1. Markets

• Night Market (Just outside of Ben Thanh Market). 18:00-late. Here you can enjoy many kinds of different foods and drink and do your shopping as well. But it is just a small street with traffic passing and pushy sellers, not the nicest place to hang around. (updated Apr 2017 | Chợ Bình Tây (In Chinatown). The underrated twin of Ben Thanh, selling everything from spices, Chinese medicines, and silk to obscure varieties of fermented fish, dried seafood, and jerky. If you are searching for a variety of Vietnam silks and velvets, skip the tourist trap Ben Thanh Market and go to Bình Tây instead. Most of Chợ Bình Tây is wholesale goods. Much of Ben Thanh Market's goods are from here.

• Ben Thanh Market (Chợ Bến Thành) (Southwest end of Le Lai). Till 18:00. A den of thieves, but some great shopping. Ben Thanh is recognizable from its clock tower on the large roundabout. The largest old-style market in the central district, with several hundred small stalls stuffed with goods on almost impassably narrow aisles. Due to its popularity with tourists, the market is now divided between tourist goods (jeans, T-shirts, smaller souvenirs in abundance) and regular items (fruit and vegetables, rice, kitchen wares, flowers, meat, fast food and local-style pickled fruits). Most items are not price-marked, and vendors always quote a 50-100% higher price to tourists, so bargaining hard will save you money. The chief method of parting visitors from their money is ambiguity: for example, never making it quite clear how much you are being quoted or what the exact price is or what exchange rate is being used to calculate your change. Be ready for these ruses (often by a sweet, smiling young lady), or be prepared to part with more cash than you need to. At the north side (back) of Ben Thanh Market are some shops that are operated by Ben Thanh Group and they sell goods at fixed price and much cheaper than the stalls in the market. No bargaining needed. If the good selection of knock-offs here just won't do, there's plenty to be had in the surrounding side street shops or night market later. If retail warfare isn't your cup of tea, you could skip the touristy Ben Thanh altogether and go to Chợ Bình Tây. (updated Mar 2018 |

• Saigon Square (A stones throw from Ben Thanh Market). A good place for a visit. It is a twin of Ben Thanh but with air conditioning. Haggling your way through this place is the rule of thumb. Local middle-class Vietnamese shop here on the weekends too. Consider planning your shopping here during the day and go to Ben Thanh for the night market. The daytime Ben Thanh can be planned as a sightseeing trip instead of a shopping spree.

• War Surplus Market, Yersin, District 1 (Intersection with Nguyen Cong Tru). Sometimes called the American Market or "Cho Cu" or "Khu Dan Sinh". Hidden behind rows of hardware and electric supplies shops, just brace yourself and enter. Dense warrens of stalls include those selling old American military gear of indeterminate authenticity (e.g., "nice collection of so-called authentic GI's Zippo lighter from the war era"), cheap T-shirts and military paraphernalia: just don't hope to find a genuine US wartime Zippo, they're all fakes now. Despite the name, most stalls now specialise in various industrial-type products such as hand tools and personal safety equipment.

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2. Supermarkets

• Co-op Mart Supermarkets (In District 1 can be found at the corner of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Nguyen Dinh Chieu, about 1 km from the centre or in Cong Quynh, walking distance from the end of backpacker street, Pham Ngu Lao.). 07:00-22:00. Co-op Mart can be found everywhere around HCMC. Prices are reasonably lower, though the selection leans more toward Vietnamese foods. 32 stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

• Tax Department Store (On the corner of Le Loi and Nguyen Hue.). Now known as Saigon Square. Formerly the Russian Market, this is now a rather sterile department store of sorts filled with stalls selling touristy kitsch, although the selections get better as you ascend the levels. There's a good supermarket on level 2. If you are traveling here by taxi, the new name may be met by blank expressions from taxi drivers. The old name seems to work.

• Giant Supermarket, 506 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Ward 4 District 3, ☎ +84 8-54121416. 09:00-21:00. Part of dairy farm Hong Kong which has supermarkets all over Asia. (updated Feb 2017 |

• Big C Super Center, 138 a To Hien Thanh Cu Xa Bac Hai Phuong 15, ☎ +84-8-38632990. 07:30-22:30.

• Lotte Mart, Nguyen Thi Thap Tan Hung Quan 7. (updated Feb 2017 |

• Aeon Citymart, 96 Cao Thang Phomg 4 Quan 3. 05:30-22:00. has 22 supermarkets all over Ho Chi Minh

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3. Malls and department stores

Malls and department stores selling luxury brands can be found throughout downtown Ho Chi Minh City. And indeed you can find most of the same goods at other malls and department stores throughout the world. Even if you are not planning on buying luxury brand items, there is a reason every traveler should know the locations of some malls and department stores: their free and meticulously clean public restrooms. Also, if you are travelling just before or during Tet, some of these establishments put up decorational displays that are impressive in and of themselves.

• Saigon Center. A mall near Ben Thanh Market, just across the street from Saigon Square. Look for the Takashimaya sign.

• Diamond Plaza. A department store behind Notre Dame Cathedral, accross the street diagonally.

• Vincom Center. The basement and bottom few floors of the Vincom Center house a mall. It is the tall building with two rectangular towers, a block south of the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral.

• SC VivoCity. In District 7, a large shopping centre with a rooftop garden and a playground to keep the kids occupied.