Tapping bookshelf business in Yogyakarta

Tapping bookshelf business in Yogyakarta

By Asep Pathulrachman

YOGYAKARTA (Antara): To one observant enough to spot the business potentials in Yogyakarta, known as the city of students, earning a living is not a difficult proposition. With some 10,000 secondary school and university students in the city, formerly the seat of the Mataram Kingdom, Yogyakarta would appear to offer great potential for the bookshelf business.

One person who grasped this is Warmin, 57, a resident of Kertosari village, Rongkop subdistrict, Gunungkidul district, who began his bookshelf business in 1979. At first he simply dabbled in the business as a sideline, but as the years passed and he began to earn a handsome profit he focused more seriously on the business, including in the firm one of his sons and two of his sons-in-law.

Warmin, who now spends much of his time around Bulaksumur, close to Gadjah Mada University (UGM), began his business in 1979 with only Rp 900,000. After two decades of work he has one half- permanent kiosk and three branch kiosks with a total turnover of Rp 12 million per month. "Our earnings are not stable. However, each kiosk will contribute profits ranging between Rp 600,000 and Rp 1 million a month," he said.

Before running the bookshelf business, Warmin was a carpenter. As a freelance carpenter, he often had to travel for work. "I could not earn a living in my own village as a farmer because of frequent droughts. Therefore I often came to Jakarta as a carpenter to work on construction projects," he said.

Once, a building owner asked him to make a bookshelf and shoe rack out of used pieces of wood. When he returned to his village, he was hit by an idea: make bookshelves and sell them in Yogyakarta to students.

A bookshelf made of wood and measuring 40 centimeters x 60 cm x 10 cm is sold for between Rp 30,000 and Rp 35,000. If it is varnished then it can sell for Rp 40,000.

Besides making bookshelves, Warmin also makes simple desks for students. The desks measure 40 cm x 30 cm x 40 cm and are priced at Rp 15,000.

"I know that students need such simple bookshelves and desks because the rooms they rent are usually small," he said, adding that when the new school term began he could sell as many as 10 bookshelves or desks a day.

Warmin no longer has this business all to himself. As many as 50 kiosks offering similar products can be found in eastern Bulaksumur, between UGM and the Yogyakarta Teachers' Training Institute, which is now known as Yogyakarta State University.

These kiosks offer bookshelves, desks, shoe racks, reading stands for holy books and computer desks. Some kiosks offer the products in two qualities: varnished and unpolished. All the items are available at prices most students can afford.

Because demand for these products is high, the business is no longer monopolized by carpenters. Practically anybody, including people who formerly sold cigarettes or newspapers on the street, can get into the business as long as they have a bit of interest a small amount of start-up capital.

Sukiman, for example, is a former pedicab driver who now owns a bookshelf kiosk. He said he decided to switch jobs because he realized there was a good demand for bookshelves. While still a pedicab driver, he used to deliver bookshelves to buyers almost every day.

"I used three years of savings from working as a pedicab driver to start this business. After working hard, I was finally able to buy a simple kiosk and change jobs," he said, adding that he earned more selling bookshelves than driving a pedicab. Another advantage, he said, was that now he was able to stop gambling, a habit he got into with fellow pedicab drivers, allowing him to save more money.

The happiest time for Sukiman and his fellow bookshelf vendors is when new students come to Yogyakarta because during this period, usually between August and October, their kiosks are crowded with incoming students.

Sales drop by a third after this peak period, Sukiman said.

On ordinary days, more desks are sold than bookshelves, at a ratio of three or four to one. Selling a bookshelf, however, generates a bigger profit, generally 50 percent, than selling a desk, which has a profit of only 20 percents because the frame of the desk has to be bought from framemakers in Dlingo, Bantul, Yogyakarta.

With more and more kiosks selling bookshelves and desks, competition is tough. To ensure the competition stays fair, the kiosk owners have agreed to set up an association.