Vietnamese people are very familiar with the image of markets. In the past, when there were no supermarkets, the village market was the only trading point for rural people. Nowadays, more modern cities have added supermarket systems and supply chain stores, which are essentially markets. Therefore, when I visited the US, I went to many places and states to find out what the market system in this country had in common and what was different from the market in Vietnam.
American market is also market...
The urbanization rate in the US is quite high, so it is difficult to find rural markets like in Vietnam. The most popular in the US is the supermarket system. Of course, in supermarkets, there is no bargaining like in rural markets, everything is available on the label, packaging, everyone chooses what they like. When you go out the door, someone checks, pays, or in many places there is an automatic payment machine, so the buyer scans the barcode of each product and uses a card to pay. In big cities, supermarkets have many floors and are extremely spacious.
Goods are also displayed like in Vietnam, that is, planned according to each functional area, for example, the first floor is for fruits and fresh food, the second floor is for fashion, clothes, shoes, the third floor is for jewelry, cosmetics... In small cities, supermarkets are also smaller because the population is not too large, but even though they are small, supermarkets still sell all kinds of essential goods needed for people's daily activities.
Markets in the US often have on-site food courts - Photo: XH
In addition to the supermarket system that sells all kinds of goods, like Vietnam, the US also has specialized supermarkets such as fruit and vegetable supermarkets, meat and seafood supermarkets, bakery supermarkets, and children's toy supermarkets. There are even supermarkets that serve the needs of Asian people for religious offerings. I saw such a supermarket, which had all kinds of incense, candles, votive paper, and hell money, meaning there was no shortage of anything for religious needs.
Or another unique type of “market”, the “graveyard” market for discarded old cars. On a vast empty land, there are thousands of old cars of all kinds. People entering the “market” must buy a ticket, which is cheap, about 5 - 10 USD. In there, customers can freely view and choose suitable and usable spare parts such as tires, rims, rearview mirrors, everything. After disassembling and bringing them out, someone will evaluate and collect the money. Of course, the price is also cheap because if no one needs the old cars, the only way is to go to the recycling plant.
... but more diverse and have huge supermarket chains
Unlike Vietnam, the United States is a united states, formed from many immigrant streams from all over the world, so American markets are also rich in form. In addition to the general supermarket system for places with mixed communities, depending on which ethnic group is more populous, there will be corresponding supermarkets. Places with a large Asian population have Asian supermarkets, places with a large Indian or Mexican population have Indian or Mexican supermarkets. The same goes for Europeans, Koreans, and Russians.
Because of the early and rapid development of industrial life, the US has many "huge" supermarket chains. For example, one of them is Walmart Supermarket Group. This is a supermarket system present in all states in the US. Established in 1969 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, Walmart currently has about 50,000 locations across the US in the following forms: hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores, warehouse centers...
To be exact, Walmart is not only “huge” in the US but also spread across continents and around the world. It is estimated that in 2021, Walmart's number of employees reached more than 2.3 million people, revenue was approximately 560 billion USD, of which business profit was about 23 billion USD and the total assets of the group exceeded 250 billion USD.
Currently, due to the strategy of selling cheap, super cheap goods, Walmart does not choose locations in the center of cities but "drifts" to the suburbs with very large floor plans, sometimes thousands of square meters. If you get lost in Walmart, the only way to find it is to use your phone's location.
Booths on the 2nd floor of Phuoc Loc Tho Shopping Center - Photo: XH
In addition to Walmart, in the US there are many market "tycoons", wholesale and retail goods, on-site and online business such as supermarket groups Kroge, Albertsons, Publix, Amazon, Meijer, Whole Food Market... Each of these groups has a chain of supermarkets selling goods across the US from thousands or more.
Speaking of diversity, in the US there are also “special” markets such as the “1 USD” market. This is a type of market with extremely cheap prices, selling all kinds of items from cultural products, stationery, children’s toys, fashionable glasses, household items such as cups, bowls, chopsticks, knives, cutting boards, cosmetics, towels... Everything is only priced at 1 USD per item.
Vietnamese Market in America
I realized that Vietnamese people are quite rich in identity... markets. In places where Vietnamese people gather in large numbers, such as Little Saigon in California, Phuoc Loc Tho Shopping Center is considered a very famous Vietnamese market. This spacious shopping center has two floors with more than 400 business booths, almost all run by Vietnamese people. Mainly high-end items here are Ao Dai fashion, gold, silver, and precious stones. The lower floor of the shopping center also has a food court for Vietnamese people with dishes from the three regions of the North, Central, and South such as pho, wet rice paper, Hue beef noodle soup, congee, Quang noodles, hu tieu, even spring rolls, mixed rice paper, fertilized eggs, pork rolls, beef rolls...
In places where there are not many Vietnamese people, such as the area near Boston in Massachusetts, there are still markets for Vietnamese people. For example, Wocester, more than an hour drive from Boston, has a Vietnamese market called Ha Tien Market. I went to this market and was surprised by the items for sale. Dried goods include dried squid, dried fish, instant noodles, dried vermicelli, dried pho, and instant coffee. Vegetables include water spinach, onions, coriander, squash, bitter melon, gourd, squash, etc.
Especially, this dish can be eaten right at the market or bought to take home. Vietnamese style bread, the inside is split open, poured with soy sauce, served with sausage, vegetables. I even saw a stall selling banh it la gai with an advertisement written on a small board: Banh it la gai - Binh Dinh specialty.
In one place, also in Southern California, I passed by a Vietnamese residential area and saw a “squat” market, meaning there were only about fifteen or twenty buyers and sellers. The items for sale were simply bunches of vegetables and chili peppers. I asked my friend who had settled in the US and learned that every Vietnamese family tries to set aside a piece of land to grow vegetables, chili peppers, and lemons. If they can’t eat all of it, they sell it. It’s called selling, but in reality it’s to share with people of the same bloodline, money is not a big deal.
So that's what I call the identity... of the Vietnamese market brought to the other side of the world. It's easy to say, but only when you go far can you see that for the Vietnamese, the soul of the countryside is mixed with the soul of the market. No matter how civilized it is, how big and convenient the supermarket chain is, the image of the market, even a "squatting" market, is still anchored in the memory with a simple yet touching feeling.
Pham Xuan Hung
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