Recent additions and buildings have expanded the original market area to 19,135 square yards (16,000 sq m). On any day of the week, Dong Ba is an eye-catching and colorful place to explore. As early at 3 am, sellers arrive to set up their stalls and arrange their produce. There is an entire upstairs floor dedicated to fabrics and clothes, a food hall serving some of the most authentic dishes in Hue, a dry goods section, and a wet market.

In the fresh produce section outside the main building, sellers line the road, hawking slabs of pork, baskets of silvery fish, bundles of vegetables, and exotic tropical fruits. All day long the people of Hue come to eat, shop, and haggle for what they need. The market may receive upwards of 7,000 visitors on a busy day. By 8 pm the action has slowed considerably, and the sellers return home to prepare to do it all again tomorrow.