Recently, on the official fanpage of McDonald's, it announced the closure of its first store in Vietnam after 10 years of operation - McDonald's Ben Thanh (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) at 2:00 a.m. on September 19, 2024.
Although McDonald's Ben Thanh did not announce the reason for its closure, many people believe that it is most likely due to the inability to pay the rent. Because McDonald's Ben Thanh is located near Ben Thanh market, Bui Vien Western street, Nguyen Hue walking street... easy to move, and these are also prime locations with expensive rents in the center of Ho Chi Minh City.
According to some residents, about 5 years ago, to serve the construction of Metro Line 1 underground station (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien), barriers were erected in the central areas of District 1, hindering the trading of surrounding stores. After the barriers were completely dismantled about 1 year ago, the space in front of Ben Thanh market was returned to be clear, making moving and trading in this area more convenient and prosperous.
"The location is good, business is more favorable than before, so many landlords have also increased the price. Meanwhile, many tenants are facing difficulties because the economy is still facing many difficulties, people are tightening their spending. Therefore, the rent is too high, forcing them to give up the premises" - Ms. Bich Duong - owner of a shop on Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1 said.
A survey by Lao Dong shows that although the rate of vacant premises along central streets of Ho Chi Minh City such as Le Loi, Nguyen Hue, Tran Hung Dao, Ly Tu Trong... has decreased compared to the same period last year, many premises in prime locations are still vacant, even without tenants for a whole year.
In the Ben Thanh market area, the rental price is also quite expensive. Mr. Le Van Tan - a real estate broker in District 1 said: "With premises in beautiful locations around Ben Thanh market with an area of 100m2 or more, the rental price of hundreds of millions of VND/month is no longer strange. In recent years, fashion, cosmetics, souvenir shops... have closed down in series, many premises are left empty but the rental price is still very high so there are not many transactions".
The rental price of premises in central locations of Ho Chi Minh City once caused a “fever” because it was too expensive. For example, according to Cushman & Wakefield, Dong Khoi Street (District 1) was ranked 13th in the group of streets with the most expensive retail premises on the planet.
According to a report from real estate consultancy CBRE Vietnam, the asking rental price of high-end premises in the central area of Ho Chi Minh City in the first 6 months of 2024 continued to increase by 18.5% over the same period, to 280 USD per square meter/month (equivalent to 6.8 million VND).
