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An Dong
Cholon's other indoor market, An Dong , is very close to the intersection of ÐL Tran Phu and ÐL An Duong Vuong. This market is four storeys high and is crammed with shops. The 1st floor carries nothing but clothing, including imported designer jeans from Hong Kong, the latest pumps from Paris and ao dai . The basement is a gourmet's delight of small restaurants - a perfect place to lunch on the cheap.
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Annam Gourmet Shop
A small but well-stocked shop with imported cheeses, wines, chocolates and all the other delicacies you won't find elsewhere.
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Ben Thanh Market
This market and its surrounding streets make up one of the city's liveliest areas. Everything that's commonly eaten, worn or used by the Saigonese is available here: vegetables, meats, spices, sweets, tobacco, clothing, household items, hardware and so forth. There's also a healthy selection of souvenir-worthy items.
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Binh Tay Market
Cholon's main market is Binh Tay Market, a Chinese-style architectural masterpiece with a great clock tower in the centre. Much of the business here is wholesale.
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Blue Space Gallery
HCMC is brimming with art galleries. Good places to browse are the handful of galleries around the Fine Arts Museum and along Ð Dong Khoi. You'll find excellent top-quality works at the following places: Blue Space Gallery , Lacquer & Oil and Vinh Loi Gallery. Any of these places will ship worldwide. For low-quality reproductions of famous paintings, visit the painting shops along Ð Bui Vien in Pham Ngu Lao.
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Cham Khanh
This is one of several ao dai shops on this stretch of Ð Pasteur. It sells particularly colourful pieces and is a reliable place for getting an ao dai made.
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Chez Guido
The city's markets and street stalls are a great place to assemble a fresh meal. If you don't feel like going anywhere, Chez Guido delivers, fast (even wines and desserts)! The menu offers a mind-boggling cornucopia of international cuisine but specialises in Italian food. Download a menu online.
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Chi Chi
Features well-chosen, lovely fabrics and fine designs; custom tailoring offered here.
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Co-op Mart
Two big supermarkets near Pham Ngu Lao are Hanoi Mart and Co-op Mart, just down the street from each other.
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Dan Sinh Market
Dan Sinh Market is the place to shop for a chic pair of combat boots or rusty dog tags. It's also the best market for electronics and other types of imported machinery - you could easily renovate a whole villa from the goods on sale. The front part is filled with stalls selling automobiles and motorbikes, but directly behind the pagoda building you can find reproductions of what seems to be second-hand military gear.
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Dogma
Proudly advertising the sale of Vietnamese kitsch, this colourful store stocks reproductions of marvellous old propaganda posters emblazoned on coffee mugs, coasters, and T-shirts. There's also men's and women's clothing, purses and assorted other knickknacks that make for fine browsing.
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Fahasa Bookshop
One of the best government-run bookshops, with good dictionaries, good, up-to-date maps of HCMC and general books in English and French. Also at 40 ÐL Nguyen Hue.
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Hong Hoa Mini-Market
Small but packed with toiletries, alcohol and Western junk food such as chocolate bars.
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Huynh Thuc Khang Street Market
The Huynh Thuc Khang Street Market sells everything. The area was known as the 'electronics black market' until early 1989, when it was legalised.
You can still buy electronic goods of all sorts - from mosquito zappers to video cassette recorders - but the market has expanded enormously to include clothing, washing detergent, lacquerware, condoms, pirated cassettes, posters of Ho Chi Minh and Britney Spears, smuggled bottles of Johnny Walker, Chinese-made 'Swiss' army knives and just about everything to satisfy your material needs.
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Khai Silk
One branch of this well-established silk empire; a reliable choice for tailored suits or ao dai.
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Lacquer & Oil
HCMC is brimming with art galleries. Good places to browse are the handful of galleries around the Fine Arts Museum and along Ð Dong Khoi. For low-quality reproductions of famous paintings, visit the painting shops along Ð Bui Vien in Pham Ngu Lao. You'll also find excellent top-quality works at Lacquer & Oil. They also ship worldwide.
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Lotus
For vintage propaganda posters (from the 60s and 70s), this place is a goldmine. Expect to pay plenty for an original but there also prints available. Why the store is named Lotus - a symbol of purity - nobody seems to know.
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Mai Handicrafts
While the Dong Khoi district is lined with small shops selling all manner of pretty items for adorning the self or the home, this shop is a place where you can consume with a clear conscience. A fair-trade shop dealing in ceramics, ethnic fabrics and other gift items, its proceeds support disadvantaged families and street children.
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Nguyen Freres
Nguyen Freres, in business since 1995, stocks a lovely assortment of antique furnishings and textiles, pillowcases, silks, pottery and lamps. Their noble aim? To share Vietnamese culture with the world.
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Old Market
Despite the name, the Old Market is not the place for antiques. Rather, the Old Market is where you can buy imported food, wine, shaving cream, shampoo etc. However, if its Vietnamese name, Cho Cu, is written or pronounced without the correct tones it means 'penis'; your cyclo driver will no doubt be much amused if you say that this is what you're looking for. Perhaps directions would be better - the Old Market is on the north side of ÐL Ham Nghi between Ð Ton That Dam and Ð Ho Tung Mau.
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Phuong Nam Bookshop
Carries imported books and magazines in English, French and Chinese, mostly of the instructional variety.
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Precious Qui
Precious Qui specialises in lacquerware and accessories (interesting forks and spoons) in contemporary, minimalist designs fashioned from buffalo horn. They also stock a limited selection of celadon ceramic ware.
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Reda
Open since 2002, Reda's has an assortment of stylish women's apparel, with handmade tailoring available. Also on offer are Reda's original accessories and a you can have a bite after browsing at the adjoining cafe.
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Saigon Centre
If you're pressed for time, several shopping centres are great one-stop destinations, including the shiny, modern Saigon Centre It's a great place to browse for electronics, clothing and handicrafts.
