Traders blame hypermarkets for decreasing earnings

Traders blame hypermarkets for decreasing earnings

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When Amisah, 47, and her husband opened their business at Senen
Market in Central Jakarta in 1976, their income steadily
increased until it reached as high as Rp 75,000 (US$8.3) per day
in the 1980s.

Now, however, they are complaining that their earnings have
steadily decreased, with an average income of Rp 35,000 daily due
to mushrooming hypermarkets in the capital.

"Would you have guessed that I could earn up to Rp 75,000 per
day during the 80s? Now I only earn about Rp 35,000," she said.

Amisah and her husband opened their business in 1976, when the
Senen Market first opened. They sell mainly vegetables and fruit.
According to her, she could earn more previously because she had
more power when customers would bargain.

"People were willing to pay high prices for fruit and
vegetables. Now, they will leave if I do not want to reduce my
price," she said.

Darus, 40, a local resident, has observed a decrease in
visitors since the Atrium Plaza was built.

"I think that the situation is due to the existence of Atrium
Plaza," he said. "It is just across the road from one of the
market's blocks."

The Matahari Department Store logo on the Atrium Plaza, only
300 meters away, can be seen over the asbestos roof of the
vendors' stalls.

According to City Decree No. 2/2002, any non-traditional
retail store like the Matahari Department Store, which sells food
among its products, with a floor size of up to 200 square meters
must be located at least half a kilometer from a traditional
market, while a hypermarket with a floor size of more than 4,000
square meters must be at least two-and-a-half kilometers from a
traditional market.

Many hypermarkets in the capital, however, are located very
close to traditional markets. For example, Slipi Plaza in West
Jakarta, which also has a Matahari Department Store, is located
just a few hundred meters away from the Slipi traditional market.

The bylaw also requires large shopping centers and commercial
complexes to allocate between 10 percent and 20 percent of their
space for informal, traditional or small-and-medium-scale
enterprises (SMEs).

Most companies managing shopping centers, however, opt to pay
a sum of money to the administration as compensation to the SMEs
for the space that should have been allocated for them. While
legal, this practice has long been criticized by councillors and
others, as most of the compensation money does not go to the
SMEs.

Even the commercial complex touted to have been the first to
embrace the law, the Jakarta City Center in Waduk Melati, Central
Jakarta, allocates no more than 6 percent of its space for SMEs.

Out of the total area of 13.6 hectares, located in Waduk
Melati, Central Jakarta, only 7,200 square meters, or no more
than 6 percent, will be dedicated for what it calls an SME
center.

Much of the five-story wholesale center will be occupied by
offices, a hotel and a convention center.

This commercial complex is about 400 meters from Kebon Melati
traditional market, 800 meters from Kebon Jati market and one
kilometer from Gandaria market.

The developer, PT Jakarta Realty, asserted last year that the
center would be fully operational by the end of 2005.

The Indonesian Market Retailers Association (APPSI) alleged
last week that the city administration had ignored the decree by
allowing mini-markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets to be built
too close to traditional markets.

"Nine traditional markets have closed so far, due to the
violation of this decree. If this continues, it will be the end
of the 151 traditional markets left in Jakarta," a member of the
APPSI advocacy group, Ryad Charil, said. (005)