D*Mart: Your Vientiane Shopping Destination

A new shopping destination is set to open tomorrow right in the heart of Vientiane’s commercial shopping strip: Dongpalan Rd. D*Mart, the latest installment from the owners of the already successful Home Ideal, will bring together a supermarket and a fresh market in the same location for the first time. The site will also include a food court, souvenir stores, electrical appliance stores and retail fashion and cosmetic outlets.

After taking over the space of the original Dongpalan Market, D*Mart is breathing new life into the area by providing a clean, covered and modern location for fresh produce to be sold by local farmers. The owner, Mr. Cedric H. Xu, says he wants to give Lao people the chance to do the fresh market shopping they enjoy in a cool, clean and sanitary environment. In time he hopes to support the sale of mostly organic produce in order to cut down the use of insecticides and other chemicals, which will help create a healthier diet for Lao people.

The entire D*Mart complex is spread out over 8,000m2 and includes extensive parking at the rear so that shoppers may travel to and from the site by car. Aside from the fresh market aspect, the major attraction is the supermarket itself. Inside D*Mart you can find almost anything. There’s electronic goods, hardware, homeware, cooking utensils, cosmetics, soaps and shampoos, Tupperware and of course an entire section devoted to food. D*Mart carries the same brands available at most supermarkets, with a cool storage section soon set to include frozen meats, fish and poultry as well as dairy products.

The food court consists of ten stalls, some of which have already been rented, which will offer freshly cooked foods such as rice and noodles to hungry shoppers. The rest of the space is taken up by retail outlets such as the ‘Betty Boop’ themed shop, a sunglasses store and a beautician. More stores are sure to open soon. The second floor, as yet incomplete, will include an indoor children’s playground and even more fashion outlets, including those selling handbags, shoes and other accessories.

Until now Vientiane has never had a large-scale supermarket that included everything under the one roof. D*Mart will certainly make life easier for many Vientianites, and will bring strong competition into the market as more shopping complexes emerge in the capital. With convenient parking, new, clean stalls, good visual merchandising and a large range of products, D*Mart should be your next destination for shopping in Vientiane. Oh, and what does the ‘D’ stand for in D*Mart? Probably ‘Dongpalan’, but, well… I completely forgot to ask them!

You can find D*Mart on Dongpalan Rd at the site of the old Dongpalan Night Market opposite the M-Point-Mart or here on google maps. You can contact D*Mart by phone on +856 20 59596888 or +856 20 54114888. Catalogues including product pricing are available at the store and around town.