Central invests a new 3.5 billion dollars in Vietnam, shifting store focus to tier 3 and 4 cities

Thai retail and real estate conglomerate Central Group has announced plans to invest an additional roughly $3.5 billion in Vietnam over the next decade. Combined with the approximately $1.5 billion it has invested since entering the market in 2012, the cumulative total will reach about $5 billion. The announcement was made on September 17 at a press briefing in Bangkok timed to the opening of the 10th "Vietnamese Week in Thailand," explained by Group President Wallaya Chirathivat and Central Retail Vietnam CEO Olivier Langlet.

Converted at the September 23, 2026 rate of 1 dollar = 157.92 yen, calculated from the European Central Bank’s reference rate, the new $3.5 billion comes to about 550 billion yen, and the cumulative $5 billion comes to about 790 billion yen. What should change how Japanese companies read this is not the total but the allocation and destination: $1.5 billion for retail, $2 billion for real estate and hotels. As for where the store openings will be centered, Langlet named tier-3 and tier-4 cities rather than Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The new $3.5 billion breaks down into $1.5 billion for retail and $2 billion for real estate and hotels

What is new in this announcement is that it combines the amounts for three companies — Central Retail Corporation (CRC, retail), Central Pattana (CPN, real estate development), and Centara Hotels & Resorts (hotels) — into a single figure. The Nation writes that this is the first time the group has presented a single investment amount covering all three companies. The allocation is split in two: CRC, the retail arm, will provide $1.5 billion in equity, while the remaining $2 billion is for the real estate and hotel side. The Nation reported that the $2 billion is expected to be structured as a joint venture program, with Central and local partners each contributing half of each project. Chirathivat has named Vietnam’s Sun Group as a candidate partner. However, it cannot be determined from the reporting of the three publications whether the $2 billion is Central’s share of the cost or the total project cost.

The figures need careful handling. The Investor records the real estate and hotel allocation as "an additional $1.5 billion," which, added to the $1.5 billion for retail, comes to only $3 billion — $500 million short of the $3.5 billion total the same outlet cites. Bangkok Post reports $2 billion as Wallaya’s figure, and The Nation also writes $2 billion. This article adopts the $2 billion figure on which the two outlets agree. That said, the two outlets do not even agree on what the $2 billion covers. The Nation, citing Wallaya’s explanation, describes it as "mainly commercial and mixed-use development," with offices and hotels treated as future possibilities, while Bangkok Post, also citing her, describes the $2 billion as covering "CPN properties such as malls, offices, and hotels."

CEO Langlet named tier-3 and tier-4 cities, with about 200 candidate sites

On where new stores will open, Langlet said, "When we entered Vietnam about 15 years ago, we naturally focused on tier-one cities — Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Over time, we’ve seen consumers in tier-three and tier-four cities generating more value and opportunity" (the original uses the terms tier-one / tier-three / tier-four cities). The Investor cites the approaching saturation of major markets like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the background to this shift.

The development team has identified about 200 candidate sites across the four city tiers, with the top 50-70 currently being worked into concrete plans. The format is not a single one: The Nation describes it as "multi-format," with shopping malls, hypermarkets, street-front stores, and supermarkets used depending on the location. The company’s current retail footprint in Vietnam includes the food-focused GO! hypermarkets, Tops Market, mini go!, and Lan Chi Mart, along with the sports and fashion chain Supersports and the mixed-use GO! Mall (per Bangkok Post). Its coverage spans 26 of Vietnam’s 34 provinces and cities, leaving 8 by simple subtraction not yet entered. As for how provincial consolidation has reshuffled local trade catchment areas, that is touched on in our article on the five-site investment in Dak Lak Province.

The 35-37 stores planned by 2028 fall within the same range as the 33-37 store plan reported in June

The near-term store count has already been made public. CRC will add 35-37 stores by 2028, split between GO! hypermarkets and mini go!. This site reported in June on the groundbreaking of a GO! Mall in Pho Yen, Thai Nguyen Province, at which point the plan was for 10-12 GO! Mall buildings and 23-25 mini GO! stores between 2026 and 2028. Adding those up gives 33-37 stores, and the newly announced 35-37 falls within the upper half of that range. The near-term store count itself has not changed. The Nation itself frames the latest announcement as putting a firm dollar figure and a longer runway behind an expansion policy it had already signaled.

