Saigon students shop for Tet with 100,000 VND

With a 25,000 VND baseball cap, 15,000 VND t-shirt, 55,000 VND jeans, Phan Hoai Lam (student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology) said he had bought everything he needed to return home.

The University Village Night Market (Linh Trung, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City) is an attractive destination for students on the eve of Tet. The second half of December is the time when students finish their semester exams, so the night market becomes more crowded than ever. Here, students can freely choose all kinds of necessary items with diverse designs and affordable prices.

Walking around the market, almost all items from clothes, shoes, handbags, belts, glasses, cosmetics, jewelry,... have an average price of 50,000 - 70,000 VND. Children's clothes are only from 10,000 - 40,000 VND/set, jeans for men and women are from 50,000 - 150,000 VND, shirts for men and women are 35,000 - 100,000 VND, women's handbags are from 25,000 VND,....

A baseball cap for 25,000 VND, a T-shirt for 15,000 VND, a pair of men's jeans for 55,000 VND, Phan Hoai Lam (student of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology) said he had bought everything he needed to go home for Tet without spending 100,000 VND.

“Not only are the prices suitable for students’ budgets, but the items sold here are also very diverse in design, keeping up with the fashion trends of young people, so they are popular,” said Hoang Thuy Nhan (student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry).

After a year of studying in a big city, many students often save money for Tet shopping. Therefore, on these days, the university village night market is bustling with buyers and sellers from 5 pm. Normally, the market starts to empty around 9 pm, but on this occasion, it is still very crowded until after 11 pm. There are items that usually sell very poorly, but now they are also in high demand.

Ms. Tuyet, the owner of a fashion accessories stall, said: "Every night this week has been busy with customers. My husband, I, and our three children are out selling but still can't keep up with demand."

Holding many newly purchased items in her hands, Nguyen Thanh My (student of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities) excitedly said: “No matter how poor we are, before returning home for Tet, we still have to save money to buy clothes, shoes and some necessary items for ourselves and our families. Because goods in Saigon, especially those sold to students, are often cheaper than those in the countryside. Moreover, this year, the goods at the night market in the university village are very beautiful and of good quality.”

According to experienceFor many students, because of the cheap prices, the goods at the night market often have many defects, so you have to choose carefully to get the goods you like.

The owner of a coat and sweater stall at the night market said that this year, in addition to importing inventory from export processing zones, industrial parks or Chinese goods, she also bought outdated goods from fashion shops to sell. Students are often afraid to shop at shops because the prices are very high, so when these items are sold at the night market, they become popular because they are cheap but good quality and beautiful designs.

However, according to the shopping experience of a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, at the student market there are many goods, cheap prices, but when buying, you have to spend time choosing carefully to get good goods. Because most of the goods are Chinese goods, fake goods or have unclear origins. Many people buy them and then discover that they have defects such as broken buttons, torn... but cannot exchange them.

According to reading the newspaper