection of imported items including Marmite from Australia, peanut butter from America, lamb from New Zealand and other hard-to-find foods. But Villa Market went one step farther to satisfy the requirements of its customers: it instituted a policy of quality control that insured that locally produced meat and produce are fresh and wholesome.
From the very beginning, Villa Market was much more than a grocery store, it also served as an unofficial local meeting place. It was a place to see friends and catch up on the community gossip. The store also had a bulletin board near the door where anyone could post a notice for a maid wanted, apartment for rent, car for sale, or community events.
Villa Market is a unique entity; it is a family-owned market that is still growing while most of the other small markets have closed due to the competition from the “big box” stores. It manages to do this by combining high quality, local and imported food products with sincere customer service that only a progressive family-owned store can provide.
Villa has designed all of their stores to be a total shopping experience. Not only will you have a selection from some of the world's best products, but also you will have access to organic fruits and vegetables, and premium quality meats and seafoods that are found right here in our local region. Villa wants this to be your neighborhood supermarket where you can taste new foods, exchange ideas and learn about issues important to the local food community and the environment.
Villa Market team members are passionate about what they do. Today with 34 stores all over Thailand; 27 stores in Bangkok and its suburb and 7 stores in Hua Hin, Pattaya, Udonthani and Phuket, Villa Market still keep growing and never lose their promise; to provide its customer with the high standard of quality products and services that this community deserves onwards.
We direct-import more than 2,500 products from all over the world in order to offer our customers choice.
As Thailand’s original butcher shop, we work with the largest local suppliers as well as our overseas suppliers to make available the largest range of fresh meat products available anywhere in Thailand.
We work with farms all over Thailand to bring you the freshest local produce every day.
Our buying team is constantly searching for the best local and import products to meet the ever-expanding needs of our customers.