Meiyijia, the largest convenience store operator in China with roughly 40,000 outlets, has crossed into Southeast Asia for the first time, opening three stores in Hanoi under a brand-new overseas banner called Ohmee. The move plants a Chinese retail heavyweight directly in one of the region’s fastest-growing convenience markets and sets up a franchise-led push that VF watches closely.
The first three Ohmee stores are already trading in Hanoi, at 35 Tran Kim Xuyen Street, 53 Trieu Khuc Street, and inside the Vinhomes Smart City township. Rather than parachute in a fully franchised network, the company is starting with company-run stores so it can lock down its playbook before opening the doors to partners.
Hung Tran, marketing director of Ohmee in Vietnam, said the group will run the first locations itself to control customer experience, fine-tune operations, and standardise the model. Franchising comes next — the same sequence that took Meiyijia from a single shop to tens of thousands across China.
The approach is deliberate. Operators entering an unfamiliar market often burn capital when they license too early, before unit economics and supply chains are proven. By keeping the opening stores in-house, Ohmee can document standards, test local sourcing, and build a repeatable format that franchisees can actually execute.
“the significance lies in the group’s long-term expansion strategy rather than store numbers”
That is the read from industry observers cited by Tuoi Tre News: three stores is a foothold, not a statement. The signal is intent.
Vietnam’s convenience sector is crowded but expanding fast. WinMart+ leads on store count with roughly 4,500 outlets, ahead of Circle K, GS25, FamilyMart, and 7-Eleven. The segment is projected to reach about VND12.16 trillion (US$461 million) by 2025, growing more than 13% a year as Gen Z spending habits shift and chains push into smaller cities.
Momentum Works cautioned that Chinese formats can stumble in the region on differences in retail structure, income levels, and urban density — which is exactly why the localisation-first, franchise-second route makes sense.
For master-franchise investors and multi-unit operators across ASEAN, the Ohmee entry is a useful tell. It confirms that Chinese retail brands now see Vietnam as a launchpad rather than an afterthought, and that the convenience category still has room for a differentiated, digitally-run operator. The franchise window opens only after the brand proves its model — so the operators who build relationships now, while the network is small, are the ones likely to secure territory before competition for rights intensifies. Expect more China-origin formats to test ASEAN through controlled, localised pilots over the next 18 months.
Read more on Southeast Asian expansion: Little Caesars enters Malaysia, a Vietnamese cafe model going to India, and Marks & Spencer’s return to the Philippines.
Source: Tuoi Tre News — China’s convenience store giant Meiyijia opens first Ohmee outlets in Vietnam
