AEON Mall Co., Ltd., the shopping mall developer of Japan’s largest retail group AEON, has expressed its intention to invest $280 million to build a shopping mall in the south of Hanoi.
The plan was revealed by AEON Mall Vietnam general director Yasutsugu Iwamura during his recent meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a meeting.
While the exact location of the shopping mall was not disclosed, Iwamura said that the group highly expected to gain supports from the local government and relevant ministries in order to soon turn the project into reality.
Should the project get the green light from the government, it will become the third shopping centre of the Japanese retailer in Hanoi.
AEON Mall currently operates a shopping mall in Long Bien district in the north of Hanoi. It is in the progress of completing its second one in the west with a total floor area of 200,000 square metres, which projected to be put into operation later on this year.
AEON now has three shopping malls in the south, including two in Ho Chi Minh City (AEON Mall Tan Phu Celadon and AEON Mall Binh Tan) and one in Binh Duong province (AEON MALL Binh Duong Canary).
AEON is also known to also invest $180 million to build a shopping mall on an area of 9.3 hectares in Le Chan district in Haiphong. The building is scheduled to open next year.
Apart from the shopping mall business, AEON representatives said that the group will increase exports of goods from Vietnam to Japan, especially agricultural products.
AEON expects to double the import turnover of goods from Vietnam to $500 million next year and advance the figure to $1 billion by 2025.
Last year, the total value of goods that AEON imported from Vietnam to distribute at its supermarkets in Japan reached some $250 million.
