Book center does it tough as customers opt for malls

Jakarta Post Potpourri

Large banners around the Kelapa Gading Trade Center in North Jakarta announcing the newly established Indonesian Book Center are failing to attract visitors.
Located on the third floor of the mall, the center, which was inaugurated by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on May 30, was quiet and virtually empty of buyers three days later.
Some of the shop attendants say around looking sleepy while others barely moved to welcome the one or two visitors that dropped in to look at the store's collection.
"Even on Saturdays and Sundays nobody comes here. Even though many people attended Sunday mass on the first floor, they do not stop by here," Jeane Sushinta, manager of the Etnogallery bookshop, told The Jakarta Post last week.
Jeane Sushinta, a book shop manager, reads a book in her outlet located in the Indonesia Book Center, at Kelapa Gading Trade Center, North Jakarta. Few buyers have visited the center after it was inaugurated by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on May 30, 2008.
Jeane said the middle and upper class residents of Kelapa Gading housing estate -- and estimated 50,000 people -- did not seem interested in the book center, let alone people outside the residential complex.
She said Kelapa Gading residents preferred to visit high-end shopping malls in the area over a book center.
The Kelapa Gading Trade Center, which located behind a block of shop-houses, it seems is "defeated" by the malls in the area, which include Mall Artha Gading, La Piazza, Mal Kelapa Gading and Kelapa Gading Plaza.
"Maybe, we are lacking promotional activities. The banners should not only be put in front of this mall," said Jeane, whose shop sells imported books on design.
A food court which located on the same floor of the book center, is similarly empty.
However, Jeane said the rental fee of Rp 5 million per outlet per year -- not free as reported earlier -- was relatively cheap.
Chairman of the Indonesian Publishers Association, Setia Dharma Madjid, claimed the center was not designed for retail buyers.
"The buyers mostly come from outside the city. The total transactions in a week after the opening reached about Rp 1 billion," Madjid said.
He said the center was intended as a meeting point between publishers, distributors, suppliers, book fair organizers, writers and book lovers.
He said the Indonesian Publisher's Association (IKAPI) currently had about 800 members in 10 provinces, with 90 percent of the publishers located in Java and 300 publishers in Jakarta.
"It's like a display venue for the publishers. But if people want to buy books here, they can. But most of them sell the books in large quantities," he said.
Madjid, who is also the director of PT Persona Praja Purna publishing company, said earlier that some 200 publishers had each taken one of the 350 outlets available at the book center.
He said the IKAPI was cooperating with 60 schools in the area to encourage students to visit the center and to hold book fairs every month.JP/A. Junaidi