Megastore with German imprint

Melinh Plaza is the name of this shopping centre of superlatives. Combined here on an overall space of 67 000 m² are products and services for the areas of building, living, furnishing and recreation – not to mention banks, conference facilities and restaurants.Customers in the two-storey “home store”, which opened last December, can find everything to make their home life more convenient and attractive: from building materials through to the entire range of traditional DIY products, as well as furniture, kitchens, plumbing and electrical appliances, plus leisure and entertainment lines. The first shopping centre of this kind in Vietnam is located eight kilometres away from the national capital Hanoi with its population of 3.5 mio, right next to the central motorway running from north to south.T&M Trans Group is the operating company. It has been able to secure for the classic DIY store the know-how of the German EMV-Profi Systemzentrale, which is responsible for the concept and the product mix. The DIY ranges are housed on the ground floor of the retail and service complex. Here there is no clear distinguishing of the different product areas, as is usual in Europe, so you can find washing machines next to bathtubs, and power tools adjacent to carpets. The products on offer are up-market – the demand among Vietnamese consumers is for the famous international brand names. The list of suppliers consequently reads like an international who’s who of the building and lifestyle industry. But the prices are correspondingly high, fluctuating around the German level. However, word from the EMV head office has it that repeat orders are clearly showing that brand names are to the fore, with special demand for “Made in Germany” above all in Vietnam.BIYers form one of the DIY store’s significant target groups. These are customers who actually buy the products themselves, but have no hand in turning their interior design aspirations into reality. This task goes to tradesmen, who offer their building, assembly and plumbing services on the spot as well, so that customers can see their wishes carried out quickly and without any complications. The companies of such tradesmen are located in the outer area of the shopping complex, where they present themselves on fair stand look-alikes spread over two floors. EMV-Profi was not required to change any aspect of its store concept in order to be a party to writing this chapter of economic history in Hanoi. The DIY store…