This has gotta be the best Christmas gift ever. Gramedia, which is one of the biggest bookstore chains in the country, just opened a huge 2-storeys new store in Grand Indonesia shopping center. The grand opening ceremony was attended by President SBY himself, who launched his new book Indonesia Unggul at occasion. You see, to run a campaign, one needs tons of money and months of intense public appearance. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he went to kiss tens of babies after that. After all, what could be more important than cutting the ribbons of a new bookstore? Taking care of the country is so passé.
Nuff 'bout the president. The bookstore is undeniably spacious and has a more sophisticated interior compared to other Gramedia stores. Its size and wow-factor matched the grandiose mall. Although the books offered are dominated by local books and translated works, it carries more English books than previous stores. The stationery and office needs part is quite extensive, offering various essentials and surprising tidbits. Unfortunately, I don't think that it offers enough titles or kinds of books for a store its size. I expected to see rows of shelves dedicated to Indonesian literature ready to be browsed. I wanted to see if the store can offer more foreign books to expand its catalogue. Yet, it didn't live up to my expectations. I even think that the chain's flagship store in Matraman is more complete - and more convenient from my campus in Salemba. The new store lacks the bookstore trap that makes you want to buy more books than you had planned.
However, I went there twice in three days. Why?
From its opening until last Friday, it offered 30% discount on all items except electronics. On top of that, customers of a certain credit card get another 5% off. That kind of discount is very big for bookstores; the last all-items discount I had from another bookstore was only 15% and it wasn't really all-item. Nothing could make my "nerd alarm" ring more loudly.
Consequently, it also attracted hundreds -or maybe thousands- of other discount hunters. Before I went there, I had asked several friends who were lucky enough to go there first about how the new store was. "Crowded". "Packed". "Like a swarm of ants". When I was there myself, in the evening on both occasions, those words suited the urban vista. As I walked to the store, I saw people with happy faces carrying multiple black plastic bags from each hand. I read "Gramedia". It didn't take a genius to guess how crowded the store was. Shoppers everywhere, browsing through all shelves available. In the comics and novels section, books were literally flying off the racks and covering the floor, thanks to hundreds of clumsy, overexcited bookworms. Where there was no books lying, there were small kids *cough*and teenagers*cough* reading comics and other books for free. Carefully tiptoeing on the space left, finding the books I wanted was a struggle. The shelves are messy and most of the books were in a chaotic arrangement everywhere else. Fortunately, the stationery part was more peaceful, so was the foreign books part. Is it Indonesians' rising interest on reading, or just its deep, primal love of discounts?
Anyway, I got hold of some books and restocked my pencil case with 35% less bucks. Additionally, I genuinely hope that this discount frenzy is the reason of my less-than-great first impression of the store. I really look forward to go there again and reevaluate what I said before. By the way Mr SBY, my dad -strangely, he's a fan of yours- didn't buy your new book. You just have to look for campaign funds somewhere else.
Now...if Kinokuniya and Periplus gives 50% discount (although I'll settle for 30%), my life is too perfect.