What is inconsistent is the timeframe for the roughly 50 new stores. The Investor puts the roughly 50 stores over the next 10 years, Bangkok Post cites Wallaya as saying "about 50 new stores, including hypermarkets, will open in 3 to 5 years," and The Nation also wrote on the premise that CRC’s $1.5 billion would be invested over 3 to 5 years. Whether it is 3-5 years or 10 years changes when suppliers would start shelf-allocation negotiations. Bangkok Post explicitly attributes the 3-to-5-year figure to the president’s own remarks, and The Nation puts the investment period at 3 to 5 years as well. Only The Investor gives 10 years, and the three outlets alone do not settle which is correct.

Currently: 300+ stores, 26 provinces, 1.3 million square meters of retail space, and about a 40% share in hypermarkets

The baseline figures on which this investment builds are as follows.

For the store count, this article adopts the figure "300+ stores," on which all three outlets agree. The "44 malls + 330 stores" figure from this site’s June article is not included alongside it, since it could not be corroborated by any of the three outlets this time.

While holding about 40% of the hypermarket segment, the company faces strong domestic competition in convenience stores and mini-supermarkets. The Nation writes that domestic chains such as WinMart maintain the upper hand in this segment. Masan Group’s WinCommerce, between January and April 2026, added a net 348 stores, 86% of which were the rural-format WinMart+. The numbers show a division of territory: small-format stores belong to domestic players, and large hypermarkets to Central.

CEO Langlet cites land prices and unclear legal interpretation as obstacles

On the pace of the plan, Langlet cited specific constraints. "The main challenges are regulatory. Vietnam has done a remarkable job simplifying what used to be quite heavy paperwork. But some laws remain unclear in their interpretation, and we need to understand them well in order to grow faster."

The other is land. "Land is very expensive in Vietnam. So we need to invest carefully to secure returns that match shareholder expectations. There must be no gap between land prices and land’s actual value." The Nation writes that new openings next year are expected to come from all four tiers, but the pace will also depend on how willing local authorities are to fast-track modern retail approvals.

Whether it is locally sourced or imported changes how Japanese brands can get shelf space

Before jumping to the conclusion that more floor space means more shelf space for Japanese brands, there is a figure worth checking first. According to The Nation, CRC works with more than 2,000 domestic suppliers under its "Better for Vietnam" framework and states that over 90% of the products on its shelves in Vietnam are locally sourced (the outlet reports this as the company’s own claim). However, "locally sourced" here refers to the source of procurement, not the nationality of the brand. Products from Japanese manufacturers that produce within Vietnam are also counted as locally sourced, so this 90% cannot be read as meaning "Japanese brands hold under 10% of the shelf." What matters is the line between having a local production base or not.

A clue to what falls within that under-10% lies in the consumer profile Langlet described to Bangkok Post: "Vietnamese consumers are increasingly placing more weight on quality, safety, convenience, and experience in their purchasing decisions, rather than looking only at whether the price is reasonable." For categories that can be sold on quality and safety and where local suppliers offer little substitute, there is room that does not compete with the 90% that is locally sourced. Going head-to-head in fresh produce or primary processing, where local suppliers are strong, is a poor bet.

As an entry point into the sales channel, the venue of the announcement is also worth noting. Vietnamese Week in Thailand was held September 17-20 at centralwOrld in Bangkok, where around 60 Vietnamese companies (The Nation says over 60) exhibited coffee, tea, fish sauce, processed foods, and more, and took part in business matching sessions with Central Group’s retail division. According to the organizers, more than 1,000 companies have taken part over the event’s 10-year history, and several have been adopted into Central’s stores in both Thailand and Vietnam. However, this is a framework to support Vietnamese companies’ overseas sales channels, and whether Japanese companies or the Vietnamese subsidiaries of Japanese firms based in Vietnam can join the same matching sessions could not be confirmed from published materials.

Sources

• The Investor, “Thailand’s Central Group plans $3.5 bln Vietnam investment over next decade” (September 19, 2026)
• The Nation, "Central Group Unveils $3.5bn Vietnam Investment Drive" (September 17, 2026)
• Bangkok Post, "Central invests $3.5bn in Vietnam to fuel growth" (September 18, 2026)
• Frankfurter (calculated from the European Central Bank’s reference rate, September 23, 2026: 1 dollar = 157.92 yen / 33.29 baht)