40% of Jakarta's Malls are Concentrated in This Area, and They are Not All the Same Type
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Shopping malls remain an important part of Jakarta’s urban landscape. Although online shopping trends continue to grow, malls remain a magnet for people, both for shopping and socialising.
The Senior Research Advisor at Knight Frank Indonesia, Syarifah Syaukat, said that the number of retail centres in Jakarta is actually quite large if viewed from the perspective of the service ecosystem provided to visitors.
She believes that the approach to looking at malls should not only be about counting the number of buildings, but also about understanding the function and market scope served by the retail centre.
“If I may answer with an analogy, it’s not just about mentioning the numbers literally. The essence of a retail centre is to provide direct buying and selling services to end users or visitors,” said Syarifah at a Knight Frank press conference on Thursday (26 February 2026).
Each retail centre has a different service area or catchment area, depending on the class and function of the mall. In general, retail centres are divided into several categories based on their market reach.
“Retail has classes ranging from neighbourhood retail, then local retail, city retail, to regional retail. Each has a different service scope,” she explained.
Syarifah said that neighbourhood retail generally serves the needs of the community around residential areas with a relatively small reach.
“For neighbourhood retail, it usually serves the needs of the population within a radius of about five kilometres, usually located around residential areas,” she said.
Meanwhile, retail centres with a larger scale have a much wider reach, even exceeding city limits.
“For regional retail, visitors come not only from one city but also from other cities and even from abroad,” she added.
This phenomenon can also be seen in Jakarta. Some shopping centres in the capital have an appeal that attracts visitors from various regions. Some of the high-end shopping centres that are often the destination for shopping tourism include Senayan City and Plaza Indonesia.
“On weekends, we often see visitors from outside the city coming to some of the shopping centres in Jakarta, for example, to Senayan City or Plaza Indonesia, and also to the Pondok Indah area,” she said.
The distribution of shopping centres in Jakarta is also uneven. South Jakarta is the area with the largest concentration of malls.
“If we look at the distribution, most of them are in South Jakarta. About 40% of existing retail is in that area because it is close to residential areas,” she said.
(dce)