Parkson opens Jakarta department store

Department store operator Parkson has opened its second store in Indonesia.

The store, located in the upscale Lippo Mall Puri, St. Moritz, in West Jakarta, spreads across 16,374 sq m on three levels of the mall.

According to Toh Peng Koon, chief executive of Parkson Retail Asia, the new store provides exclusive personalised services to give shoppers a unique shopping experience. It features added facilities including a baby nursery, beauty salon and spa, and a personal shoppers’ lounge.

It is operated by Tozy Sentosa, which also runs Centro department stores.

The Parkson store in Jakarta follows the opening of Parkson’s first store in Indonesia, which opened in Medan, North Sumatra, in November last year. The company plans to open another four stores over the next two years, all outside Jakarta.

Parkson said it is confident about Indonesia’s booming retail industry, fuelled by growing domestic consumption and a rising upper class. “As the leading department store in Asia, Parkson’s roadmap is to build stores strategically positioned in major cities in Indonesia,” said Toh.

The Jakarta store aims to serve the Indonesian upper-class market segment. As the Lippo Mall Puri is at the junction of two highways, the Parkson store there will not only cater to the people in the surrounding Puri area, but also people from further away.

Toh said the location of the Jakarta store is ideal. The Lippo Mall Puri has the retail spaces to accommodate a department store as large as Parkson. “We’re always looking at 14,000 to 20,000 sq m [of retail space],” Toh said. “This mall is a very sizeable mall, and when it’s completed it’s probably going to be the largest mall in town. And there will be hotels, offices and residences [nearby].

Parkson, a premium fashion and lifestyle department store, said it is geared firmly towards the upper end of the consumer scale, carrying top international and local fashion brands for the discerning Jakarta shopper.

Among the iconic labels carried by the department store are Karl Lagerfeld, Versus by Versace, and Vivienne Westwood. There are also Malaysian brands such as Amori and Santeve, and Indonesian labels such as the Catcha bag line, Hengki Kawilarang dresses and Missel shoes, among others.

“We want to bring out the best in fashion,” said Mavis Seow, the general manager of merchandising at Parkson. “That’s why we’ve given a bigger space for brands to better showcase their merchandise.”

The department store looks sleek and exclusive with highly polished marble floors, wide aisles and ambient lighting. There is ample display room for each brand, so that the customers can better view and appreciate the full range of the merchandise.

Exclusive cosmetic counters, featuring international brands such as Anna Sui, Guerlain and Kanebo, are on the first floor.