VietNamNet Bridge – High-end food chains are choosing shopping center food courts to set up shops and, while other popular shops are moving away from streetfront locations.

Business at shopping malls has slowed during the recession, the food courts are still bustling.

The basement at Vincom Shopping Mall in District 1 in HCM City, for example, is full of visitors every day.

The manager of Highlands Coffee said he serves 600-800 customers every day, while the figure can reach 1,000 on Saturday and Sunday.

“Shopping malls prove to be more advantageous retail premises than shops in residential quarters,” the manager said. “People go to shopping malls not just to do shopping and sightseeing, but to relax as well, and they need cafes and restaurants right here.”

Fast food shops, and Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean style restaurants are also busy, attracting about 300 guests daily.

The manager of Break Talk, a bakery, said the shop at the mall was busier than those on the main streets of HCM City.

“The food courts are the places people most want to visit in the building,” he noted.

The food courts at Bitexco, Diamond Plaza and Parkson shopping malls in HCM City are also always crowded.

Though Parkson is well known as a trader of high-end products, the food courts remain busy, two to three times more crowded than the shopping area.

“People flock here on Saturday and Sunday with their children and family. It takes less time to recover investment capital if you set up a food shop here than elsewhere,” the manager of a fast food shop said.

The managers said the rent at Vincom in District 1 is $40-60 per square meter, while it is $50-60 per square meter at Diamond Plaza and $40-50 at Bitexco Financial Tower.

Meanwhile, the office rent at big centers in HCM City is about $50-70 per square meter.

A real estate broker said that shopping, eating and drinking at the same place was a growing tendency of city residents. Businesses located at shopping malls can be more profitable.

“It takes investors only seven to eight months to break even, or one year earlier than usual,” he said.

While food & beverage (F&B) investors open shops at shopping malls to attract medium- and high-income earners, they now set up open-air shops off the main street to attract people with lower incomes.

5ku, a new F&B food brand, has become familiar to office workers in HCM City. With three shops, the chain has been expanding rapidly in recent months.

Le Nhu, the manager of one of the three shops, noted that 5ku attracts office workers because it can offer places with fresh (non-air-conditioned) air which makes them comfortable and enjoyable.