T

he Jakarta administration has asked the owners of convenience store chain Lawson to stop operating their stores because they had failed to acquire all of the necessary permits for their business.

City Tourism Agency chief Arie Budhiman said his agency had not issued any permits for the store chain, which had been operating since the second half of last year.

“The chain is not listed in our agency. I suggest the owner stop the stores’ operation until they have all the necessary permits,” Arie told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The agency chief also said that related administrative agencies should coordinate to seal the store
establishments.

“There are regulations to be followed by businesspeople. Doing business is fine as long as they obey regulations,” Arie said.

There are a number of permits needed for opening minimarket and convenience store establishments in the capital, including letters from local subdistrict and district heads and permits from the Public Order Office, the City Building Supervision Agency and Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Trade Office. The Tourism Agency manages restaurant permits. Convenience stores that serve food and beverages, such as Lawson, and its competitor 7-Eleven, are categorized as restaurants.

Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Trade Office head Ratnaningsih also said that her agency had not issued a trade business license (SIUP) for the Lawson chains.

“The chains had not received the license from our agency,” Ratnaningsih told the Post.

Lawson is the second largest convenience store chain in Japan, with the first being convenience franchise giant 7-Eleven. Lawson sole local franchise holder is PT Midi Utama Indonesia, which also operates the massive minimarket chain Alfamidi. The company had planned to have opened 50 convenience stores by August this year.

Aan Sutantopo, the company’s corporate secretary, denied the company had failed to obey existing regulations in operating the chain store.

“We have clarified this,” Aan told the Post in an email.

The company’s managing director Joseph Hendra said in a statement that the company had secured all required permits for the chain stores’ establishment.

“We have contacted the related agencies. We have been cleared. Lawson is legal,” Joseph said, as quoted by tempo.co.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo recently lifted a six-year moratorium on opening new minimarkets and convenience stores, but vowed not to issue new permits and would crack down on establishments operating without proper permits.

According to a report compiled by the administration in 2011, 1,443 of 1,868 minimarkets and convenience stores recorded in Jakarta lacked all needed operating permits.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest nation by population, with around 240 million people, half of whom are considered to be among a rising middle class, has become a new magnet for retail business expansion, including for foreign businesses.

Earlier this year, the Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo) estimated that retail revenue would likely rise by 15 percent to Rp 138 trillion this year despite the potential spillover from the global economic downturn.