Indonesia’s Hero Supermarket exits convenience store business

Indonesian retail giant Hero Supermarket has sold all of its approximately 80 Starmart convenience stores to Fajar Mitra Indah.

Hero had to sell the assets to Fajar Mitra Indah, the local licensee of Japanese FamilyMart and subsidiary of food conglomerate Wings Group, amidst intense competition with top two Indonesian c-store chains Alfamart and Indomaret, reported the Nikkei Asian Review. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.

Hero followed suit after another Indonesian retailer Supra Boga Lestari sold its Ministop convenience stores.

Indonesia’s increasingly competitive retail market, rising labor costs, and weakening consumer spending have affected Hero’s profits.

The company, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings, also had to close down some of its Guardian drugstores.

Meanwhile, Fajar Mitra plans to convert 50 of the Starmart stores to FamilyMart by the end of the year, increasing the number of the Japanese convenience store brand in the country to around 80.