idor begins roughly at Samyan Mitrtown, a lifestyle centre on the southern fringe of the Chulalongkorn University campus. In all, One Bangkok has 160,000sqm of leasable retail area spread over three distinct retail zones. One of those zones, spanning five levels, is The Storeys, which houses what is reputedly the world’s largest Swatch store (over 600sqm on two levels) and a unique Jim Thompson store (500sqm) that includes a dining terrace.  These were both open from the get-go, but new retailers are continuing to open, including On Bangkok, a Swiss sports apparel brand that is launching soon. It will be On’s second opening in Thailand after its debut in Icon Siam in August. Techhouse by .Life: visual feast and tech connoisseur’s delight As if the Swatch and Jim Thompson units aren’t impressive enough, it is hard not to be inspired by one of the new retailers in The Storeys retail zone. Techhouse by .Life is a large-format technology store on the second floor.  It’s the first, and so far only, Techhouse by .Life store under the Dotlife brand owned by Thai personal technology retailer Copperwired. Copperwired is a public company that has a portfolio of 10 technology brands in Thailand, including Dotlife itself, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi. In all, it has 107 shops and Techhouse by .life is the crown jewel. The store offers an amazing assortment of design-rich functional technology items, including a foldable drone model that can be carried in a briefcase. When airborne, it can dodge obstacles in small spaces and transmit in HD from a distance of 15 kilometres. Techhouse also offers a robot model that looks like a small dog and has a variety of industrial, search and rescue and personal entertainment functions. There are also robovacs, gramophones, wireless speakers, smart watches, activity trackers, security equipment and more. Many of the products are for connoisseurs of leading-edge digital products, but the store itself is a visual feast for anyone who cares to go in and browse. Copperwired’s brand wingspan is wide. Across its 10 brands, Copperwired markets a wide range of digital lifestyle products. Thai entrepreneur Paramate Rienjaroensuk founded the company at the turn of the century and has just celebrated its 25th birthday.  Its first store was the very first Apple store in Thailand, which opened in Siam Piwat’s Siam Discovery mall in downtown Bangkok. It now has 27 in total, with all but four scattered around major shopping centres in Greater Bangkok. The concept has been rebranded as iStudio. Forerunner of the Techhouse by .Life concept was Copperwired’s Dotlife stores, a stripped-down concept with a limited selection of gadgets and peripherals, but notable for their polished visual merchandising. The first of these opened in 2010, and there are now 20 in operation. The company reported revenues of 8.8 billion Thai baht in 2024 (US$275 million), with 24 per cent classified as ‘digital lifestyle’, 59 per cent as smartphones, and 15 per cent as computers and tablets. Copperwired’s results for the third quarter are not yet available, but for the first half of the year, revenues and profits are on track to smash last year’s. Year-to-date revenues were 5.2 billion baht ($160 million), up 20.9 per cent from the first six months of 2024, and net after-tax profits were $41.9 million ($31 million), up 17.4 per cent. Tops in personal technology? While the in-store experience of the personal technology category has been steadily improving over the years – with Apple arguably at the leading edge – multi-category tech stores have a distinctly different opportunity to awe visitors and coax money out of their wallets.  This is done by showcasing two different kinds of products: first, those that the visitor might already own but are so superior in design and interpretation that they make the purchase compelling. In other words, they look like entirely new products even though they aren’t.  Indeed, Copperwired casts its company mission with the slogan ‘Design Lifestyle Technology’, which, for once, is not an exaggeration dreamed up by a marketing guru. It distributes more than 2000 items across its portfolio, representing about 200 brands. The second product type is at the leading edge and doesn’t require a large assortment to make an impact, as it achieves this by creating a positive view of the retailer as a whole.  Techhouse by .Life captures this customer, too. In the case of its drone and robot, only a single variety of each is on display. This, though, is sufficient to immediately make a positive impact on customers’ perception of the retailer, and hence their inclination to make a purchase, even if that purchase isn’t the drone or the robot itself. However, it takes more than product to put a store like this at the top of its category. The store design is by Whitespace, a Bangkok-headquartered company that has been the architect for several high-profile stores and shopping places, including those of Dotlife itself.  Techhouse by .Life has done a fine job creating a relaxing space with engaging displays that invite customers to browse and investigate, similar to how visitors might use a showroom or a museum. With Techhouse and innovative concept variations like those of Swatch and Jim Thompson, The Storeys at One Bangkok has already established itself as one of Bangkok’s leading shopping centres.  While the Rama IV strip isn’t yet a credible rival to the Siam-EmDistrict strip as Bangkok’s principal shopping area, One Bangkok and Central Park are already forming the core of a great future retail destination. Further reading: How a US$3.9bn mixed-use development in Bangkok will ‘redefine’ retail