Tebet traders upset at chain store plan

Tebet traders upset at chain store plan

JAKARTA (JP): Thirteen people, representing 480 traders at the Tebet Barat market, South Jakarta, complained to the City Council yesterday about the market cooperative's plan to lease part of the market building to a department store.

The traders said efforts to communicate with the market authority were fruitless, so they turned to the council for help.

They said they are against the plan to lease the second floor of the market building for a Ramayana department store.

The traders told the council's commission for economic affairs that the main reason for their opposition was the unfair competition posed by the chain store, which they said would put them out of business.

The market is managed by a cooperative.

"The department store sells the goods the traders sell. We are worried about being kicked out of business," Yandri, the spokesman for the small-scale businessmen, said.

He said the traders in the market sell various goods, such as clothes and stationery.

Yandri said the traders have been complaining about a decrease in buyers recently. "We can no longer pay our monthly installments for the kiosks punctually. The plan to let Ramayana operate here means to kill us."

The traders started worrying about their businesses 15 days ago when the cooperative announced the plan, Yandri said.

Yandri said that the cooperative has breached an agreement prohibiting chain department store from opening there. "Officials from PD Pasar Jaya, a city-owned market company, witnessed the signing of the deal between the traders and PD Pasar Jaya in 1989."

The traders also questioned the motive behind the plan to lease the second floor of the market building.

Yandri said that the cooperative argues that the department store will encourage more people to shop at the market and this will also benefit the traders.

"We don't think that's the motive. We suspect that the cooperative wants to rent to Ramayana in order to get enough money to pay back its loan at Bukopin bank," he said. (yns)