Conditions for Establishing a Convenience Store

According to the current legal regulations, a convenience store is a retail establishment that sells fast-moving consumer goods, including: food, beverages, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, functional foods and health supplements, cosmetics and personal care products, as well as other products for daily consumption.

In addition, Article 22 of Decree 09/2018/ND-CP detailing the Law on Commerce and the Law on Management of Foreign Trade regarding the purchase and sale of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods by foreign investors, and foreign-invested economic organizations in Vietnam stipulates the conditions for establishing a convenience store as follows:

Establishing the first retail establishment (Convenience Store)

- Have a financial plan to establish a convenience store;

- No overdue tax debts in the case of having been established in Vietnam for one year or more;

- The location for establishing a convenience store must comply with relevant planning in the geographical market area.

Establishing a retail establishment (Convenience Store) other than the first retail establishment

- In cases where economic needs analysis is not required:

Must meet the conditions like those for establishing the first convenience store.

- In cases where economic needs analysis is required:

In addition to meeting the conditions for establishing the first convenience store, the following economic needs analysis criteria must also be met:

+ The scale of the geographical market area affected when the retail establishment operates;

+ The number of retail establishments currently operating in the geographical market area;

+ The impact of the retail establishment on the stability of the market and the business activities of existing retail establishments, traditional markets in the geographical market area;

+ The influence of the retail establishment on traffic density, environmental sanitation, and fire prevention and control in the geographical market area;

+ The ability of the retail establishment to contribute to the socio-economic development of the geographical market area, specifically:

++ Create jobs for domestic workers;

++ Contribute to the development and modernization of the retail sector in the geographical market area;

++ Improve the environment and living conditions of residents in the geographical market area;

++ The ability and extent of contribution to the state budget.

To better understand retail establishments other than the first retail establishment, the Editorial Board also provides you with the concept of this issue as follows:

A retail establishment other than the first retail establishment is a retail establishment established in Vietnam by one of the foreign investors, foreign-invested economic organizations that already have a retail establishment in Vietnam, or established under the same name, brand with at least one retail establishment already existing by the foreign-invested economic organization in Vietnam.

The above is the response regarding the conditions for establishing convenience stores.

Sincerely!