Japan’s AEON to open first Hanoi mall next month

AEON MALL Long Bien will celebrate its grand opening on October 28, promising to “create unprecedented world views and advocate new lifestyles for local residents in Hanoi,” the company said in a press release on Thursday.

The Hanoi shopping center will be the third of Japan's single-largest shopping mall developer and operator in Vietnam.

Long Bien District, around 5km east of Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of Hanoi, is positioned as a new-type residential area by 2030, AEON said, citing the capital city’s master plan prepared in 2011.

AEON MALL Long Bien has four stories above ground, with a total leasable area of around 72,000 square meters, capable of hosting more than 180 stores.

The venue will feature a variety of entertainment facilities for all ages, including a cinema, an entertainment area for teenagers, a large-scale indoor playground for kids, and various dining spaces.

Fifty percent of the goods available at AEON MALL Long Bien are Vietnamese-made, whereas 20 percent come from Japan and 30 percent from other markets, Yukio Konishi, chairman and general director of AEON Vietnam, said at a press meeting on Thursday.

The operator of AEON MALL Long Bien will try to increase the rate of Vietnamese goods to 90 percent in the future, he said.

Konishi added that the occupancy rate at the Hanoi mall is as high as 98 percent.

The first AEON shopping mall in Vietnam, opening in January 2014, is located in Ho Chi Minh City, and the second was inaugurated ten months later in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The second trade center in Ho Chi Minh City, AEON MALL Binh Tan, is expected to open in the summer of 2016, according to AEON.

AEON is also operating one shopping mall each in Cambodia and Indonesia. The company wants to open its second facility in Cambodia around the summer of 2018, and two more in Indonesia after 2016.

The Japanese retailer will then have nine malls in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam home to the largest number of its shopping centers in the region.

Headquarters in Mihama-ku, Chiba, AEON is the holding company of AEON Group and is the largest retailer in Asia with a network comprising around 300 consolidated subsidiaries and 26 equity-method affiliated companies ranging from convenience stores "Ministop" and supermarkets to shopping malls and specialty stores.