Supermarkets
Shopping for groceries is not a problem in Indonesia. There are many supermarkets, ranging from the fairly basic to the upscale modern hypermarkets found in the bigger cities.
Large modern retailer groups such as Carrefour, Hero/Giant, Alfa/Alfamart, Matahari/Hypermart, SuperIndo, Indomaret and Makro have expanded their presence in Jakarta, Surabaya and throughout several other urban areas in Indonesia. These outlets have become very popular among the middle- to high-income consumer groups. As store numbers increase, these new retail outlets are drawing an increasing amount of middle-income and low-income consumers, as well as small shop owners.
Minimarts to hypermarts
Quite handy are minimarts, which have a limited range of goods but are open long hours, sometimes 24 hours a day. You'll find the very similar Indomaret, Alfamart and, particularly in Bali, the 24-hour chain, Circle K. Interestingly, Circle K in Bali sells hard liquor in addition to beer, something you won't find at other, even big, supermarkets. They are also in Jakarta (sans the liquor), mainly in the south of the city.
The run-of-the-mill supermarket chains are Hero, Superindo and Matahari - the latter is usually only often found in smaller towns. If you shop at one of these, you'll soon learn that, while they stock all the basics, you won't find that rare cheese you've been thinking about or your kid's favorite breakfast cereal from home here. They're fine, though, for most things. An exception is the Hero stores in Taman Anggrek Mall (which has wine) and the one in Kemang, South Jakarta, home to many foreigners, which is a few notches above their regular stores
Increasingly popular and pervasive is the French behemoth, Carrefour. They have huge cavern-like hypermarkets all over Java and Bali (now in Medan, Palembang and Makassar, too) and generally sell a wide range of food and other products (electronics, basic furniture, etc.). Be prepared for shopping-cart fights and long lines on the weekend when they get very crowded.
Dying for comfort food?
If you're dying for stuff from home, you'll need to visit one of the more sophisticated gourmet markets, which stock imported goodies. Of course, you should expect to pay similar prices to back home too, and in some cases much more. These supermarkets include Ranch Market (Jakarta & Surabaya), Kemchick's in Jakarta, Food Hall in upscale Jakarta malls and Bali Deli (Bali & Jakarta, more planned). The Japanese-owned department store, Sogo, does a nice supermarket and is located in various malls in Jakarta, Bandung, Medan and Surabaya. There is also the New York-style deli/supermarket called Gourmet Garage recently opened in Kemang. All these are top-end stores stock good quality local and imported products. As the list suggests, though, don't count on finding these in the smaller Indonesian cities or towns.
For bulk shopping, Indonesia is also home to the Dutch/German cash-and-carry giant Makro. There are four of these in the capital alone, and they are found in other big cities in Java, Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi and Kalimantan. They are well priced and provide ample parking. You'll need to register first to become a Makro member.
If you're new in town, trying to find the supermarket you want to visit can be complicated so here is some useful information about the better ones.
Where to find them:
Carrefour has 23 hypermarkets in Jakarta, 33 elsewhere. Locations and phone numbers can be found at their Web site at www.carrefour.co.id.
Makro, similarly, has a Web site listing their locations www.makro.co.id.
The original Kemchick's is found in Kemang (021) 7179-3514 and has also recently opened at Pacific Place Mall near the Jakarta Stock Exchange (021) 5140-0440. It has a Web site under construction at www.kemchicks.com.
Ranch Markets are located at Pondok Indah (021) 7590-8112, Mampang (021) 798-0279, Kebon Jeruk (021) 531-0059 and Dharmawangsa Square (021) 7278-6480 in the capital, and in the Galaxy Mall in Surabaya (031) 598-1199, while Bali Deli has outlets in Seminyak, Bali (0361) 738-686 and fX plaza in Central Jakarta (021) 2555-4244, as well as a website for more info, www.balideli.net.
Sogo is located at the following malls: Plaza Senayan, Pondok Indah II and Mal Kelapa Gading III in Jakarta; Plaza Tunjungan and Galaxy Mall in Surabaya; Bali Collection and Discovery Shopping Mall in Bali; Sun Plaza in Medan; and Paris van Java in Bandung.
Gourmet Garage is located at Jalan Kemang Raya #66 in Jakarta, and can be contacted at (021) 719-7161.
Contributor: Nick Aarons
Want to make a comment? Login or Register.