Set out goods in the morning, but only have buyers at 5pm at the once busiest market in Can Tho

Close the door and "run for your life"

According to records at Cai Khe Trade Center, also known as Cai Khe Market (Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City), many traders are currently in a deadlocked situation due to sluggish business, few customers, a series of stalls closed, some traders have had to move their address or hang up signs to move to another lot or kiosk.

Business is sluggish, many traders have moved their address and put up signs to change lots. Photo: Yen Phuong

Fed up with the lack of customers here, Ms. Do Thi Thu Huong (68 years old, a trader at Cai Khe Trade Center) said that the current situation can be described in two words: "exhausted". The traders here cannot pay taxes or pay the premises, everyone has to owe money and do not know when they will have money to pay.

“Many people could not hold on and had to give up, bringing their goods home and giving up everything. Many people were so miserable that they had to sell their land to get capital to do business here, but now they have lost everything and there is no way to save them,” Ms. Huong said sadly.

A series of stalls closed. Photo: Yen Phuong — Cai Khe shopping center is deserted, many shops are closed. Photo: Yen Phuong

According to Ms. Huong, many small traders have posted signs asking to transfer lots but they cannot transfer them, and people who want to rent them out also cannot rent them. If they leave them, they have to pay taxes and rent, so many people leave their lots empty. Typically, the entire front row of the market has a series of closed stalls, many small traders have "run away" because they cannot transfer their lots to anyone.

“This market has nearly 100 lots, but currently more than 50 lots have closed, because the traders have to shoulder too many things while purchasing power has decreased, and the backlog of goods has made it impossible for them to cope anymore,” Ms. Huong added.

Loss of 7 million VND per month

Observations show that the entire Cai Khe market is mostly full of sellers, with only a few customers occasionally stopping by, but they only look at the goods and do not buy anything. The vendors just sit there, scrolling through their phones and chatting to kill time.

Sitting and surfing the phone, chatting,... is a way for small traders to kill time to pass the day. Photo: Yen Phuong — Sitting around surfing the phone, chatting,... is how small traders kill time to pass the day. Photo: Yen Phuong

Mr. Huynh Quoc Cuong (a merchant at Cai Khe Trade Center) said that this situation has been going on for a long time. In the morning, he sets up his goods and sits on his phone until the afternoon when he has to pack up and go home. Some days, it is not until 5 pm that a customer comes to open the store, other times there are no customers at all.

“For over a year now, because I can’t sell, I don’t have money to import new goods. I even have to suffer losses every day. On average, I have to cover a loss of 7 million VND per month, including 4 million VND in cash, nearly 2 million VND in taxes, plus electricity, water, and parking fees…”, Mr. Cuong complained.

Mr. Cuong is fed up with having to suffer a loss of 7 million VND per month. Photo: Yen Phuong

Having set out her goods for a whole week without selling anything, Ms. Yen (a merchant at Cai Khe Trade Center) shook her head in disappointment: "Now I have to say "bad" but there are no other words to describe the sluggish business situation here."

Ms. Yen said that on a lucky day, she sells enough to pay for food, but she doesn’t have enough money to pay rent or taxes. Now she just hopes to find a way to sell all her goods so she can go home and retire, because she can’t work anymore because she’s so discouraged.

As for Mrs. Do Thi Thu Huong, she has invested all her capital in her fabric stall, now she has to go to the market every day hoping to sell whatever she can. But now she can't sell anything at the market, making her even more desperate.

Faced with the current situation of a deserted market, with few customers and unsold goods, many traders expressed their wishes and hopes that the authorities would consider supporting tax and rent reductions to help them continue to maintain their business and trade.

Source