Irawaty Wardany – The city administration may have imposed a ban on the construction of new convenience stores and minimarkets in Jakarta from 2006, but it seems that new establishments pop up every week.
Customers may be delighted that convenience stores are now closer to their homes, but traders from the traditional and wet markets cried foul against what they deemed was a mortal threat to their existence.
Even city-run traditional market operator PD Pasar Jaya is dealing with its consequences.
"The problem is most of these minimarkets sell almost anything that you can find at traditional markets," PD Pasar Jaya Djangga Lubis head told reporters recently.
One traditional market operated by PD Pasar Jaya, the Johar Baru market, was one casualty of the onslaught of modern minimarkets.
Djangga said that Johar Baru Market now looked dead with no customers buying supplies as they were all using minimarkets and convenience stores available at almost every corner of the area.
"I have filed complaints to the Central Jakarta administration about this, but we have received no response yet," he said.
Djangga suspected that a similar condition had occurred in all municipalities in Jakarta.
The developer of the Johar Baru Market, Itqoni Group, said that there were at least nine minimarkets operating in the vicinity of the wet market.
A 2002 bylaw on market stipulates that a private market with the size of no more than 200 square meters should be built at least 500 meters away from traditional markets. The bylaw also said that minimarkets of sizes up to 1,000 square meters must be located at least 1 kilometer away.
In 2006, then governor Sutiyoso issued a gubernatorial decree that effectively banned the issuance of permits for the construction of minimarkets and convenience stores in the capital. One official suspected that most minimarkets and convenience stores in the city had operated illegally.
Nurjanah, Central Jakarta's micro, small and medium enterprises division head at the City Trade Agency said that minimarkets opened after 2006 had broken the city bylaw on market.
"Those minimarkets are illegal as we no longer issued permits after the date," Nurjanah was quoted by tempointeraktif.com as saying.
Nurjanah said that her division had already wrapped up listing illegal minimarkets in the city and would soon take action against them. "We have to do something about this. However, we need to consult the economics division of our agency," she said.
Nurjanah said data collection on illegal minimarkets would be finished next week.
But for some customers, the ubiquity of minimarkets and convenience stores has been a boon for them, especially those who dreaded the prospect of visiting wet markets in the city.
"I have never gone to the traditional market, not even once, because it is very far from where I live. I also have no skills in haggling," said 27-year-old office worker Heppy Hapsari.
Beside, there was nothing at wet markets she said she would use. "I also don't cook, so I never have to buy fresh vegetables at the traditional market," she said.
The market share of minimarkets in the country is controlled by two companies Alfamart and Indomaret. As of September last year, Alfamart had 4,700 stores in Indonesia, half of which are in Jakarta, whereas Indomaret has 4,626 stores, with 500 of its stores in Jakarta.
Saturating the market in Jakarta are foreign brands of convenience stores including Circle K, 7 Eleven and Carrefour.
Data from the Indonesian Retail Merchants Association said that it had more than 300 members with around 8,500 outlets throughout the nation, 40 percent of which are franchised.