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Shoppers at a Co.op mart in HCM City. The number of shoppers skyrocketed during the recent holiday. —VNA/VNS Photo Kim Phuong |
HCM CITY — Supermarket and shopping centres in HCM City were crowded with shoppers enjoying a long National Day holiday and the city's promotion month offering discounts on thousands of products.
Although supermarkets had beefed up their staff and prepared additional parking lots to accommodate the predicted increase in holiday shoppers, they were still overloaded. Shoppers have had to wait in long lines at parking lots and cashier counters since Wednesday afternoon, one day prior to the National Day.
The declaration of Friday as a holiday extended the National Day holiday to four days including the weekend.
"It took me nearly 20 minutes to park my motorbike and it was not until noon that I managed to escape the long lines of people at the cashiers' counters although I came early in the morning," said Tran My Ha, who shopped at Big C supermarket in District 10.
The Big C supermarket chain opened its outlets 30 minutes earlier and closed 30 minutes later for the holiday, and also had additional parking lots readied. They received 30-40 per cent more customers than normal days, said Duong Thi Quynh Trang, the chain's PR manager.
Sales at the Co.op Mart chain rose by 2-3 times on Thursday, mostly of essential products, dry, processed and fresh food, home appliances and apparel.
Shoppers also flocked to shopping centres like Sai Gon Square, Parkson Plaza and Vincom Plaza as well as electronics trade centres including Nguyen Kim, Thien Hoa and Cho Lon.
These establishments have reported a surge in sales of LCD-screen TVs, washing machines and home appliances during the holiday. — VNS
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