In Hanoi,
luxurious shopping malls are still crowded, while luxurious items are still
selling well. Many Hanoians still do not change their shopping habit, though
many other people have to curb expenses.

While
common people are trying to fasten their belt and stay at home instead of going
shopping on weekends, which has made markets and shops deserted; high income
earners still flock to high grade shopping malls, where luxurious products are
displayed.

Luxurious
hotels on Ly Thai To, Dinh Tien Hoang streets and luxurious shopping malls
namely Parkson or Vincom are still full of visitors every day.

Ha, a
securities investor, who was seen considering a Gucci brand handbag, said that
the handbags worth tens to hundreds of millions of dong are still within her
reach. Sometimes Ha and her friends go together to luxurious shops to buy some
products to diversify her handbag collection.

“The price
storm has not come here,” says a cashier at Parkson shopping mall on Thai Ha street.
“The customers here still “throw money over the window”. They can spend tens of
hundreds of millions dong at once. You know, the number of visitors increases
by 10-15 percent this month”.

At Vincom Center
on Ba Trieu street;
a man was seen paying 43 million dong to buy a pair of glasses which were
introduced as  imports from Japan.

The
saleswoman at Vincom
Center said that most of
buyers are Vietnamese people. She explains that foreigners do not come to Vietnam
just to buy glasses. As the products become much more expensive after they are
taxed when entering Vietnam,
foreigners buy the products in their home countries already. Meanwhile, such
luxurious products are favored by Vietnamese high income earners, who believe
that imports are always better than domestically made products.

“The pair
of glasses worth 43 million dong are made of precious materials, while buyers
get the two-year guarantee worldwide. Branded goods always have sky high
prices,” the saleswoman said.

Meanwhile,
luxurious restaurants have still been living well, because their main customers
– high income earners, have not been hurt by the price storm. The menu of a
luxurious restaurant on Le Thai To street shows that a ration of abalone for
two is priced at 1.4 million dong, while a bowl of shark’s fin soup is sold at
1,320,000 dong. It is estimated that a party here for six people would cost ten
million dong.

Hoa, the
receptionist of the restaurant, has affirmed that the restaurant has been
always crowded. Hanoians like organizing family parties at the restaurant.
“Many of our customers are loyal customers,” Hoa said, adding that tens of
millions of dong prove to be not big sums of money for high income earners.

Especially,
the manager of the restaurant has revealed that the number of customers has
increased by 20-30 percent recently.

The Capital
Garden Hotel has become famous as Hanoians flock there every day to enjoy a
special pho (noodle soup), called
“noodle soup with Kobe
beef”. Despite the exorbitant price of the special pho, at 850,000 dong per bowl, and the threat from the radiation
leak in Japan,
Hanoians still spend money on this pho,
which is 40 times more expensive than the normal pho.

Meanwhile,
outbound tours still can attract a lot of travelers. Phung Don, a member of
Ngoi Sao Dai Duong Travel Firm, said that “more and more travelers book
outbound tours, and that Ngoi Sao Dai Duong had to stop accept bookings on
April 19, because of the overly high demand.”

The people,
who still spend money on luxurious items in the context of an economic
downturn, said that using branded goods is a kind of … earning money.

Hung, who
likes wearing Calvin Klein clothes, said that clothing and style are the two
important things for him in negotiating with partners. Therefore, Hung feels
better in luxurious clothes. In fact, the money Hung can earn is much higher
than the sums of money he spends on the luxurious clothes.

Ha, who
purchased a Gucci brand handbag worth 20 million dong, said that as the stock
market remains lackluster, Ha’s income is not really good. However, using
branded goods has become a habit which she cannot give up.

“When using
branded goods, you will feel more self-confident,” she said.

Source: VnExpress, Tien phong