After 134 long years, the Saigon Tax Trade Center will be brought down and replaced by a modern, multi-million dollar skyscraper. Because of short notice though, shop owners at the old building are scrambling to dispose of their stocks by giving away as much as 50% off on all items.

Original and official agreement between the trade center management board and the tenants stated that the latter will be informed of any notice to move six months prior. But the higher authority itself released the memo late, not giving the owners enough time to prepare for their eviction. As compensation, the management gave its tenants certain leeway: waiver of two months' rent; allowing shop owners to transfer to other shopping centers owned by Satra (Saigon Trading Group) at C6 Pham Hung Street in District 8 or Saigon Supermarket in District 10; current shop owners at the trade center will be prioritized at being given a slot at the new building; permitting tenants to sell their items outside of their shop and give 50% discount to the customers from September 1-30.

The 40-storey skyscraper will be named Tax Plaza and will have many facilities such as a shopping center, supermarket, convention center, exhibition, conference room, hotel, underground parking area and offices for lease. It will be much bigger and more advanced than the old trade center in which the parking area alone can fit in up to 2,100 cars and motorcycles. Its basement is four-storeys high and 15,000 square meters big of which a portion of it will be made into an underground metro line station. The said station will occupy an area of 500 square meters with a length of 19.7 kilometers and run through the following districts: District 1, Binh Thanh District, District 2, District 9, Thu Duc District in Ho Chi Minh City and Di An Town in Binh Duong Province. It will be one of the 14 stations owned by the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line which will cost U.S.$2.49 billion. The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board will be in charge of building the ventilation structures of the station.

Saigon Tax Trade Center was built in 1880. Originally named Les Grands Magazins Charner, it was elegantly designed with French colonial architecture and sold expensive, imported items from Britain, France and other Western countries. It was high-class shopping center which only the rich and powerful class in Vietnam could afford. It is here where the high-end designer brand Hermes chose to introduce its name to the country during the 1950s. Through the years, it lost its glamour and began selling commercialized, affordable items like clothing, handicrafts, jewelry and electronic gadgets.

Because of its long history and culture, Saigon Tax Trade Center is also considered a tourist destination in Vietnam. It will lay to rest by the end of September and the new building will be constructed starting the end of 2014. The metro line station will open in 2018. Saigon Tax Trade Center is located at District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.