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D
espite the chilly mid-winter
climate, Minh Khai street - a
small narrow road in Hanoi’s
Hai Ba Trung district - is con-
tinually thronged with streams of peo-
ple. Every day, several thousand people
either driving luxurious Lexus cars or
just common Honda motorbikes flock
to this area to drop in at Vincom Mega
Mall Times City, which was opened not
long ago. This scene goes against the
belt-tightening of recent years.
Hanoi is home to lots of shopping
centres, but what has made Vincom
Mega Mall Times City so appealing? Is it
true that the crowds are flocking to this
area simply out of curiosity about the
underground complex?
This is not the first underground
shopping mall in Hanoi. The developer of
Vincom Mega Mall Times City is also the
owner of Asia’s largest underground retail
complex, Royal City in Nguyen Trai road
in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan district. In its first
months, Vincom Mega Mall Royal City
also witnessed huge numbers of visitors
despite the difficult economic climate.
In its first-phase, the scope of Vin-
com Mega Mall Times City - a mixed use
complex of a shopping mall, over 4,000
high-end condos and a world-class ho-
tel hospital - is only one third of Royal
City’s, however, it seems its charm is no
less alluring.
Like Royal City, one of the areas
attracting most visitors at Vincom Mega
Mall Times City is the culinary world,
which comprises 90 restaurants serv-
ing authentic local dishes from areas
throughout the country and also west-
ern food.
Vincom Mega Mall Times City also
offers a spacious area with over 300
shops selling a broad range of items
from fashion clothing to interior fur-
nishings. Above all, what most attracts
both the kids and the adults is the Vin-
pearl Aquarium Times City.
Until now, to view a water world
such as this, local people had to fly to
Singapore’s Sentosa resort or head to
the foot of Petronas twin towers in Ma-
laysia. Alternatively, people could head
to the aquarium on Hon Tre island at
the Vinpearl resort.
With the launching of VincomMega
Mall Times City, not only Hanoians, but
residents from the wider area and visi-
tors have a chance to admire a vivid
aquarium right in the heart of Hanoi.
Vinpearl Aquarium Times City is Vi-
etnam’s largest water world and home
to several thousand sea creatures. Many
of them are appearing in Vietnam for
the first time, such as penguins, otters,
giant spider crabs, seacows and moon
jelly-fish. This is a vast treasure-trove of
knowledge about the ocean, developed
to inspire a love for nature and environ-
ment protection.
Vincom Mega Mall Times City is also
unique in that it brings together chain
services catered to families and the kids,
of which the most outstanding is VinKE
– the children’s entertainment and
The one-stop shopping destination model has seemingly created a total
turnaround in Vietnam’s retail market landscape, writes
Ha Giang
.
LIVING
A shopping
REVOLUTION