Sogo to open three more outlets early next year

Sogo to open three more outlets early next year

JAKARTA (JP): PT Panen Lestari Internusa, owner and operator
of the Sogo Department stores in Indonesia plans to open three
more Sogo outlets -- two in Jakarta and one in Surabaya, East
Java -- early next year.

Director of Panen Lestari Internusa, Sutrisno, said yesterday
the expansion was part of the company's strategy to tap into the
growing middle class in the country's major cities.

He said two of the three new outlets would be opened in East
Jakarta and South Jakarta. But he did not give any details of the
plan.

Panen Lestari operates Sogo Department Stores in Indonesia
under a franchise agreement with the Japanese Sogo department
store chain.

"At present, there are two Sogo outlets in Jakarta, one in
Plaza Indonesia and another in Kelapa Gading Mall," Sutrisno told
the press after signing a contract for the extension of the
company's leasing contract at Kelapa Gading Mall up to 2005.

The Sogo outlet has operated in the mall since 1992, occupying
about 12,000 square meters.

The deal was signed yesterday by Panen Lestari's director
Sutrisno and Lexy A Tumiwa, director of Summarecon, which owns
and develops the Kelapa Gading Mall.

Sutrisno said yesterday Kelapa Gading Mall had become a
lucrative market for department stores like Sogo because people
living around the mall were mostly high-class consumers.

"We believe that maintaining the operations of the Sogo
Department store in Kelapa Gading Mall will benefit the company,"
he said.

Sutrisno and Lexy declined to mention the rate of rental space
in Kelapa Gading Mall.

Lexy A Tumiwa, quoting data from property consultant Colliers
Jardine, said the average rate of shopping space for prime area
was between US$70 to $100 per square meter.

"Kelapa Gading Mall applies the same rate," he said.

Lexy said yesterday that Summarecon Agung through PT Sentral
Summarecon Sukses (SSS) would commence the development of Kelapa
Gading Permai town center early next year.

PT Sentral Summarecon Sukses is jointly owned by Summarecon
Agung and businessman Sudwikatmono, a close relative of President
Soeharto.

Development of the town center will begin with a six-story
building, called Sentral Promenad.

Lexy said Sentral Promenad would consist of street-stall food
vendors, restaurants, entertainment centers, an ice-skating rink,
exhibition hall and retail space.

Early reports said Sentral SSS, which would spend about $600
million in investment for the development of the town center,
would be completed in five years. (aly)