Shophouses at apartment blocks find few takers

More than a dozen shophouses at eight apartment towers on Mai Chi Tho Road have signs offering them for lease or sale.

Last year some of them had food, beverages or furniture shops or real estate brokers, but only for a few months.

Shophouses on HCMC's Mai Chi Tho Road without tenants. Photo by Nguyen VnExpress/ Nguyen Minh

Shops cannot compete with residents living in apartment blocks who sell foods, fruits and cosmetics online and even deliver at the buyer’s door for free.

Thanh, the owner of a shophouse on Mai Chi Tho, said the current situation is in stark contrast to when she first bought it, when there was a scramble to rent it and lessees accepted all her terms.

It is a similar gloomy picture for shophouses on Dang Van Bi Road and Pham Van Dong Road in Thu Duc City and Nguyen Huu Tho in Nha Be District since late last year.

They are desolate and their doors carry fading signs about selling and leasing, indicating that the previous tenants moved out a long time ago.

Shophouses in an apartment tower on Nguyen Huu Tho Road, Nha Be District, in the southern part of HCMC are vacant now. Photo by Max Nguyen

Trang Minh Ha, chairman of consulting and training firm North Stars Asia, said there are five main reasons for shophouses remaining vacant.

Many of their locations are inconvenient, they are usually designed to accommodate stalls, convenience stores and restaurants and not other businesses, building managements to do provide maintenance or security for them, there are too many shophouses, and they find it hard to compete with shopping malls, he explained.

Owners should consider lowering rents as a temporary solution amid the difficult economic situation, he added.