Lulu to open first hypermarket in Indonesia by year end

Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group will make its retail entry in Indonesia with the opening of its first hypermarket in the capital city of Jakarta by year end. The announcement was made during the visit of Indonesian president Joko Widodo to Abu Dhabi. He, along with a high level delegation, visited Lulu Hypermarket at Khalidiyah Mall in the UAE capital.

The Indonesian president, who was on a five-day state visit to three Middle East countries – Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar – to boost Indonesia’s ties with the three countries, particularly on investment, trade and Indonesian migrant worker protection.

“With an initial investment of $300 million in the first phase, we plan to open 15 hypermarkets by the end of 2017 and a central logistics and warehousing facility in Jakarta. These projects are likely to generate more than 5,000 job opportunities for Indonesians and to train them at all levels,” says Yusuffali MA, managing director of Lulu Group. “The fact that we are going to Indonesia with our Halal hypermarket concept, is giving us the encouragement to look for a wider market segment there.” 

Apart from the capital city of Jakarta, Lulu intends to open hypermarkets in Bandung, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta. “We also plan to set up contract farming to ensure continuous supply of high quality products and to support the Indonesian agriculture sector,” adds Yusuffali.

The Indonesian president was given a rousing welcome at the hypermarket by Yusuffali; Saifee Rupawala, CEO; Salim MA, director; Rajmohan Nair, director – Lulu Far East operations; and large number of Indonesian expatriates. The president later said his visit to Lulu Hypermarket was to see Indonesian products, mainly agricultural products and asked Yusuffali to import more products from the Indonesian villages and towns. 

The Lulu chain currently operates 117 stores across the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and India.