Since the Tet shopping season is now at its peak, queuing in long lines to check out at overcrowded supermarkets has become an unwelcome reality for most shoppers in Ho Chi Minh City.

In some cases, scared buyers had to leave their selected goods behind and returned home because they could not wait any longer.

Le Thi Tuyet in Tan Binh District lamented, “How tired it is to shop at supermarkets these days! On the evening of January 11, it took me 40 minutes to check out at the BigC supermarket on Hoang Van Thu Street in Phu Nhuan District.

If security guards there had not tried their best to maintain order at check-out counters, I would have waited much longer.”

The supermarket had 30 cashier counters at that time, but it was no help as the number of shoppers has dramatically increased in the lead up to Tet, she said.

The same situation occurred at many other supermarkets like Big C Mien Dong and Co.opMart units including Thang Loi, Nguyen Anh Thu, District 9, etc.

Ms. Lan Huong, of Tan Binh District, said she took advantage of her company’s lunch break to go shopping but after waiting for too long, she left.

At another supermarket, shopping carts formed very long lines and from time to time, some shoppers gave up the fight, left their carts there and got out.

There were some priority check-out counters intended for pregnant women, the handicapped, elderly people, VIP clients, or buyers of less than five items, but those were not enough, said a shopper at a Co.opMart supermarket.

Many retail chains have set up more check-out counters to cut down on the waiting time for their customers.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, chairman of the Saigon Co.op, one of the country’s leading domestic retailers, said that each supermarket belonging to her chain has been equipped with an additional 2-4 check-out counters and a counter for buyers of less than 10 items, totaling 35 counters each.

According to Hoa, other big supermarket chains have even fewer counters.

Marximark on Cong Hoa Street has 22 counters and Marximark on Ba Thang Hai Street has just 14 counters, he said.

Duong Thi Quynh Trang, director of external relations at Big C, complained that many shoppers buying a great deal of goods still queue at priority check-out counters meant for buyers of few items.

Source: Tuoi Tre