Inside Lotte Mart, Saigon

It opened! 33,400 square meters of shopping in District 7 less than ten minutes from where I stay. Of course I had to visit but I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was wrong to be excited, still a little guilt seasons pleasure.

It's a supermarket and shopping complex over three floors with a cinema, bowling and food outlets. It sells just about anything you could want from motorbike tyres to flat screen TVs and I know I've been here for a while now because I got bloody excited about it and had an absolute ball.

Alas the pictures are limited because the staff kept catching me with my camera and telling me "No pictures". They were firm and even a plaintive "But I'm going to blog it" cut no ice.



I'll be back but next time I'll be a little more furtive with my photography.



Also on site is a branch of the Lotte franchised coffee outlet Angel-in-us. True to the company that brought us Lotteria "We Love Hamburger" we get a little splash of bad English with our drinks.

Lotte Mart

Saigon is abuzz with excitement, ok, the Korean community is a bit excited and I am abuzz with excitement.



HCMCs first fully modern "Western" style supermarket, except that's it's Korean so is it still Western? More reports from the wall of kim chee once it's open.

If mega-retailer investment in Vietnam is your thing there's a fairly interesting article here
and for a few more pictures of the interior taken since it opened go here