Makro Ciputat in business again after two-year halt

CIPUTAT, Tangerang (JP): After being set on fire and looted in the May 1998 riots, the Makro wholesale store in Ciputat reopened its doors on Saturday on its old site.

Hours before the official public opening at midday, scores of people were queuing in front of the newly refurbished outlet on Jl. Juanda.

In a speech at the opening ceremony, Tangerang Regent Agus Djunara hoped that Makro could provide real opportunities for local traders in and around its store.

"I appreciate the initiative of the store in designating space to street vendors and small-scale traders," Agus said before marking the reopening of the store.

"Small-scale traders are valuable assets since they also support large-scale traders," he added.

The regent also hoped the store would maintain a good relationship with locals to avoid conflicts.

"On the other hand, I also hope local residents can establish a conducive situation for businesses operating here," Agus said.

"Commercial activity brings benefits to residents. There will be employment opportunities as well as significant development progress," he added.

Run by Dutch-Indonesian joint venture chain operator PT Makro Indonesia, the 8,000-square meter Ciputat outlet was initially opened on Jan. 17, 1996. Built on a 5-hectare plot of land, the store has a parking lot that can accommodate some 800 cars.

The Ciputat store is the biggest of its nine outlets currently trading in Indonesia.

PT Makro Indonesia, which is 83 percent owned by Netherlands retail chain operator SHV Holdings, spent Rp 60 billion (US$ 6.7 million) and four months refurbishing its Ciputat outlet, the management said in a press release.

The management has equipped the store's surrounding wall with barbed wire, which gives an impression more of a penitentiary than a center of commerce.

Makro Indonesia's president Matthijs van der Lely said his company was supporting small-scale businesses and cooperatives under various schemes.

"We hold training sessions for businesses and cooperatives to help improve their skills and provide adequate spaces for their products," he said.

"The company has links with more than 1,000 suppliers. Most of them are small and medium-scale enterprises," he added.

After the ceremony, Agus inspected the store. He was satisfied to find most of the fresh food came from his regency. The products include local fruits and vegetables, eggs and traditionally prepared snacks.

"I want the store to promote more products from Tangerang, such as soybean ketchup. My officials will provide a list of our products which can be sold here," he told van der Lely.

Van der Lely said that Makro would first study the proposal.

Makro Ciputat general manager Tjahjono Juwono said that most of his employees were local residents and had been with the company since the store first opened.

"About 70 percent of our employees live in Ciputat and nearby villages. We didn't fire them when the store was burnt but transferred them to other outlets," he told The Jakarta Post.

"When they learned the Ciputat store was about to be reopened, they asked to be transferred back here," he added.

Van der Lely expected that the new outlet would earn more than it used to do.

"We expect to book more sales and profits than before," he told reporters after the ceremony.

He also insisted that the Makro outlets In Indonesia, six in Greater Jakarta and three others in Bandung, Surabaya and Bali, were no threat to local retailers or foreign hypermarkets since Makro had a specific market segment.

"We are targeting retailers and corporate users who purchase in large quantities. We also use a membership system to filter our buyers," he said.

"The hypermarkets also aren't our competitors because we're playing on a different level," he added.

Not far from Makro Ciputat, there is a Hero supermarket and an Alfa wholesale store.

Makro Indonesia, which started its operations in Indonesia some eight years ago with an outlet in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, is looking for a suitable site for another outlet in Bandung, as well Semarang, Palembang, Batam, Makassar, and Balikpapan.

On Saturday, Makro said it would open its first Sumatra outlet in the North Sumatra capital of Medan. (nvn)