Golden Truly closes earlier than scheduled
JAKARTA (JP): PT Bima Nuansa Cempaka, the parent company of the Golden Truly department store chain, has closed its outlet on Jl. Fatmawati in South Jakarta some weeks earlier than a May 31 agreement.
The sudden closure on May 4 of the Fatmawati Golden Truly, without prior notice, disappointed its 200 staff and dozens of customers, who were stunned and upset when they arrived at the padlocked store up to a number of days after the closure.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, Bima Nuansa Cempaka's president, Suryadi Sasmita, said that the outlet was due to be closed at the end of this month after the company failed to reach a new agreement with private Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), the land owner, over the rental fee of the site.
The company abruptly decided to close the business much earlier, based on rumors that the employees of the outlet were about to loot the goods in the Fatmawati store.
"After being informed about the rumor, we immediately sealed the store on May 4, without making a prior announcement," Suryadi said at his office on Jl. Gunung Sahari Raya in Central Jakarta.
All Golden Truly's suppliers and tenants, he said, could collect their merchandise between May 8 and May 15 from 8 a.m. an 5 p.m.
Suryadi did not disclose the settlement deal between his company and the tenants and suppliers.
He said he initially decided to take over all three Golden Truly department stores operating in Jakarta from the previous owner, which he refused to name, in February this year.
Formerly, the business was operated by PT Golden Truly, under businessman Sudwikatmono. In 1997, the company was operating eight outlets in the capital.
According to Suryadi, since the Fatmawati building was owned by BII, his company initially bought two Golden Truly outlets, respectively located on Jl. Gunung Sahari Raya and Jl. Tendean in South Jakarta.
The firm finally decided to rent the other outlet on Jl. Fatmawati from BII.
"BII then offered to sell the store, but the price was too high," said Suryadi.
The bank gave Suryadi another option, which was a rental deal three times higher than the going rate, he said, giving no details on the amount.
While his firm was attempting to bargain for a two-fold increase in the current price, he was informed that the building had been sold to another company, which runs the Diamon department stores, he said.
Suryadi explained that his firm was so far able to accommodate half of the 200 former employees of the Fatmawati outlet.
"They will be employed at the other two outlets, while the other half has unfortunately been laid off," he said.
He, however, hoped that the 100 redundant employees could be reemployed later, immediately after the company completed the current expansion work at its two stores later this year. (09)