Finding imported books in local bookstores

Finding imported books in local bookstores

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, Contributor, Jakarta

Despite the relatively high price, original books imported
from other countries are more preferable to translated versions
for many reasons. Thus, what concern most book enthusiasts that
love original and quality books is how to find them.

With the Internet starting to get more use in Indonesia, one
can order books from an overseas shop through a website but it
could take several weeks to get the ordered book. Besides, it is
quiet frequently heard that the books delivered from overseas
gets damaged by the post office. Or when you hear that your
friend or colleague is going abroad, you can ask him or her to
buy you a book. But this is incidental in nature. Therefore, the
best way to get imported books is by buying them at a bookstore
here.

Like in every city in other countries, Jakarta offers a couple
of bookstores that allows one to shop for original, imported
books. With the books mostly targeted to middle and upper class
buyers with little financial constraints, most of the stores are
located in upmarket areas, such as airports, hotels and some of
the modern malls. Most of the bookstores feature a decent
selection of imported books with an excellent lay out design,
comfortable and cozy setting and friendly staff.

Particular bookshops also offer sales service through email or
by phone.

Periplus Bookshop can be found at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport, at Terminal 2 Departure Halls D and E;
Kompleks Villa Kemang; Grand Hyatt Hotel; Aryaduta Hotel and
Kampung Kemang. Here you can find the books in high demand such
as Children's Books, starting from pre-school level, Business and
Management, Travel, Interior Design, Architecture and novels.

Trendy books under the category Body, Mind & Spirit include
Emotional Intelligence and Feng Shui. A novel entitled The
Summons by John Grisham is another favorite following the latest
best-selling novel featuring Harry Potter.

The bookshop provides over 20,000 titles of original books and
about 200 titles of magazines. You can find a wide selection of
books on Indonesia with high quality printing. The books on
Indonesia distributed by JavaBooks ranges from culture,
architecture, tourism spots, handicrafts to gardening.

Besides Periplus, many other bookstores such as Aksara, QB
World Book, Kinokuniya and The Times Bookshop also sell imported
books or books on Indonesia but written in foreign languages.

"In fact, as far as imported books are concerned, priority is
given to all books. But for further selections, priority is
given to books on Indonesia with the hope that they (the books)
will lure foreigners to come to the country," said Hanna Yakin,
Periplus' Marketing Manager of the bookshop.

Even though the books are about Indonesia, most of the books
are prepared by foreign writers and are printed overseas and
therefore, they have to be imported, she said.

On particular dates, the bookstore holds special programs like
book-signings and story-telling that will allow your children to
be familiar with stories from various overseas countries while
stimulating their imagination. If you visit the bookshop and buy
a book there ahead of Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year
Holidays, you will be offered discount prices.

Hanna said that JavaBooks has been engaged in supplying books
for almost every bookstore, newsstand, hotel, airport,
supermarket, hypermarket, gallery and so forth. "The distributed
books are under various categories including arts, architecture,
business & management, biography, children's books, cookery,
craft, fashion, gardening, health, interior design, maps &
atlases, nature, photography, references, sports, travel,
fiction, and magazines," she said.

Periplus Bookshops can also be found outside Jakarta. In Bali,
you can find it at the International and Domestic Airport, Mal
Bali Galeria, Matahari Kuta Square, Ubud, Legian and Nusa Dua. In
Yogyakarta at Adi Sucipto Airport, Surabaya at Juanda Airport, in
Makassar at Hasanuddin Airport.

The bookshop also plans to open its outlet at Polonia Airport
in Medan and Clubstore Medan, North Sumatra.

Askara bookstore also sells ficton and non-fiction books of
different categories including art and design, architecture, home
design, children's books, cooking, food and beverages, politics,
economics and busiess management.

"Our best selling categories are fiction, children, art/design
and cooking," said Adinda Simanjuntak, a staff of the Aksara
bookstore.

She said that Akasara planned to open a branch next year in
Jakarta to meet the growing number of people coming to the
bookstore which recently launched Akasar Music offering best
selection of jazz and rock.

You can also hunt for original books by visiting QB World Book
where you can select books that you desire and, if you are a
member of the bookstore, you can use the Internet at the
bookstore's Internet Cafe to surf the net for free. If you go on
Saturdays, you can also watch an art movie in the cafe.

"We've tried to set up a new model of selling books in
Indonesia. A concept that is both friendly and at the same time
refreshing for book lovers," said Richard Oh, director of QB
World Book.

"At QB World Kemang, our newest bookstore, we feature an art
gallery," he said.

Currently, the bookstore provides in the vicinity of about
75,000 titles. "Of course the numbers of these titles are in
constant flux, because of stock inventory," he said.

Popular books like the Tolkien series and business books and
novels have always been in high demand, he said.

If you buy a book at Kinokuniya during the promotional month,
you will be offered 10 percent to 60 percent discounts for
particular books. Or, if you happen to buy a book at the shop in
March when the bookstore celebrates its anniversary, you will be
offered a 3 percent discount.

The bookstore provides a wide selection of imported books and
magazines in English and Japanese, such as Food & Drink; Family &
Relationships; Health; Sports; Aircrafts and Architecture.

At Kinokuniya, most of the books or magazines on display are
wrapped in transparent plastic. If you are interested in having a
glance, you can ask the shop staff to open the seal.

As part of its efforts to provide good services to customers,
the shop will replace any improper book that has been purchased
by a customer provided that the damage resulted from an error
made by the publisher or the shop. The replacement is commonly
made three days after the purchase.

If you are a regular customer at the bookstore, your name is
included into the bookstore's data base. "We use the customer
data base, especially when we want to inform them if there are
new book arrivals or bestseller books and ask them if they are
interested in buying one of these," said Edwan Harry, Corp.
Affairs and HR Manager of the bookstore.

In Jakarta, Kinokuniya is on the third floor of Sogo Plaza
Indonesia, on Jl. M.H. Thamrin, and on the third floor of Sogo
Plaza Senayan, Jl. Asia Afrika.

At The Times Bookshop, you can find about 10,000 titles of
imported books, mostly on interior design and children's books.

The books are targeted mostly to expatriates who are not
familiar with Bahasa Indonesia.

So, with the availability of bookshops selling imported books,
it might not be necessary for you to go abroad just to buy books.