Entrepreneurship Street Stands The Test Of Time

Entrepreneurship Street Stands The Test Of Time

By Quynh Thu

Saigonese scenes on Cach Mang Thang Tam will keep your memory of this city alive

It was already 9:30 at night, but Nguyen Minh Phuong needed a fluorescent light tube to replace a dead one in his house. Pushing his motorbike out of the house’s door, Phuong kick-started the engine, and turned right at the entrance of the alley. Less than seven minutes later he returned home with a tube he got from a nearby electrical appliance shop. On the way home, Phuong also managed to call at a grocery to buy a pack of milk for his daughter, as well as a bakery to pick a cake as his wife had asked.

It’s so easy for Phuong to get almost all he needs in the house because he lives in an alley near Hoa Hung Market on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street. Phuong, a 40-year-old draughtsman at a private architectural consultancy, has dwelled in his house on this street since his infancy. Many things have changed on Cach Mang Thang Tam for the past four decades. Yet one hasn’t: the entrepreneurship the street has shown.

HCMC is home to many business streets—Le Loi, Nguyen Hue and Hai Ba Trung in District 1; Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Tri Phuong in District 5; Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Vo Thi Sau in District 3, to name just a few. But Cach Mang Thang Tam Street is still unique in many ways. On this 4.5-km long street spanning four districts, you hardly can find a single house which is not a business—big or small. Almost everything available in Saigon can be found in the shops along Cach Mang Thang Tam, from junks to fashion.

Historically, Cach Mang Thang Tam boasts one of the oldest streets in Saigon. In their book ng ph TPHCM (Streets in HCMC), Nguyen Q. Thang and Nguyen Dinh Tu wrote that the street was formed centuries ago during the time of the Nguyen Dynasty when the area of what is now HCMC was first reclaimed. In 1865, when the French occupied Saigon, they renovated the street. In 1955, the Ngo Dinh Diem regime (former South Vietnam) called it Le Van Duyet. On August 14, 1975, the street was renamed Cach Mang Thang Tam.

The street starts with a famous roundabout which is a landmark in town: Phu Dong Thien Vuong traffic circle, a.k.a. Nga Sau Phu Dong or Nga Sau Saigon (nga sau means six-way intersection), and ends at a junction equally busy: Nga Tu Bay Hien (Bay Hien crossroads). In between is another busy roundabout: Cong Truong Dan Chu.

One should go up Cach Mang Thang Tam to see how busy it is, any time during the day. From Nga Sau Phu Dong in District 1, travel further a few blocks and you’ll see a big store on the left at the corner of Cach Mang Thang Tam and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. At this plaza, arguably the busiest of its kind in Saigon, customers will find the various kinds of computers and accessories.

Cross Nguyen Thi Minh Khai to get to the other side of the street and you’ll see the office of a steel company. Next to that office on Cach Mang Thang Tam is a small restaurant specializing in beefsteak. This may not be the best beef restaurant HCMC has to offer but rest assured that it’s the most reasonable if one takes into account its taste and prices.

Going further up the street, you will cross Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in District 3. Two blocks from the crossroads is an eyewear shop, Saigon Optic. To some Saigonese, the shop is among the most reliable addresses if they want a pair of medical glasses.

One can easily recognize the section of Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in District 10 just by noting the width of the road. From Phu Dong roundabout to Dan Chu roundabout in districts 1 and 3, the street is wide. But in District 10, Cach Mang Thang Tam becomes much narrower. The landmark on the street in District 10 is Hoa Hung Market. This market used to be the center of the quarter although it has now ceded much of its prestige to new names. About one kilometer from Hoa Hung Market is Le Thi Rieng, the biggest public park in the quarter.

From Le Thi Rieng Park, Cach Mang Thang Tam becomes wider. Travel for another few minutes and you’ll arrive at a T-junction called Nga Ba Ong Ta. This name should be remembered as an indication of how Saigon has developed over the years. In the 50s of the last century, Nga Ba Ong Ta was considered Saigon’s “suburbs” where migrants across the country might find an accommodation.

“Cach Mang Thang Tam becomes busy as early as daybreak, and gets busier towards the end of the day,” Phuong says. The later the day gets, the bigger the number of shops starting business is. One can only witness Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in full operation only at night when assistants and owners in thousands of shops make their attempts to increase sales of the day and thousands of hawkers start their business on the sidewalk for tomorrow’s meals. The contingent of hawkers becomes even larger during major festivals of the year. The most lucrative season for hawkers lasts from Christmas to Lunar New Year.

Before midnight, spotlights in front of shops on the street begin to die away. One shop is closed after another, and hawkers pack their wares to go home. However, at least one business lives on until dawn: sidewalk eateries.
“I feel satisfied with where I live on this street,” says Nguyen Minh

Phuong. “What do I wish for this street? The most horrible to me on Cach Mang Thang Tam are traffic jams,” says Nguyen Minh Phuong. “Congestions are daily stories. Sometimes, I have to spend hours to get home.”