Are you familiar with the names of Ace Hardware, Toys Kingdom, Informa, and Chatime? Yes, those names are brands of appliances and equipment store, bubble tea under Kawan Lama Group company. The establishment of this company started from equipment business of the owner, Kuncoro Wibowo. Because the business keeps growing, in 1980 PT Kawan Lama Sejahtera was established and now has headquarters in Kembangan, West Jakarta. With the help of his 5 brothers, Kuncoro Wibowo started to expand the business by establishing PT Ace Hardware Indonesia as the sole holder for the license of retail company specialized in household goods and equipment from US, ACE Hardware.
After that, Kawan Lama Group keeps spreading its wings until they have other business units such as furniture store Informa, which was named Index Furnishings, kids toy store Toys Kingdom, stationery store Office1, bike store Bike Colony, to bubble tea store Chatime. The success of Kawan Lama Group made this company has its own brand for equipment, named Krisbow, where they got the name from one of the company’s owners, Krisnadi Wibowo.
Then in 2011, Kawan Lama Group expanded by building a shopping center Living World in Alam Sutera, Tangerang. This mall got a MURI (Indonesia’s Record Museum) record as the biggest household and modern lifestyle center in Indonesia. Started from a humble family equipment shop to a successful company like now, made the owner listed in top 20 richest men according to Forbes magazine in 2014. Amazing!