Vietnam's retail grocery chain Bach Hoa Xanh reaches record store count

Bach Hoa Xanh, a retail grocery chain under Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), opened 410 new stores in the first five months of 2025, raising its total 2,180.

This marks a new record, surpassing the previous peak of 2,140 stores in April 2022, before the company began restructuring, according to a recent business update from MWG.

Bach Hoa Xanh resumed new store openings in July 2024, initially with caution. But entering 2025, the chain began rapidly expanding its network.

Since the beginning of the year, it has added 410 stores, exceeding its full-year target of 200-400 new stores. This equates to an average of 2-3 new stores opened daily over the first five months.

Bach Hoa Xanh's expansion pace currently surpasses that of WinCommerce, the operator of WinMart and Win stores under conglomerate Masan Group. In the first five months of 2025, WinCommerce added 257 new stores, bringing its total to 4,085.

This expansion meets 64% of its base scenario target (400 stores) and nearly 37% of its high-growth scenario (700 stores). WinCommerce also reported that over 50% of its new outlets are located in central Vietnam, and that overall, new stores are profitable.

Similarly, Bach Hoa Xanh stores in central Vietnam reported average monthly revenues of VND1.2-1.5 billion ($57,323) within the first three months of operation. The leadership emphasized that cost control has allowed them to keep operating expenses 30% lower than standard stores, ensuring that aggressive expansion does not negatively impact profitability.

Bach Hoa Xanh continues to operate its internal logistics system, outsourcing very little. Its strategy is to expand distribution centers (DCs) in tandem with store openings, rather than building DCs in advance. Currently, existing DC capacity is sufficient to support continued expansion in the region.

With the aggressive return to store expansion, Bach Hoa Xanh is targeting at least VND48.1 trillion ($2.82 million) in revenue for 2025, an increase of over VND7 trillion year-over-year. The chain aims to contribute approximately VND500 billion ($19.1 million) in profit to parent company MWG.

In the first five months of the year, its revenue reached nearly VND18.9 trillion ($722.23 million), up over 19% year-over-year and fulfilling over 39% of its full-year revenue target. The growth came from both key product groups: fresh food and FMCG.

However, its net profit in Q1 was just VND22 billion ($840,785), or 4.4% of the year's profit goal. The leadership admitted that the VND500 billion profit target is very challenging, but expressed confidence in achieving it.

In an April 2025 report, Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) noted that Bach Hoa Xanh had achieved 90% of its new store opening plan by that time and called the expansion pace impressive. Most central Vietnam outlets were already profitable or close to breakeven.

From Q2 onwards, VCBS expected investment costs to ease and new stores to begin contributing steady revenue, forecasting quarterly net profit of around VND120 billion ($4.59 million).