Eateries, coffee shops and supermarkets reopen early

Many coffee shops and restaurants have also been crowded. — Photo tin247

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — After nearly a week sampling Tet dishes, Nguyen Hong Mai's family in District 1 decided to return to their familiar eatery for breakfast on Sunday, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

There were no empty seats so they chose another eatery, which was also full. Finally, they took their seats at a pho eatery in District 5.

Lan, owner of the small shop, had decided to keep her stall open since the second day of the New Year, and it had been full every day.

Like Lan's shop, many eateries resumed their service from the second or third day of Tet, with many of them overloaded with customers.

Many coffee shops and restaurants have also been crowded.

Hung, owner of the Milano coffee shop on Luy Ban Bich Street in Tan Phu District, said normally his shop served about 100 customers a day, but during the holiday the number had risen to 150 a day.

He was short of staff as many of his helpers had returned to their hometown to enjoy Tet, he said.

To meet the purchasing demand of consumers, many supermarkets have resumed their operations from the second day of the New Year.

Prices of goods at supermarkets remained stable, with fresh food and vegetables the bestsellers.

Co.opmart stores in HCM City opened from 8am to 12pm from the second day to the fifth day of the New Year. They begin normal hours today.

Vo Hoang Anh, marketing director of Saigon Co.op, the owner of the Co.opmart chain, said the supermarket opened early to meet customers' demand for fresh foods such as vegetables, seafood, animal and poultry meats.

Prices of commodities were the same as normal days, with beef ranging from VND150,000 (US$7) to VND300,000 ($14) per kilo, chicken about VND87,000 ($4) and fish VND30,000-VND120,000 a kilo. Price-stabilised goods sell for lower than market prices.

Besides offering discounts of 10 to 20 per cent on fresh food, the supermarket prepared more than 100,000 red envelopes to present to shoppers from Sunday to today, Anh said. — VNS