So like most people coffee shops and local malls are part of daily life here HCM.
Most days I find time for a trip to a local coffee shop (bad I know), but I struggle to understand how they are still in business.
Today I am at Masstige in An Phu, underneath approximately 1200 apartments so you would think if even just 20% are family occupied then there would be a steady source of business. I'm here today, just me sitting in the shop and see two other customers come in. They have three staff which they will be paying for the day.
It's a similar story at Estella Heights, apart from Starbucks and Phuc Long the shops are pretty empty.. most staff surfing the net or playing games.
How do these places make any money ? Even before the social distancing the story was the same.
Some places I get why they are empty, either poor products or badly marketed.
I have lost count of the places that claim an English style breakfast comes with stone cold baked beans.. tutt tutt.
Recently in Estella they open a beautiful Thai style restaurant and it looks fantastic, last night they close early. Not a single customer. I checked the menu and the prices seem great value for money.
Are all these places fronts for companies that need to show banks or authorities that they don't make money for tax purposes ?
There are a couple of places here that would be fantastic money makers, but seems they don't bother to promote business or have appalling customer services.
There are other brands or stores that have so many stores and hardly any customers.
Google shows HCM as having a population just under 9 million, and yet some parts of the city and indeed heading towards Tay Ninh seems to have a branch of thegioididong nevery half kilometer. There cannot be that many people who buy a new phone to keep them in business.
In the building where I am now, three empty shop houses all with signs for rent outside. 3800 USD per month. Now if I was the owner i would reduce the rent ... Some money each month is better than none. All these shop houses have been empty for a couple of years.