Sarinah Department store is one of the oldest department store in Jakarta. The store is located in Jl. KH. Wahid Hasyim along the busy street of Thamrin; which is a central business and tourist district of Jakarta. I was told by my friend that when escalator was first introduced in this city, Sarinah was the first to install it in their store.

When you visit Sarinah, don’t expect the beauty and glamor of today’s modern store like Sogo and Metro in Jakarta. In fact, expect the opposite. Everything seems so old and worn out. Even the fixtures and fittings seems to belong to an era of seventies. I just wonder how could this store survived the fierce competition from modern shopping malls; but it did.

Sarinah offers a wide variety of merchandise. It sells clothings for men, women and children. Households items, toys, music cds and movie DVDs, perfumes and makeups, traditional clothes, Arts and Crafts and many more. I particular love the traditional arts and crafts merchandise. The prices of the merchandise are very affordable.

If you are staying near here and need to buy some can drinks, beers or potato chips back to your hotel room, then go down to the basement level. There is a supermarket there that is run by Hero group. It is a small supermarket but well stocked. This is where I would buy some fruits and drinks and brought it to my hotel room.

There are plenty of food outlets to choose if you are hungry. The 24 hour Macdonald restaurant is there, together with Pizza Hut. You can also get traditional indonesian food as well as japanese food. And if you have time to spare to catch a movie, there is a cinema nearby.

If I am staying in a hotel near Thamrin again, I would visit Sarinah. I personally like the slow moving pace of this place. Just relax and unwind.