Shops in Hanoi are closing down en masse, rental space in the center is deserted

(NLDO) - Many shops and stores in Hanoi announced they would close before Tet, leading to deserted premises on central streets.

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Fashion streets in the center of Hanoi such as Kim Ma, Thai Ha, Chua Boc, Pham Ngoc Thach... have seen many stores closed. Street-front houses rented for tens of millions to hundreds of millions of VND/month are now vacant waiting for tenants.

Hàng quán ở Hà Nội đóng cửa hàng loạt, mặt bằng cho thuê ở trung tâm ế ẩm
- Ảnh 1. — Many shops closed on the same street

According to a survey on Batdongsan.com.vn, the rental price of premises on Kim Ma Street (Ba Dinh District) ranges from 40 million VND to hundreds of million VND for a 100 m2 frontage. Larger premises or entire premises for rent have higher prices. However, many premises are currently vacant on this street.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, who has a 3-storey shop for rent in Kim Ma, said that the space has been vacant for 3 months now, and if there are customers, she can rent it for more than 100 million VND/month. Many brands and shops on the street have continuously left, closed down and put up for rent signs.

The reason why the merchant returned the premises was because offline business was sluggish so they switched to online.

Not only the fashion industry is facing difficulties, but many people in the F&B business (food, restaurant, and beverage business) are also facing difficulties.

At the end of 2024, the Manwah - Taiwanese Hot Hot chain, a famous Taiwanese hot pot buffet brand, also announced the closure of 2 stores.

Talking to Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Hoang Tung, Chairman of F&B Investment, said that the case of Manwah - Taiwanese Hot Hot is a big brand, so they may have closed for reasons such as not achieving sales or optimizing the model, switching to another model to experiment and find better profits.

However, in general, regarding the F&B industry situation, expert Hoang Tung said that 2024 was still a difficult year for the F&B business because people's spending power for the industry did not increase right at the end of the year.

He commented: "If they cannot maintain the business, they will return the premises. Meanwhile, at the end of the year, new customers are reluctant to rent because they do not have time to set up the store, so the premises are sluggish."

According to expert Hoang Tung, the premises are unsold but the prices are still increasing. Many landlords increase the rent at the highest margin of the agreed contract. That is the reason why many premises cannot be rented after being returned. Meanwhile, consumers are increasing their purchases of food and drinks online, delivered to their homes and companies.