Shopping is always a vital part in any tourist’s visit. Though Vietnam has a lot of malls and commercial joints to satisfy any visitor’s desire to shop, a different kind of trade exists in Lam Dong province of Central Vietnam which draws some 35,000 domestic and foreign tourists every year. The particular place being the center of the whole attraction is called the Cuong Hoan Silk Shop. Located in Nam Ban-Lam Ha district of the province, the shop would take some 25 km of land travel from one of Vietnam’s popular tourist sites, Dalat City. But despite the distance, locals and tourists from Dalat don’t seem to mind making the trip. In fact, people from greater distance would even go out of their way and come to Lam Dong just to get their hands on Cuong Hoan’s silk.

There is not a day where the shop is not filled with tourists looking to pick up some silk materials. Though Cuong Hoan is not the only silk-maker in the whole of Vietnam, its traditional fashion of producing their materials is what many tourists find interesting. Depicting a living picture of the Vietnamese traditional way for doing trade, every piece of silk suit and garment they produce are all hand-made and holds remarkably impressive quality. What makes all their products amazing for tourists is witnessing and seeing how and where their silk purchases come from as anyone is free to tour around the shop and see first-hand how their orders are crafted.

Cuong Hoan Silk Shop raises their own silkworms that produces the very silk they weave into fine threads which, in turn, makes up the beautiful fabrics and garments the tourists take home with them. Visitors love the freedom of being able to come and go anytime, the relaxed home-like atmosphere and knowing they don’t have to pay for any admission to look around.

The couple who owns and runs the shop, Nguyen Van Cuong and his wife Truong Thi Hoan, whom the place is also named after from, makes sure every customer gets the chance to observe their production process and touch their many silk products to better appreciate this unique fabric. But apart from the wonderful experience, they also let their customers take home their high-quality silk for very low cost. Tourists can pick up items for as little as VND20,000 or as much as VND220,000 depending on how much they’re willing to spend.

Such low prices are made possible because Cuong Hoan Silk Shop is a self-contained business, with its own source of silkworms. They weave their own threads and transform the fabrics into its finished products by themselves as well. Products from other silk shops who do not use their own silk are mostly priced high. With 50 local workers earning VND1.8 million to VND2 million per month from working in their place, Cuong and Hoan have also provided mulberry-growing and silkworm-raising jobs for 1,000 others in their province.

Apart from having provided stable jobs to many locals, their form of trade beautifully represent the traditional industry of the country. Averaging to about 3,000 visitors per month, the town of Nam Ban look at this humble place as one of the most efficient private handicraft businesses in their area, thus, has so much respect for Cuong Hoan Silk Shop and the people running them. Everyone agrees on how such business model should be encouraged.