Money can’t buy me… retail premises in HCM City

ietNamNet Bridge – High-class retail premises in HCM City are now so scarce that even those who have money cannot find satisfactory places to set up shop.

According to local newspaper Saigon tiep thi, HCM City now has 25 modern trade centres which have retail premises for lease to enterprises or individuals. Of these 25 centres, only 11 are considered high-class trade centres, including Diamond Plaza, Zen Plaza and Parkson and Saigon Paragon, which has been operational since June 2009.

The most important criterion which trade centres must have to be called ‘high-class’ is that the goods on sale are imported products of well-known brand names or high-class products made in Vietnam. For example, Opera View only has around 10 stalls, but it is still considered the ‘pinnacle of luxury shopping’, because Louis Vuitton brand name products are dominating in the stalls.

Tax and Zen Plaza trade centres, which are located in the centre of district 1 and have stalls selling valuable diamonds, shoes with the world’s well-known brand names are considered the number two, because they are selling Vietnamese brand-name products like Viet Thy, YF, Nino Maxx, Viet Tien, Dong Hai and Bita’s. Meanwhile, Diamond Plaza and Saigon Paragon are considered first-class trade centres because only products with the most famous brand names are selling here, namely CK, Baly, Clarins, Christian Dior, Lancome, Lancel or Omega.

As owners of the trade centres prove to be very fastidious about selecting retailers, not every retailer who has money can lease retail premises in high-class trade centres. Even those who are ready to pay leasing fees 3-5 times higher than in other places and sign long-term leasing contracts cannot set foot in the trade centre if their products are not ‘well-known brand name products’.

Dang Quynh Doan, Director of Viet Thy Fashion Company, has confirmed the information, saying that even Vietnamese companies which are well-known for high-quality products have been refused for premises in luxury trade centres.

Meanwhile, explaining why he said ‘no’ to Vietnamese companies, Le Van Canh Director of Artex Saigon, the owner of Opera View, said that he needed to choose retailers who sell high-class products, because the products fit the main clients the trade centre is targeting.

Louis Vuitton has become a long-term client at Opera View with Louis Vuitton’s stall in the most advantageous position at the centre. Therefore, Canh said that other stalls should also be reserved for well-known brand names, or they would be left idle.

Currently, all high-class trade centres are fully occupied. At Zen Plaza, Tax, Diamond or Parkson, clients have to register to lease premises and their names are put on waiting lists. And just to make it onto the list, ‘candidates’ have to meet a lot of requirements set by the trade centres.

Therefore, most clients say that they cannot negotiate leasing fees with trade centres. The premises for jewellery, watches and cosmetics stalls prove to be the most expensive, over $200 per square metre. The premises for footwear and clothes stalls prove to have ‘softer’ fees, $55-150 per square metre. Consumer product stalls on higher floors have lower leasing fees of $30-80 per square metre.

VietNamNet/SGTT