The Zoe's complex is in its death throes. Popped in last Saturday evening at 8pm on the way home to grab a kebab from the Indian shop on the corner. He had no customers at all. There may have been 5 or 6 small bars open and a max of maybe 20 people drifting around. Honestly it was so depressing we couldn't wait t get outa there and took our kebabs home to Saraphi.
There IS new life and a lot of Thai development and growth on the outskirts of the city - Hang Dong and Mae Rim mostly, but Mee Chok also packed and crazy busy most days. People have no need to go into the city anymore and frankly the vibe is so blurgh that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I have no doubt Zoe's will be sold and redeveloped. Loi kroh? Hard to say. Wat Ket and the Charoen Muang drag heading towards Narrawat bridge seem to be the next places to POP and become trendy - along with Chiang Moi heading down to the Flower Market.
Have you seem a similar level of devastation in Vietnam's tourist zones?
Yes, I live in one of them and basically everything is closed. Some of the places that are popular with the expat population are hanging on, barely but for the most part everything is a month or so away from shutting down permanently. Most business owners that I know have told me that the owners of the land gave them a break on the rent for a while but now it has been too long and the landlords can no longer afford to do this - therefore, there are going to be more closings to follow.
There is a certain part of town that catered almost exclusively to Korean tourists and this part of the city is a ghost town now as almost everything has closed up. The hotels are probably only temporarily closed but the smaller businesses from what I have been told, will never re-open.
As far as continued development goes Vietnam has a lot in common with Thailand: They are always building something, even when it doesn't make sense.