The Story of Saigon's First Supermarket

Way back in 1967, Saigon opened the doors of its first-ever modern supermarket.

Located on the corner of Nguyen Du and Chu Manh Trinh, this pinnacle of development began serving the city's wealthier class on October 16, 1967, reports Thanh Nien. The facility, brand-new and modeled after its western counterparts, featured all the bells and whistles: shopping carts, a speaker system, an express checkout lane. You know, the works.

The first of its kind not just in Saigon but in all of Vietnam, Nguyen Du Supermarket was an instant success. Saigon socialites would turn up dressed to the nines to peruse its bright, air-conditioned aisles; even famous actress Kieu Chinh was captured on camera doing her grocery shopping in the store. Just over a month after its opening, Nguyen Du Supermarket welcomed its 100,000^th shopper with a special surprise: after announcing the lucky customer's name via loudspeaker, Le Van Sam was gifted a generous shopping spree of VND10,000.

However, this fancy food paradise did not just will itself into being. Nguyen Supermarket was thanks in large part to Tran Do Cung, head of the organization responsible for maintaining market equilibrium in Saigon. In February 1967 with the idea of a supermarket already in his mind, Cung visited the city's American commissary, then on Hung Vuong Street, to observe its operations and organization. Shortly thereafter, the official took a trip to the Philippines to shadow Makati Supermarket Group before continuing his supermarket tour of Southeast Asia with stopovers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

By the time he returned to Saigon later that year, Cung had big plans for the 30,000-square-meter store which, according to the author of the Thanh Nien piece, was located in what was then a “quiet neighborhood”. On a regular day, Nguyen Du served roughly 2,500 customers and, shortly after its inception, inspired private-owned supermarkets to appear elsewhere in town. Cung even invited businesspeople from Bangkok to inspect the new facility – just as he had done on his 1967 supermarket tour of Southeast Asia – as the Thai capital was not yet as developed as Vietnam's southern hub at the time.

Saigon later took an 18-year break from supermarkets between 1975 and 1993, resuming its relationship with large, western-style food centers after đổi mới.

[Photos via Thanh Nien]