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Hip shops find unlikely partner in Santa
Luring the young: Visitor walks past a coffee shop at Pasar Santa traditional market in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
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Luring the young:: Visitor walks past a coffee shop at Pasar Santa traditional market in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. The management has offered to rent about 300 kiosks to young entrepreneurs, a policy which has successfully attracted young shoppers, especially during weekends. (JP) (JP)
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span class="inline inline-center">Luring the young: Visitor walks past a coffee shop at Pasar Santa traditional market in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. The management has offered to rent about 300 kiosks to young entrepreneurs, a policy which has successfully attracted young shoppers, especially during weekends. (JP)
Hip and fashionable young entrepreneurs in Jakarta have recently found an unlikely business partner in the Pasar Santa traditional market in Kebayoran, South Jakarta.
The dying market has looked busier, especially in the evening on weekends. Dozens of cars cramped into the small parking lot while youngsters clad in the latest fashion climbed the stairs to reach the topmost floor.
Although only a few stores, out of hundreds, have been opened, these youngsters looked excited to browse through goods and try food sold by young entrepreneurs who have taken over the market's third floor, which had been empty for seven years.
A vintage vinyl record store recently had its grand opening there. Music blared it and dozens of patrons in their 20s and early 30s turned the rather shabby market into a makeshift dance hall. The temperature in the non-airconditioned market did not dampen their excitement.
Samson Pho, 28-year-old owner of the Laidback Blues Record Store, said he first knew of the market from a friend who sold coffee on another floor.
'I have always wanted to own a vinyl record store. Vinyl record stores in Jakarta are only available at the antique market along Jl. Surabaya [Central Jakarta] and in Kemang and Blok M [South Jakarta]. So I thought opening one in Pasar Santa would be a good opportunity,' Samson said.
To attract visitors, Samson prepared a unique interior design and a wide collection of vinyl records and old cassette tapes.
'I get many visitors now, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. On weekends, my sales could reach up to Rp 5 million [US$424],' he said, adding that he sells his records between Rp 30,000 and Rp 750,000.
Pasar Santa is strategically located between two main streets of an affluent area, with major restaurants, office buildings, supermarkets and the Blok M business district nearby. The traditional market itself, however, has failed to attract many visitors despite its good location because many nearby residents prefer to shop at high-end grocery stores.
Through word of mouth and social media like Instagram, however, knowledge of the existence of shops catering to the young and hip has spread and although the third floor had been largely empty, the market has, in the past few months, attracted more and more young urbanites.
Samson said that he left his well-paying job at a private gas company to pursue his passion of selling vintage vinyl records. 'The income I received from working at the company and selling records were roughly the same. The difference is I have a lot more fun selling records and I experience less stress,' he said.
Coffee enthusiast and writer Ve Handojo said that he also took a break from writing to focus on running a coffee school in the market.
Ve and his business partner Hendri Kurniawan were among the first to open their kiosk, called A Bunch of Caffeine Dealers (ABCD) School of Coffee, on the topmost floor.
'Hendri and I chose this place because it's clean and it's strategically located. Moreover, the rent is not expensive,' he said.
Right now the ABCD School of Coffee is the center of activity on the floor and has a contemporary interior design that stands out against the backdrop of the market's standard design.
Another entrepreneur, Annisa Sinantiaputri, the co-owner of Mexican food stall Papricano Mexican Cantina, said she and her business partner decided to open the store at Pasar Santa after learning about ABCD.
'The concept is interesting, especially since the place is in the traditional market,' she said.
Papricano, which opened as a business operating out of event-based food trucks, sells Mexican snacks priced at around Rp 20,000.
Annisa said they did not have a particular target in mind during their first month of operations. 'We focused on introducing our food first,' she said.
Most of the 350 kiosks on the market's topmost floor are rented by young entrepreneurs with various businesses that are usually unlikely to operate in a traditional market.
Santa market management head Bambang Sugiarto hoped that the newly opened stores would help increase the number of visitors.
'The young entrepreneurs promote their businesses on the Internet. Entrepreneurs from Boyolali and Karanganyar in Central Java have even called me to ask for a space in the market,' he said.
Thirty-year-old visitor Lidya Rachma said she visited the market to hunt for travel equipment. 'I follow the Twitter and Instagram posts of one of the shops,' she said, adding that although she lived nearby, it was her first visit to the market.
Lidya said new stores owned by young entrepreneurs would attract more youngsters like her to visit the market. 'I prefer shopping for my groceries at supermarkets like Carrefour or Papaya,' she said.
Meanwhile, Lisa, a 51-year-old cosmetics store owner who opened her business at the market in 2006, said she did not feel there were any advantages from the new shops upstairs.
'We have a different market segment and different opening hours,' she said, adding that she was pessimistic that the youngsters would be interested in buying products that were usually used by older generations.
