All-night shopping to end after promotion period

Leony Aurora, Tangerang

If it was not 2 a.m., two girls in pajamas pushing trolleys in a hypermarket would strike one as a strange sight indeed. They were, in fact, out on a late-night shopping spree while most normal people slept comfortably in their beds.

The late-night shopping promotion is part of an 86-hour non- stop shopping experience being held by the World Trade Center (WTC) Serpong in Tangerang.

Even in the early hours of Monday morning, shoppers were leisurely walking down the aisles of Hypermart and Matahari Department Store in the building. From 9 a.m. on April 30 to 11 p.m. on May 3, the two biggest stores in the WTC are welcoming people with discounts and lucky-draw prizes of Rp 1 million (US$115.6) given away every hour.

"It's my second time here," Ati, a resident of Bintaro, Tangerang, told The Jakarta Post as she inspected a stack of underwear on sale in Matahari. "I was here until 3 a.m. yesterday," she said with a grin, adding that it was quieter then.

Aside from the open-all-hours experience, Matahari is also offering a special 20 percent discount on otherwise non- discounted goods, except for cosmetics, from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

"It's nice to be able to shop at this time as usually it's very crowded during the day," said Ati, who was shopping with her son. "But I only decided to come at this time as it's a holiday."

Yanti, 44, a nearby housing complex resident, couldn't agree more. "They should open this late every weekend," she said. "I wouldn't come on the weekdays, though. It would be too tiring."

According to Yanti, she said she had nothing to do at home after her children went to sleep. "It's cool that I have somewhere to go with my husband."

Matahari assistant duty store manager Yudia Marla said the promotion appeared to be quite popular among people in the area. "The one thing missing around here is entertainment places."

The store would in future only be open to midnight, he said, or 2 a.m. at the very latest. "Although we achieved our sales target for the promotion period, I don't think we'll continue to open 24 hours, not even at weekends," Marla said.

At 1:30 a.m., the department store was almost deserted, with only a handful of customers browsing through clothes and shoes, assisted by a few half-asleep shop assistants.

Hypermart had more customers than Matahari. Fathers with children sleeping on their shoulders quietly inspected the electronic goods on display, while mothers with trolleys filled with food and household goods stood in queues in front of the cash desks.

Young people were also spotted with plastic bags full of goods. "I came here because of this 86-hour promotion," said Yan Kong, 26, who was shopping with his friends.

"People are only coming here because of the hype of something new," he said. "I don't think that these people will be coming in the future if they continue opening the store for 24 hour a day, not even at weekends."