VietNamNet Bridge – The 90-year-old Binh Tay Market in District 6 is busier than ever weeks before the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday season. Thu Anh reports.

Binh Tay, one of the region’s biggest wholesale markets, is seeing more than double its average number of visitors as the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches.

Binh Tay, one of the southern region’s biggest wholesale markets, is seeing more than double its average number of visitors in the weeks before the holiday season.   

Last month, the market’s shop owners began preparing for the year’s biggest business season, hoarding thousands of Vietnamese items.

More than 1,446 stalls in Binh Tay are selling a wide variety of goods, including quality food, garments, footwear, handicrafts and oriental medicinal herbs. 

“Not many markets in HCM City can offer their customers as many products and services as Binh Tay,” Nguyen Anh Viet, a member of the market’s management board, said.  

“To prepare for Tet, shop owners are working with dealers from the provinces of the Mekong River Delta, Cambodia, Laos and China, who’ve delivered several tonnes of goods each day.”

“We’ve allowed our regular dealers to postpone payment until they’ve sold their products,” he added.

This Tet, traditional Vietnamese clothes made of silk and cotton, footwear from small factories, and foodstuff like fried seafood that can be stored for months are favourite products of locals and tourists. 

Garment shop owner Thai Thi Huong, whose parents once sold clothing at Binh Tay, can speak English, Khmer and Chinese. Her shop offers handbags and clothes made by small factories in rural districts and neighbouring provinces such as Binh Duong and Dong Nai.  

“My customers are free to bargain, but many shops offer fixed prices,” said Huong, who often begins her day at 5am at the market.   

Huong regularly works with dealers in Cambodia and Laos. "We collect goods once a month, mostly garments and footwear, and pack them into containers to export by road to our partners."   

She spent nearly VND300 million (US$12,800) to store products for Tet. Her regular dealers from southern provinces began ordering late last month.

In November, Huong and other shop owners reopened their business at Binh Tay after moving to another location in District 6 two years ago when the market was closed for repairs and upgrade.

“It’s too early to predict how much I will sell this season. I hope for a good ‘harvest’ this Tet as many local and foreign visitors have come since the market reopened,” said Huong.

Huong signed a 10-year contract with the market’s management board after her 20-year contract ended late last year.

Bui Thi Tuyet Mai, who owns a confectionery shop, said: “We enjoy working with dealers from Cambodia and Laos because our culture and lifestyle are familiar to theirs. We know what they want and try our best to satisfy their demands.”

Mai’s shop offers traditional sweet products or mứt at competitive prices, VND120,000 (US$6)-190,000 ($10) per kilogram. The prices are 5-7 per cent higher than in previous months.

"Traditionally, Vietnamese like fruit preserves during Tet. They believe the sweet flavour will bring good luck in the New Year,” said Mai, adding that traditional sugared kumquat, lotus seeds, coconut, squash, soursop and sweet potato are popular.

The 90-year-old Binh Tay Market was built on 25,000 sq metres of land in Sai Gon in 1928 by Quach Dam, a Chinese businessman who donated the market to the city in 1930. It reopened in November after nearly two years of renovation.  Foreign visitors enjoy their tour to Binh Tay Market. -- Photo by Ngoc Diep Shop owners at Binh Tay hope for a good ‘harvest’ this Tet as many local and foreign visitors have come since the market reopened.

Next week, Mai and her colleagues will deliver a half tonne of Vietnamese confectionery and jam products to her regular dealers in Phnom Penh.

Her Cambodian customers are preparing for their biggest holiday, Khmer New Year (Cambodian Lunar New Year) in April.

These days, visitors to Binh Tay are surprised to discover piles of fake currencies in US dollars and Vietnamese dong as well as rows of miniature paper replicas of consumer goods such as houses, motorbikes and other luxuries.

The paper items, called vàng mã (votive paper), are highly popular as it is traditional to burn them on the death anniversary of a loved one and on every full-moon day, as well as during Tet. 

An ethnic Hoa (Vietnamese with Chinese origin) shop owner, A Con, said he sold several dozens of tonnes of paper each year.

“People believe the offerings will cross over to the spirit world and provide luck to the deceased,” said Con, adding that his shop had been opened for more than 10 years.

Cón earns VND5,000 (20 US cents) in profit for every one million dong of fake currencies his shop sells.

Every day, his shop prints billions of fake dong and millions of fake US dollars, and even more on the days before Lunar New Year, when many people buy joss items to offer to deceased loved one or to forsaken spirits.       

Despite the abundance of modern supermarkets and shopping malls in HCM City, niche markets still attract customers who love discovering unusual or traditional products and items that remind them of the past, Viet said.   

“Purchases in Binh Tay are expected to increase 70 per cent in the last days of the season, which this year fall between February 1 and 4, compared to last season,” he added.  

Viet said that Binh Tay Market was officially recognised as an architectural relic by the city’s People’s Committee last year.

“We have worked closely with leading tourist agencies in the region, including Sai Gon Tourist, to offer Binh Tay Market tours for thousands of local and foreign visitors. We want to introduce the specific flavours of HCM City culture and Binh Tay Market’s lifestyle to visitors.”  

Old market

Truong Kim Quan, director of the HCM City Monuments Conservation Centre, said that Binh Tay Market was built on 25,000 sq.m of land in 1928. 

“A Chinese businessman named Quach Dam in 1930 built and donated the market to the city authorities. In the past, it was sometimes called Quach Dam market by locals. It was designed by a French architect who mixed traditional Chinese and East Asian architectural styles,” he said.

The market has 12 gates. The one on Thap Muoi Street is decorated with a clocktower, which is one of the city’s symbols.   

After many decades, the market fell into disrepair, with exposed steel beams, damaged walls and a leaking roof. 

Ngo Thanh Luong, chairman of District 6’s People’s Committee, said: “In 2016, we closed the market to renovate at a cost of VND104 billion (US$4.5 million). The money was mostly from donations collected from the market’s shop owners over a period of 10 years.”

Luong said that local authorities worked with experts from HCM City Monuments Conservation Centre during the renovation.

“We really worked hard to retain the market’s original architecture,” he said.

Binh Tay, which now is located on 28,000 sq.m of land, borders Thap Muoi, Le Tan Ke, Pham Van Khoe and Tran Binh streets in District 6.

The market has new public toilets, standby generators, security camera systems, customer information rooms, cable and telephone lines, internet connections, and fire safety systems.

With a staggering number of stalls, 784 on the ground floor and 698 on the first floor, customers looking for the perfect holiday items will not walk away empty-handed!   

Source: VNS