Alley 136 Le Thanh Ton is known as the bustling “nail street” in the center of District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Minh Tam
Coming to Ben Thanh market, walking along Le Thanh Ton street and asking about “nail street”, no one knows, because nail services here have appeared for more than 15 years, always bustling every day. Each salon has an area of 5-7m2, but each has 5-6 nail technicians working continuously.
Ms. Tuyet, owner of Lucky Nail salon, which has been operating for more than 5 years in the “nail street”, said that the salons here have an implicit rule that the prices for services are the same and they have their own regular customers. For visiting guests, the staff only enthusiastically invites, does not solicit or steal each other’s guests.
She said, many years ago, the alley only had one nail salon to serve small traders at Ben Thanh market and people living around. When Ben Thanh market promotes tourism activities, “nail street” gradually becomes a popular destination. Ms. Tuyet’s employees started learning more “boi” language, updating nail designs popular with foreign customers to open their doors to American, Korean, and Chinese tourists…
Currently, Ms. Tuyet’s nail salon welcomes about 3-5 customers every day. Photo: Minh Tam
After 5 years of operation, the number of regular customers of Lucky Nail salon is increasing day by day. Many foreign visitors, every time they come to Vietnam, have to find Ms. Tuyet’s salon to get their nails done because it’s “cheap and done well.” Ms. Tuyet remembers most the female customer from America who came to the shop every 3 months to rub her heels and massage her hands and feet.
“My shop has a regular customer from America. Every 3 months, she comes to Vietnam for work. Every time I have to visit the salon to get my nails done,” Ms. Tuyet shared.
Customers coming to the salon often use services such as skin cutting, massage or heel scrubbing. To increase the number of customers coming to the shop, Ms. Tuyet also offers packages at attractive prices. Each package includes hand and foot skin cutting services, gel polish… costing about 440,000 VND. Guests who need to rub their heels will add 150,000 VND.
Korean style nail designs are popular with customers here. Photo: Minh Tam
Previously, on average every day, Ms. Tuyet’s small shop located on Le Thanh Ton street opened to welcome 20-30 customers. The nail salon owner believes that customers come to the salon because it’s comfortable, not stuffy like at salons. The salon is designed with an open space so customers can get their nails done while chatting and watching traffic pass by.
However, after 2 years of the Covid-19 epidemic, the number of visitors to the nail street decreased sharply. Many small businesses had to hang up signs to close their doors. A few other small businesses try to carry on and stick to their profession. Despite trying many different methods such as continuously updating models according to trends, reducing prices… the “nail street” still cannot avoid a gloomy situation.
“It used to be crowded, but now there are very few customers,” said Ms. Nhung, owner of Beauty Nail salon.
Western tourists who come here often stop by the “nail street” for beauty treatments. Photo: Minh Tam
Operating for nearly 10 years, Ms. Nhung shared that she has never seen a small nail alley as desolate as it is today. Every day, Ms. Nhung’s shop only has a sporadic 3-4 customers.
People who come to get their nails done often choose Korean-style nail designs because the operation is simple and, importantly, cheap. In addition, the demand for nail art and stone-studded nail designs has also decreased significantly because customers want to save costs. Older people choose skin cutting and nail cleaning services instead of nail painting like before. Similar to other salon owners, Ms. Nhung also offers incentive packages for manicure, pedicure, and massage for about 1 million VND, but they are not very satisfactory.
Opening at 7am, her shop doesn’t welcome its first customer until around 9am. As soon as the customer sits, she warmly takes out a basin of clean water for the customer to soak their nails. Next are the steps of cleaning the nails, rinsing with water, rubbing the heels and massaging. The whole process takes about 30 minutes. If the customer needs to paint their nails, the time will last from 1-2 hours depending on the complexity of the model.
Ms. Nhung welcomes customers into her nail salon. Photo: Minh Tam
When asked about this year’s Tet preparations, Ms. Nhung sighed. Previously, each year-end began importing embossed flower and glitter patterns to serve customers. From the 25th, the Tet show starts running, from the 28th the show starts running all night to serve customers. At peak, one employee can serve 10 customers/day.
“This year’s Tet may not be as good as previous years. Currently, with the difficult economy, customers are more hesitant to spend on beauty products,” Ms. Nhung predicted.
