Today i-ASiA team has the opportunity to visit Art Muay supermarket in Earl’s Court, to meet Khun Sangjun Juntasakul or Khun Muay, the enthusiastic and hard-working owner. She has run many businesses such as Thai supermarket, Thai restaurant, salon, Thai massage parlour, cloth alteration, outdoor cooking, Thai charity concert organizer and tour business in the U.K etc. Also, she is one of the Thai temple supporters and always gives away free food there. The “Art Muay” name Khun Muay likes the name “Art Muay” because it is different from the others. She believes that everything she provides to customers such as great service, product differentiation, the shop unique style, etc. are all determined as an “Art” to her. The “Art Muay” Story Khun Muay said to i-ASiA “I started my career as a hairdresser in Thailand 20 years ago. Later, I decided to come to the U.K to study English and Hairdressing Diploma because I had a younger brother and sister studying in London. While I was doing my Hairdressing course, I could finish the course earlier than other students because of gaining a lot of experience in Thailand. After that, my brother and sister had an idea that we should expand our business. I myself love to do Jewellery business. But my brother disagreed with me because the jewellery is a luxury product and it is not easy to sell them. Then, we decided to open the supermarket because we thought we could expand other businesses by using supermarket as a base business. As our slogan, at Art Muay supermarket, we sell many things such as ingredients for cooking especially Thai fresh produce, Thai products, dried food, pharmacy products, videos, CDs, DVDs, Thai newspaper and magazines, cloth, Thai costumes, Thai flowers, garlands, wreaths, Thai perfume etc. Because I understand Thai customers’ need. This is the main reason why I provide so many products in my supermarket.” Business development and Obstacles Khun Muay explained “Facing the obstacles is the common practice in doing business. It is all about how we can handle it and how to solve the problem in order to get the best outcome. Our businesses are family-oriented businesses. We work as a team, so we don’t have any problems among our family members. At the present, the difficulty running the supermarket is finding the rare products customers want. Sometimes, they are difficult to get in Thailand. We try our best to get them for customers, anyway. We now have one more branch in Fulham named “Mae Kim Eng” supermarket. The name comes from my beloved mother’s name. At “Mae Kim Eng” supermarket, customers can buy freshly cooked food and food from Northeast of Thailand. In the future, I have many projects in my head but I will wait for the best opportunity.” Her achievement Khun Muay told “I believe that the business’s success comes from the trust from the customers. Serving all customers with honesty, sincerely and teamwork are also the most important things. My achievement comes because of these.” For i-ASiA Readers “Whoever wants to be a successful person, they have to work hard, be patient, honest and helpful. They should also think positively and give to the others. You should know how to spend money wisely. If you do good to others and to yourself, the more good will return to you.” she added. ART MUAY |