VietNamNet Bridge – More and more children fashion shops, breakfast food shops, small cafes have been opened. However, unlike other familiar shops – the street facing ones – the new shops are not located on high floors.

Bedrooms turn into clothes shops

It would be a nice surprise to the visitors to the Dinh Cong residential quarter that a clothes shop is located on the third floor. However, the shop has been very familiar to all local residents, especially to the mothers who have children aged below 8.

Ngoc’s shop is located in a part of an apartment in the residential quarter. The buyers would have to go across the guest room, dining room to reach out to the shop.

The shop here just covers an area of 15 square meters, but the products here have been displayed in a reasonable way, thus making it easily catch the eyes of visitors. The balcony, which was left idle, has turned into the storehouse, where an ad board is hung to catch the eyes of people.

“The buyers are mostly the women from the same residential quarter. They mostly come in the evening, after they return home from works and take care for children,” Ngoc said, adding that the sales may be up to ten of millions of dong a month.

Nguyen The Khang, a retired man, has also opened a groceries shop, right at his home – an apartment in a residential quarter. Khang’s guest room has turned into the shop, where sundries, including snatch, soap, instant noodle and tissues are on display. Especially, Khang’s shop has attracted all the kids of the residential quarter, because he sells ice cream as well.

A local resident said it is really a good idea to open shops right in the residential quarter. “When you need some sundries, you would not have to go far to the market to buy them, because they are available right in the residential quarter. You can cook, take care for children and buy goods at the same time,” she said.

Com (rice), pho (noodle soup), coffee also on high floors

The shop of noodle soup served with beef--located on a residential quarter on Ta Quang Buu Street has become well-known to all the students of the Hanoi University of Technology.

Parking motorbikes on the first floors and then go up to the fifth floor to have breakfast has become a habit to many local residents. The guest room of the apartment, 30 square meters, and the corridor have become the place for 5-7 sets of tables and chairs for people to sit when enjoying pho.

Nguyen Thi Lan, the owner of the shop, said 90 percent of customers are from the same residential quarter. “Pho has always been sold out prior to 9 am,” she said.

The Nam Trung Yen residential quarter has also turned into the place for the “shops on high floors.” Everything can be found here, from food for breakfast to groceries, DVD disc, to barber shop. A lot of advertisement boards have been hung on the windows or at the entrance doors to the apartments, thus generating colorful pictures of the buildings.

In principle, shops must not be opened in the apartments of residential quarters. However, the trend of turning accommodations into shops proves to be unavoidable. Since the retail premises on streets are getting more and more expensive, small merchants have to think of other ways to do business to earn their living.

Nguyen Nga