Retail premises get more expensive with Tet sale season coming

17:06' 13/10/2009 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge – Small businesses have begun preparing for the Tet sale season and despite the economic downturn rental costs continue to escalate। Nguyen Thi Hoa, the owner of a stall at Ben Thanh Market in HCM City, said market merchants are already looking for retail premises to lease। During the end-of-lunar-year Tet sale season, a small stall isn’t big enough to display all products. In order to attract buyers, retailers have to think big. Hoa says that as the hunt for retail premises intensifies the rents have slowly increased. Hoa’s stall, for example, just three square metres, now can be rented for $800 instead of $700 a month as it was just three months ago. But that’s nothing compared to the most expensive stalls which boast the best positions and can cost up to $1,500 a month. Merchants now claim they need larger areas to display and souvenir stalls are now growing and encroaching on the ‘territory’ of more traditionally popular products. Minh Phuong, a seller of ready made clothes at Pham Van Hai Market, said she is discussing a cooperation plan with the owner of the next kiosk. “Stallholders here all want to expand areas to display more products. Therefore, they are competing with each other and are pushing the rent up. “The rent at the market sometimes is higher than the rent for street shops.” The first floor of An Dong Market is now over full. The market’s management board is trying to upgrade the second floor to get more areas for displaying goods. However, salesmen say they only want to rent nearby stalls and do not want to relocate to the second floor. “We have to stay here or potenitally lose loyal customers. That explains why the first floor is crowded but the second floor is deserted,” one clothes seller said. To date, the rent of retail premises at markets like Ben Thanh, Tan Dinh, Hoa Binh and An Dong has increased by 5-15 percent. Hoa from Ben Thanh Market says she can only earn some 300,000 dong (less than $20) per day, or $500 per month. Therefore, she finds it more profitable to lease the stall to somebody else at $700-800. However, most merchants don’t want to rent stalls to anybody else and prefer to continue running their own business. Traders still believe that with the bargains they offer compared to larger stores, customers will continue to flock and enable them to be able to afford the high seasonal rents. VietNamNet/SGTT