Vietnam is a one-party socialist republic ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam). It has been since reunification in 1975.
The official ideology is Marxism-Leninism combined with Ho Chi Minh Thought, which is Vietnam’s own adaptation. Ho Chi Minh Thought blends communist economics with Vietnamese nationalism, Confucian values of social harmony, and pragmatism. It’s less rigidly ideological than Maoism was in China or Stalinism was in the USSR.
In practice, Vietnam operates what it calls a “socialist-oriented market economy” (kinh tế thị trường định hướng xã hội chủ nghĩa). This means the Communist Party maintains total political control while allowing a largely capitalist economy to function. Private business, foreign investment, property ownership, stock markets, billionaires, Starbucks, Louis Vuitton, all of it exists and thrives. The state controls strategic industries like energy, telecom, and banking through state-owned enterprises, but the street-level economy is almost entirely private.
I’ve been blown away by the existence of 7-Elevens here. It’s such a Japanese “thing” and no one does it quite like Japan. Not even Thailand. Fight me. But, here’s what’s wild:
I read that the first 7-Eleven in Vietnam opened on June 15, 2017, at the Saigon Trade Center on Ton Duc Thang Street in District 1. The one pictured is on Bui Vien in Pham Ngu Lao. Apparently, Vietnamese kids lined up at 6am to take selfies with a convenience store. Think about that. In a country with a street food vendor on every corner selling pho for a dollar, people queued to get into a place that sells microwave sandwiches.
But the real story is how badly it has underperformed. They planned 1,000 stores in the first decade. After nearly nine years, they only have about 120! All in Ho Chi Minh City. They just opened their first Hanoi store in 2025. Meanwhile Circle K, which arrived a decade earlier, has 464 stores and controls 48% of the convenience store market. Go Circle K.
The problem is Vietnam itself. The head of 7-Eleven Vietnam said it plainly: “We are experiencing a transition from mom-and-pop stores to modern trade. This is what Japan went through 40 years ago.” But Vietnam isn’t transitioning as fast as they expected. Why would it? The woman on the corner selling banh mi from a cart at 3am is already a 24-hour convenience store. She just doesn’t have air conditioning or a Slurpee machine. But, my God, does she have the most delicious sandwiches!
And here’s the thing that ties it all together: 7-Eleven is American in name but Japanese-owned. It’s operated in Vietnam by a local franchise company. It sells Slurpees alongside xoi sticky rice, che dessert puddings, and bo la lot. The most American brand on earth had to become Vietnamese to survive here. And it’s still barely surviving.
A communist country with a capitalist economy where a Japanese-owned American convenience store sells Vietnamese street food next to a Korean beauty counter while a local grandma outside does more business from a plastic stool. That’s Vietnam in 2026.
There is no way that graffiti was on walls like this 16, 20 years ago when I lived here. I can only attribute it to the rise of social media. They saw it happening in cities all over the world, and decided to try it here. I haven’t done enough research yet to find out how the government feels about this vandalism. Based on the pics directly above and below, it looks like people are either oblivious or resigned to it. They co-exist neutrally without declaring acceptance.
IYKYK – the women run the city at the street level, allowing the men to sit around, have fat chats, and drink lots of coffee. 🙂 I’m half-joking.
Quintessential Vietnam. Conical Hat. Red Stool. Mobile Kitchen. On a Street Corner.
March 2026
