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ndonesia’s oldest retailer, PT Sarinah, is seeking to expand its retail and property business in 2018, which will include establishing an overseas presence.

The state-owned company plans to open two stores in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and Tokyo, which will sell home decorations, handicrafts and Indonesian traditional textiles, among others.

Sarinah had established stores in New York, the United States, and Singapore in the early 2000s, but was forced to shut them down due to financial constraints and lack of competitiveness, according to Sarinah president director GNP Sugiarta Yasa.

“Right now, we are more confident [in opening new overseas branches] because we are cooperating with local partners that are experienced in the retail business,” he said.

For its Mecca store, Sarinah is establishing a joint venture with diversified Saudi firm Al-Burhan Group, which will provide supporting facilities and a brick-and-mortar store located 3 kilometers from the holy Ka’bah. The store is slated to open in late February.

Meanwhile, Sarinah is still mulling over the concept of its Tokyo location, considering the store’s limited space.

“We are not sure when the Tokyo store will open, but we estimate it to happen in the second half of 2018,” Yasa said.

Sarinah’s overseas expansion follows the launch of its e-commerce platform sarinahonline.co.id in late December, a bid to cope with the rapidly growing e-commerce sector in Indonesia.

It currently operates 18 physical stores nationwide.

Though the retailer has been selling traditional Indonesian products online through five different websites, including Telkom-owned Blanja and Bukalapak, Sarinah retail director Lies Permana Lestari acknowledged that it was new to e-commerce.

“So for 2018, we have set a modest target of gaining Rp 1 billion [US$70,000] in online sales, because as a new player, we want to be realistic,” she said.

Sarinah also expects to boost its domestic sales significantly as it has been appointed the official merchandise supplier for the 2018 Asian Games, which will kick off in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, on Aug. 18.

“We have prepared a section of our main department store [in Central Jakarta] for Asian Games merchandise,” Yasa said.

For its property business, Sarinah has plans to build several new buildings in Jakarta and several cities in Java to be used as hotels, guest houses and warehouses, among others. These include a warehouse in Pancoran, South Jakarta, and a mixed-use building in Semarang, Central Java.

It also plans to develop a plot of land in Central Jakarta.

With all of its business plans, the company is set to double its capital expenditure (capex) from Rp 63 billion in 2017.

“This is actually not a large amount, considering Sarinah’s size. Also, we have been cooperating with other state-owned enterprises, so we share [the capital burden] with them,” Yasa said.

Sarinah seeks to raise Rp 500 billion in revenue this from its retail business, up 11 percent from Rp 450 billion targeted in 2017.

The company did not elaborate on the revenue target for its property ventures.