Is Glodok still the best place to buy?
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Glodok area of West Jakarta has for decades been known as the electronics hub of Jakarta, even the country. The chronic traffic jams around the area, the plentiful street vendors offering porn films, and the narrow corridors separating the electronic shops are all discomforts that could certainly discourage people from visiting the area.
Yet, people keep coming.
The electronic centers of Glodok were among the hundreds of properties burned down by rioters during the May 1998 disturbances that led to the resignation of former president Soeharto. The owners later renovated the buildings and revived its reputation as the nation's electronics hub.
However, it is no longer as easy as it was for Glodok to maintain its reputation with several other electronics centers being established over the past several years in other parts of Jakarta to meet the public's growing need for electronic products and, of course, to challenge Glodok's domination.
Among the new electronics centers are Electronic City and Agis Superstore.
The new centers offer what Glodok shopping centers cannot: comfort. Given their locations near business districts, luxurious housing complexes and malls, shoppers are free from the discomforts they usually experience in Glodok.
PT Graha Sudirman Center, which owns the Electronic City chain, built its first store at the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) in South Jakarta and the second at the Kelapa Gading housing complex in North Jakarta.
Meanwhile, PT Agis Electronic took space in posh shopping malls, such as Mall Taman Anggrek in West Jakarta and Pondok Indah Mall in South Jakarta for its "Agis" stores.
Most of the customers of Electronic City SCBD are employees of offices in the business districts. A similar situation happens with Agis stores.
When you visit the stores during weekdays, you'll see most visitors wearing ties and neat dress. They buy items such as refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and plasma television sets, and often use credit cards.
Electronic City's sales and marketing general manager Rudy Priambodo said that in order to win in the competition against other electronic centers in the city, including those in Glodok, his store offers comfort, guarantees and insurance to its customers.
"All electronics centers are our competitors. We'll provide all the necessary facilities to win the competition," Rudy said in an e-mail to The Jakarta Post recently.
He say that Electronic City is designed like an electronic exhibition in which people can look while getting explanations about the products.
"So, we conduct electronics exhibitions all through the year," he said.
Prices of electronic items in the new electronic centers vary from thousands to millions of rupiah. Branded items, such as plasma televisions are usually displayed near the entrances, while non-branded and cheap items are usually placed towards the back.
The electronic products offered in the new electronic centers are also available at shops in Glodok, which people can buy at slightly lower prices if they know how to bargain. But those who do not know how to bargain usually prefer to shop at the new electronics centers as they sell their merchandise at fixed prices.
Rudy, an electronics shop owner in the Glodok area, admitted that in the first years after the opening of the new electronic centers, such as Electronic City and Agis, shops in Glodok saw their sales decrease slightly.
"But now, people are coming back to us because we offer cheaper prices," said Rudy.