Matahari to reopen in Lippo Supermal on Friday
TANGERANG (JP): Over a year after the May 1998 riots, PT Matahari Putra Prima Tbk will reopen on Friday its 53rd Matahari supermarket in Karawaci's Lippo Supermal.
Group general manager Rendi Parengkuan said on Wednesday that the Matahari supermarket would offer a wide range of fresh products, cakes and bread, household accessories, toys, health goods, and electronic goods at an "attractive price".
Rendi declined to elaborate on the pricing structure, but said the Matahari price tags would be much lower than the cost of similar items offered by other big retailers.
Occupying a 5,500-square-meter space on the first floor of the two-story mall, the supermarket is designed to strengthen the group's one-stop shopping concept.
"In short, we're trying to meet the lifestyle of our customers, not only their daily needs," Rendi said.
He said Matahari, one of the country's largest retailers, had spent Rp 12 billion (US$1.4 million) for the reopening of the supermarket, which would occupy the former site of the Wal Mart shopping center.
"Another Rp 8 million is financing our department store on the second floor, right above the supermarket, which is scheduled to be opened on Nov. 20."
He acknowledged that a large percentage of the investment was paid for by the insurance company that handled the group's two outlets -- Mega M and Galeria -- which were badly burned and looted during the 1998 mayhem.
"But we're still waiting for more money from the insurance company," Rendi said.
Matahari Millenia
The company earlier announced that it would be constructing the Matahari Millenia project on the first and second floor in the mall's west wing.
"The Matahari Millenia is Matahari's pilot project in its efforts to face tough business competition in the new millennium," Heru Nasution, retail and operations director at PT Supermal, the mall's management company, said two months ago.
At the time he said Matahari Millenia would comprise two outlets: a department store on the first floor and a supermarket on the second floor.
With the opening of the supermarket, Matahari would close its Bazaar Mega M mini supermarket at the American-style shopping mall, Rendi said.
He said the company had projected it would reach a break-even- point in three to four months.
"We rent the space here at Rp 1.2 million per square meter per month.
The supermarket has 250 staff and 3,000 suppliers for the goods.
"About 10 percent of the goods to be offered are imported items, such as toys, household goods and electronic goods," Rendi said.
The supermal, which has been reopened in stages over the past two months, sustained serious fire damage and looting on May 14, 1998. Although there is only a trickle of customers, vendors have been gradually reopening their businesses.
"We have to open this mall in stages due to various reasons, such as financial reasons with the insurance companies," public relations officer with the Matahari Group Harry Sudewo said on Wednesday.
He said Matahari currently had 75 department stores across the country, including 28 outlets in Jakarta.
"Fifty of them are accompanied by supermarkets," he said.
Asked about the influx of many newcomers in the Indonesian retailer business, Rendi said: "They're not our real competitors because we have our own segments, strengths and customers.
"Look at the class of our fashion, for example. They (their rival competitors) are nothing," he said. (bsr)