An Dong Market in District 5 together with many others have reopened after the pandemic was brought under control in the city, but a lot of footwear and clothes stores remain closed. There are plenty of to rent and for sale signs.
Traders at An Dong Market
Pham Tuyet Dung, owner of a cosmetic store at An Dong Market said that she had never seen such a quiet atmosphere at the market over the past 20 years.
"The situation has not improved much compared to the peak pandemic time when we were about to close for virus prevention," Dung said. "Many other traders have decided to stop their business and lease out their kiosks. However, it isn’t easy to find someone who wants to rent these places."
According to Dung, besides the rent, they are having to pay VND7 million (USD304) each month for water and electricity. Meanwhile, they are facing slow sales.
"I reopened my shop on February 10 but have only earned roughly VND 100,000 (USD 4) a day," the trader said. "I've had to lay off all the other staff members and do all the work myself to cut fees. I hope that my business will improve in a few months as international tourism has just resumed."
Another trader, Nguyen Thi Ha has two clothes stores at the An Dong Plaza. She has been paying rent of VND 60 million and VND 100 million each month for the two stores with a five-year contract. Due to incurring big losses over the past two years, she has offered one store to rent out at just VND 28 million a month, but has yet to find a customer.
The same situation has been seen in many other markets including Ba Chieu, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Phuoc Long, and Rach Ong where many stores remained closed or are being offered for lease.
Head of the An Dong Plaza Management Board, Tran Thi Thanh Thuy said that the number of customers has decreased by more than half compared to the pre-pandemic period.
"We’ve also reduced the rent by 50 percent to support traders," Thuy said. "We hope that they can overcome this difficult time to continue their business."
A representative of the management board at Phuoc Long Market in District 7 shared that only 200 out of 600 stores here have resumed operation while over 15 percent of traders have left.
"We've decided to offer free rent for five months to help support the traders," the representative said.
Vice director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngoc, said that during the social distancing period in the city, many traders at local markets turned to selling their goods online and not returned to their stores with not many customers.
"Besides asking management boards at local markets to cut kiosk rent for traders, we’re also considering providing a support package of VND1.2 million for each trader," the official said.