Hanoi’s safe vegetable shop project turns out to be failure
Many out of nearly 40 safe vegetable shops operated by Hapro are selling other kinds of products or sub-leased.
In 2010, Hanoi authorities assigned Hapro to open 37 shops to sell safe vegetables which are mostly located in the city-centre areas.
However, to date, a number of these shops have been turned into convenience stores; meanwhile many have combined vegetable sales with different products or have been sub-leased to other firms.
For instance, the shop at 68 Hang Bong Street stopped selling vegetables two years ago and is a convenience store. The same situation is seen at another shop of Hapro at 51 Le Dai Hanh Street. Meanwhile, another shop on Thai Thinh Street has been sub-leased to another business.
Staff at a Hapro shop on Luong Dinh Cua Street said that the vegetable sales for the Hapro shop chain have been very low, estimated at around 5-7 kilos per day at each branch. They also said it was not easy to preserve vegetables which often need to be sold within the day.
“Hapro has bought vegetables, but we can’t compete with traders. The vegetable revenues at our shops are very modest which is usually just less than VND1 million (USD47) a day. So, we have to sell other products to make up for the losses,” said a representative from the corporation.
He also added the shop layout was often not suitable for selling vegetables.
In 2010, Hanoi authorities assigned Hapro to open 37 shops to sell safe vegetables which are mostly located in the city-centre areas.
A Hapro food shop on Hang Bong Street
However, to date, a number of these shops have been turned into convenience stores; meanwhile many have combined vegetable sales with different products or have been sub-leased to other firms.
For instance, the shop at 68 Hang Bong Street stopped selling vegetables two years ago and is a convenience store. The same situation is seen at another shop of Hapro at 51 Le Dai Hanh Street. Meanwhile, another shop on Thai Thinh Street has been sub-leased to another business.
Staff at a Hapro shop on Luong Dinh Cua Street said that the vegetable sales for the Hapro shop chain have been very low, estimated at around 5-7 kilos per day at each branch. They also said it was not easy to preserve vegetables which often need to be sold within the day.
“Hapro has bought vegetables, but we can’t compete with traders. The vegetable revenues at our shops are very modest which is usually just less than VND1 million (USD47) a day. So, we have to sell other products to make up for the losses,” said a representative from the corporation.
He also added the shop layout was often not suitable for selling vegetables.
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