Japanese retail giant AEON Group announced plans this week to open two new shopping malls in Vietnam, with AEON Thanh Hoa launching in October and AEON Ha Long following in November, expanding the company’s network deeper into the north central and northern regions of the country. These two projects represent half of four total shopping malls AEON plans to open across Vietnam this year, marking the fastest expansion pace in the company’s operating history within the country.
The broader 2026 rollout also includes AEON Da Nang Thanh Khe, which began operations back on July 1, alongside AEON Hai Duong, scheduled to open in Hai Phong City this October. Tezuka Daisuke, Chief Vietnam Business Officer of AEON and General Director of AEON Vietnam, described this year’s four mall openings as representing the fastest expansion speed the company has ever achieved in its Vietnamese operations since first entering the market.
AEON Mall Thanh Hoa represents a substantial investment, built across approximately ten and a half hectares with a total construction floor area of roughly one hundred twenty thousand square meters and a total investment exceeding four point one trillion dong. The project entered its final completion stages this year after construction began in December 2024, positioning it to become one of the largest retail landmarks anywhere in Vietnam’s North Central region once operations begin.
AEON Mall Ha Long carries an even larger price tag, with total investment reaching approximately thirty two point eight billion yen, equivalent to roughly two hundred four million dollars, developed across ninety one thousand square meters in Quang Ninh province. Both the Thanh Hoa and Ha Long projects are expected to generate meaningful annual rental income once fully operational, reflecting AEON’s confidence in sustained consumer demand across these expanding regional Vietnamese markets.
AEON’s Vietnam strategy reflects a broader ambition to more than triple its total mall footprint in the country, targeting thirty locations by fiscal year 2030, up from just nine currently in operation. Vietnam has become AEON’s top priority market globally, set to absorb sixty percent of the company’s total ASEAN investment under its medium term plan running through March 2031, with the company’s Vietnamese operations growing revenue at roughly twenty five percent annually.
Since first entering the Vietnamese retail market with AEON Tan Phu Celadon back in 2014, the company has gradually expanded from its initial focus on major cities including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City toward increasingly dynamic regional markets with significant growth potential, including Hai Phong, Da Nang, Thanh Hoa, and Quang Ninh provinces. That geographic diversification strategy reflects growing confidence in consumer spending power extending well beyond Vietnam’s traditional major urban centers.
Company leadership has stressed that expansion involves more than simply opening additional locations, with AEON prioritizing retail formats and services specifically tailored to evolving consumer demands and local socioeconomic characteristics in each new market. This localized approach includes plans for mid sized shopping malls that won’t carry the flagship AEON Mall brand, allowing the company to enter markets where population size and purchasing power might not yet support a full scale flagship property.
As AEON continues executing this ambitious expansion timeline, competition within Vietnam’s retail sector continues intensifying, with rivals including Thailand’s Central Group also accelerating their own Vietnamese market rollout. Against that competitive backdrop, AEON’s Chief Executive has emphasized the importance of moving early to secure prime development sites, positioning this year’s four mall openings as a critical foundation for the company’s longer term growth ambitions across Vietnam’s rapidly developing provincial cities.
