Parkson’s investment licence application has been approved by the city’s department of planning and investment and is now being considered by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), a department spokesperson said last week.
“The MPI will look at the application before it is passed to the prime minister for final approval,” said the head of the department’s foreign enterprises division, Lu Thanh Phong.
“The city has approved Parkson’s plan to open a shopping mall but the application needs to be approved by other relevant bodies,” Phong said.
The local partner in the joint venture is tour company SaigonTourist, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with Parkson, the company’s general-director Nguyen Huu Tho, told Vietnam Investment Review last week.
If approved, the mall would be SaigonTourist’s first venture with a foreign retailer.
“If the proposal is approved, SaigonTourist will cooperate with Parkson to manage the store,” Tho said.
Another giant Asian retailer, Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm, is also eyeing Vietnam’s $20 billion retail and service market. Dairy Farm operates 2,680 outlets in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India and South Korea. Last year it posted sales of $4.5 billion.
Businesses have profited from modern shopping in Vietnam in recent years, in line with the increase in urban income and the move away from shopping at traditional outdoor markets. A recent survey by Saigon Coopmart, the largest domestic retail chain in Ho Chi Minh City, found that 85 per cent of people living in urban areas in the south said they preferred shopping at supermarkets to outdoor markets.
In just nine years, the number of supermarkets and shopping malls in Vietnam has gone from 12 to 170 as of this August, according to the Ministry of Trade.
About two-thirds of these shopping malls are in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, where another 55 other supermarkets and shopping centres are under construction.
Ngoc Mai (vir.com.vn)