Ho Chi Minh City retail sector ready for Tet holiday
Wednesday, January 09, 2019, 18:57 GMT+7
As the Lunar New Year holiday is approaching soon, Ho Chi Minh City authorities are working with relevant stakeholders to ensure retail operation and entertainment activities go on smoothly.
The national holiday, known as Tet in Vietnamese, falls on February 5 but preparation activities usually begin weeks in advance.
Retailers extend open time
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade has allowed local retailers, including supermarket and convenience store chains, to extend operation time during the Tet holiday.
During the period between the 20th and 26th day of the last month of the lunar year, or January 25 to January 31 in the Gregorian calendar, retail outlets in the southern metropolis will open from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.
On February 1, 2 and 3, these locations will open from 7 in the morning until midnight.
Particularly, on the last day of the lunar year, or February 4, retail outlets will operate half a day, from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Supermarkets will re-open for half a day on the second day of lunar new year (February 6). From the 6th day of the lunar new year (February 10) onwards, their operations will return to normal.
This year, Co-op Mart organizes home delivery service for customers within two to five hours after purchase. The leader retailer’s delivery unit is fully-equipped to keep merchandise in the best conditions.
Businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have stockpiled some VND18.4 trillion (US$427.22 million) worth of goods needed for Tet, with the entire supply chain required to pay special attention to product quality and food safety, according to deputy chairman of the municipal administration Tran Vinh Tuyen.
Early purchasing flower
Some 150 million cut flowers and more than 800,000 flower pots are expected to be consumed during Tet, as locals decorate their houses to observe the holiday, according to Nguyen Huynh Trang, deputy director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.
Trang said the sales volume is similar to that of the 2018 Tet.
“We hope that Ho Chi Minh city citizen afford to buy flowers sooner, so flower growers can come home before midnight to celebrate their own Tet,” Trang said.
“This also helps make clean-up work more convenient for sanitary workers.”
In previous years, the sanitary workers had to work hard to clean the streets to be able to return home on time due to the massive amount of waste left by flower markets.
The annual Nguyen Hue Flower Street will take place from 7:00 pm February 3 until 10:00 pm February 8 on the namesake promenade in District 1.
What’s special about the event this year is that six piggy banks will be located there for fundraising purpose.
“This will spread a meaningful message of ‘Raising piggy banks - Helping poor children’ to encourage people to contribute to help needy children,” said Vo Trong Nam, deputy director of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports.
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