Parents flock to Pasar Pagi for stationery
Parents flock to Pasar Pagi for stationery
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta
Besides lower prices, customer loyalty is another advantage that
stationery vendors at Pasar Pagi market in Glodok, West Jakarta,
have over major book stores.
Rosiana, a 36-year-old housewife from Ciputat, South Jakarta,
prefers to buy stationery for her school-age children at the
market, simply because she has always shopped there.
"When I was little, my mother would take me to Pasar Pagi
every year to buy stationary," she said. "I guess I shop here
with my children to relive that experience."
Her children Ade, 7, and Riri, 10, were seen busy at a nearby
stall choosing books and other items. The academic year starts on
July 19.
Vendors at the market, located on the corner of Jl. Asemka and
Jl. Petak Sembilan, offer exercise books sold in packs for
between Rp 10,000 (US$1.11) and Rp 15,000 each, depending upon
their brand, size and number of pages. The top seller at the
market, which was established by the city administration in 1968,
is a pack of 10 38-sheet books, sold at Rp 12,000.
Parents and children also buy book jackets that are offered
from Rp 3,500 to Rp 7,500, depending upon their size and whether
they are plastic or brown paper.
The price of pens and pencils ranges from between Rp 2,500 per
dozen to Rp 5,000 per dozen.
Rosiana said she usually spends up to Rp 100,000 on stationery
for her children.
"But, they may also need a new school bag or pencil case," she
said, while searching for pencils with eraser-heads.
School bags are priced at around Rp 30,000, while pencil cases
are usually Rp 5,000 each.
"Customers can always bargain and get a better price if they
buy a large quantity of items," said Wijaya, a stall owner, who
was busy scribbling a customer's total purchase on a piece of
cardboard -- and haggling over the final price.
Wijaya said many of the market's regular customers were
parents, besides stationery-shop owners and office suppliers. He
added that he had seen a 50 percent increase in sales since the
school holiday began, and expected sales would increase until
school resumed.
Ali, a street-side vendor, however, was not as optimistic as
Wijaya. He was worried that big discounts and the convenience
offered by major bookstores would cause Pasar Pagi to lose its
competitive edge.
Nanik, who lives in Slipi, West Jakarta, said she would
probably take her children to bookstores at malls if they could
not find what they wanted at Pasar Pagi.
At Blok M, South Jakarta, two major book stores, Gramedia and
Gunung Agung, were offering a 15 percent discount on stationary
until the end of July.
While their prices still average at Rp 15,000 for a pack of
exercise books, some match Pasar Pagi's prices.
"Bookstores offer a greater range, and my children can buy
their textbooks there," Nanik said.