[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

"New store on NLD street"



Reply-To: south@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (SAFHR KATHMANDU)

"New store on NLD street"
The Rising Nepal, Kathmandu, July 10, 1997 Thursday,

Rangoon, July 9(AFP): A leading Burmese property developer has set up a
gleaning new department store down the street from the humble Rangoon
headquarters of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy(NLD).
Fifty meters from the ramshackle office where the NLD party faithful meet
and plan how to outwit the military authorities, the Yazuna Company has
set up a multistrey shopping , hotel and office complex.

Unconcernd at the prospect of the occasional street blockade, the Burmese
construction gaints opened Rangoon's latest "one-stoop" shopping
experience on Shwegondine Road in a blaze of state media publicity on
June 7.

The ruling junta's chief of military intelligence, Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt, cut the ribbon at the Yuzana Centre, before 1,500 eager punters
given three dollors-worth of discount vouchers started the tills ringing.  "
Over the past five years after the government opened up the economy in
1989, so many stores have started up. People have more money in their
pockets now," said Yuzana's managing director Dr. Myat Hlaing.

He announced that despite having the democratic opposition on their
doosteps, business has been booming.
"It's no problem for us," he said, with a brief glance over his shoulder
towards the two red NLD flags bearing the party's peacock symbol, visible
above the palm trees.

"They's are doing politics. We're doing business."

The Yuzana centre is the firm's second major multiproduct store in
Rangoon, as traditional open-plan market places in the Burmese capital
begin to give way to convenience shops and air-conditioned goods.
Confident they have their finger of the pulse of retail trends in
Rangoon, Yuzana have also built a soon-to-be-opened store in Bayinaung
township in the north of city, and are beginning construction of a
shopping complex in the eastern township of Mingala, to be finished
within 14 months.

To include parking spaces for 1,500 and a drive-in cinema, it is part of a
100 miloion dollar project including apartments and houses cover 70
acres(28 hectares) on longterm lease from the government.

In return for using state land, Yuzana gives between 30 and 50 percent of
the developed propety to the government, De. Myat said.

He enthuses about Yuzana'a many construction projects and in abashed in
paying tribute to the company's reputation for "quality services,"
declaring they are the "pioneers of retailing" in Burma.

While the purchasing power of the average Burmese is still small, labour
costs are low--starting at 30 dollars a month and owning your own store
means you pay no rent, Dr Myat said.
To keep prices down, mark-ups are on average about 10 per cent, much lower
than in Thailand or Singapore, so the secret is to keep up a high volume
of trade.

"If they (the authorities) block the street, I suppose we might lose some
customers. But it has't happened yet," he added.

A week before opening, barbed wire barricades manned by riot police and
armed soldiers had sealed off Shwegondine Road, as the government made
sure that the NLD did not convene a party congress there.

But on Sunday afternoon a month later, when the gates to the home of the
democratic oppoeition were firmly bolted, a constant stream of
customers-not all of them with much cash to spend-- were circulating in
the two-floor store.

Bhuddhist mocks in orange reobes admired Giordano sportwear and girls
tried on Burmese-made jewellery, while several man stood and stared at
the latest big-screen television from Samsaung.