VietNamNet Bridge – The modern markets located
on golden land plots in the center of the capital city cannot attract small
merchants and customers. Why?

Several
years ago, in a plan to build Hanoi into a modern city, Hanoi’s
authorities, decided to build big modern markets, believing that the markets
will become bustling trade centers in the capital city. However, to date, one
year after the markets were built and put into operation, the markets remain
completely deserted.

Modern
but unattractive

The
Cua Nam Market is located on a 900 square meter golden land plot in the center
of Hanoi. The
280 billion dong market has 13 floors above ground and four underground floors
with a total area of 10,000 square meters. The construction work has been
designed to serve as both a traditional market and office building. The first
underground floor is reserved for vegetable, fish, meat, consumer goods and dried
cooking kiosks. The second underground floor is reserved for parking. Meanwhile
the floors above ground will be used as offices.

The
Cua Nam Market was officially opened on July 13, 2010, which means that it has
been put into operation for eight months. However, though the market is modern
and has an advantageous location, it remains very quiet. A salesman at the
market said that there are very few visitors to the market, including on
Saturdays and Sundays.

OCD Plaza Shopping Mall, which was
once O Cho Dua Market, is facing the same situation. The shopping mall is built
on an area of 600 square meters, and has seven floors, including one
underground floor reserved for parking. However, Lao dong reporters have
reported that only 1-2 kiosks at the market were opened when they visited. Some
offices were leased by companies, while the majority of the booths here
remained closed. An officer working at the parking lot said that many small
merchants have shut down their kiosks after a short time of operation.

The
Hang Da Shopping Mall center with five floors above the earth and two
underground floors, located on a 3700 square meter plot of land on Hang Da
street in the ancient quarter of Hoan Kiem, has 8349 square meters of retail
premises for leasing. The project has a total investment capital of 220 billion
dong. The construction started in early April 2009 and completed in October
2010.

Five
months after the market was put into operation, it still does not lure many
visitors. Vu Danh Hoa, Deputy Director of Hang Da Trade Company, said though
the number of visitors is not as high as expected, business is stable.
According to Lao Dong, brewery and fabric kiosks now have few customers because
the demand decreased after Tet holiday. Meanwhile, vegetable, seafood, food and
consumer goods booths receive visitors every day.

Chu
Thi H, a small merchant at the Hang Da Shopping Mall said it is true that the
number of visitors to Hang Da is higher if compared with the number of visitors
to other new markets. However, nowadays the number of visitors to Hang Da is
much lower than that in previous days, when there was the old Hang Da Market.
However, H hopes that when second, third and fourth floors are put into
operation in April, the number of visitors will be higher.

Unsuitable
design?

When
asked why Hang Da still cannot attract as many visitors as expected, Hoa said
that the market was planned to be put into stable operation since December
2010. However, many small merchants think that sales will go slowly in the
first phase of operation, therefore, they are not in a hurry to lease kiosks or
leave kiosks idle. However, Hoa has affirmed that in April, the second, third
and fourth floors will be operational because booths are nearly fully occupied.

Vu
Vinh Phu, Chair of the Hanoi Supermarket Association, said the new markets
cannot attract small merchants and visitors because of unsuitable designs and
bad programming. Though the new markets have
modern designs, they lack ventilated space, and their parking lots are
inconvenient. At some new markets, visitors even have to pay for parking. “If
people just want to buy vegetables or some fish and food and they have to pay
3000-5000 dong for parking a motorbike, they would rather buy food in street
markets rather than in modern markets.

Phu
has also warned that the overly high lease for retail premises will keep small
merchants away. The State should set up a reasonable quota for leases , and
offer suitable preferential policies, so as to create best conditions for small
merchants to lease booths in the newly built markets.

Also
according to Phu, together with attracting small merchants to markets, the
city’s authorities should remove small markets or vendors that gather on street
pavements,. When the street markets are removed, streets will become neat and
tidy, while local residents will go to modern markets to purchase goods.

Source:
Lao dong