Bao Tin Minh Chau gold and jewelry store in downtown Hanoi was packed with customers at noon, many of whom had been waiting since morning.
All three of its stores were crowded as it was among the few brands to have large inventories of gold rings.
By early afternoon a Bao Tin Minh Chau store in Cau Giay District had issued almost 800 queue tokens.
But people coming to sell rather than buy gold hardly had to wait since there were few of them.
The stores limit each customer to half a tael, down from one a few days earlier.
A customer had to wait for two hours on average to purchase.
Huynh Nhu (in the middle), 25, and her husband wait to buy gold rings.
“I was surprised to learn that prices have exceeded VND100 million per tael.”
Nguyet also came to buy gold rings, having bought one tael at VND75 million last year.
“I have spare cash and do not know what to do with it.”
