A stall at Brightspot Market could turn an unknown Indonesian brand into a household name

Standing out in Jakarta’s highly competitive shopping-mall sector requires something special. The crowds pouring into Agora Mall, a mixed-use development in central Jakarta (and the southern hemisphere’s tallest building), are flocking up the escalators for the latest edition of Brightspot Market. The temporary retail jamboree is held twice a year and hosts 251 fashion brands and food concepts, whittled down from 3,000 applicants. A record 217,000 people end up attending the May and June market, and total sales hit new heights, despite Indonesia’s misfiring economy.

“When we started in 2009, we wanted a festival where the stars are Indonesian retail brands,” says Anton Wirjono, Brightspot’s 56-year-old CEO and co-founder. “But we couldn’t find a sponsor because there wasn’t trust in local brands. Now, Indonesian brands are the draw.” Monocle meets him at the entrance just before 10.00 on the market’s second day (in total, it’s running for 10 across several weekends). Considered the “mayor” of Brightspot’s pop-up city, he has been staying up late with his brother, Hogi, to perfect the wayfinding. Long-term sponsorship by Bank Central Asia means that entrance is free and every stall has the same payment system.

Brightspot is as much about raising brand awareness as selling products. Monocle meets investors, retailers and tastemakers looking for the next big thing. Emmelyn Gunawan, the founder of Bali-based multibrand shop Escalier, is here to catch up with vendors. “I have found many brands at Brightspot over the years,” she says. Two years ago, she came across fashion label Sunburn, which was founded by a surfer from Java. “His T-shirts took me back to the 1990s. This year we started a collaboration.”

Over lunch at Brightspot’s food hall, the Wirjono brothers, their sister, Cynthia, and co-founder Leonard Theosabrata reflect on their journey from outsider status to the mainstream. In the 1990s, Anton returned to Jakarta from San Francisco, where he had been a DJ. “There weren’t any cool things happening here so we had to create them,” he says. He decided to put on a retail and food festival. Seventeen years later, Brightspot has become a major event. “Our aim is for the mass market to be more culture, design and brand aware,” says Anton, who adds that 2025 was a turning point, when running the market over two consecutive weekends (rather than one) boosted attendance.

A new outdoor “picnic” called Taman Brightspot debuted this year to host more food and drink brands, and serve as a feeder event for fashion labels aspiring to be included in the main market. Similar events could follow in other Indonesian cities and Anton is eyeing up global expansion, starting with Malaysia and Singapore. “Post-AI, this is it: humans selling to humans,” he says. “Offline retail is the future. When people go to Tokyo, they see the temples only once or twice. But they go back to shop and eat. That is our contribution to Jakarta.”
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