Convenience Stores and Supermarkets on Lombok: What Indomaret Does and Doesn’t Sell

4 October 2026

“Is there anywhere on Lombok selling water and everyday basics?” “Is there an Indomaret or a supermarket nearby?” These are common questions from anyone considering a stay on Lombok, especially in Sekotong in the southwest or the South Gili islands. The short answer: minimarkets (convenience-store-format shops) like Indomaret and Alfamart are numerous in the provincial capital Mataram and in tourist areas like Senggigi and Kuta Lombok, but in Sekotong and the South Gili islands, the numbers we could confirm are much lower.

What you can buy also differs. Minimarkets mainly stock water, snacks, SIM cards, everyday essentials and some over-the-counter medicine — they don’t carry alcohol or fresh food at all. Many accept QRIS (Indonesia’s standard QR-code payment) or cards, but cash is still essential.

This article is based only on information we could directly verify — retail and pharmacy chains’ official sites, news reports, and the central bank’s official pages. Individual stores open and close, and operating status can change, and in a small settlement like Sekotong we couldn’t always confirm primary information, which we’ve noted as such where relevant.

This article is written for anyone considering or preparing for a stay on Lombok, particularly in Sekotong. It’s also useful if you’re spending a few days in an urban area like Mataram.

Information as of September 2026

What this article covers

✓Where Indomaret and Alfamart are found (Mataram, Senggigi and Kuta versus Sekotong and South Gili)
✓What minimarkets do and don’t sell (no alcohol, no fresh food)
✓Payment methods (cash, QRIS and cards)
✓Mataram’s malls, pharmacies (apotek) and traditional markets (pasar)
✓How to think about shopping if you’re staying in Sekotong or South Gili

Bottom line

As far as we could confirm as of September 2026, Indomaret and Alfamart are widespread in Mataram, Senggigi and Kuta (Mandalika), but we found no primary information showing whether stores exist in Sekotong or the South Gili islands. Minimarkets mainly stock water, snacks, SIM cards, everyday essentials and some over-the-counter medicine — alcohol and fresh food are excluded by regulation. Some stores take QRIS or cards, but bring cash too. If you’re heading to Sekotong, it’s safest to plan around stocking up in an urban area like Mataram beforehand.

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Where are Indomaret and Alfamart? Distribution by area

Indomaret and Alfamart are minimarket chains operating nationwide across Indonesia. According to reporting from ANTARA News’ Mataram bureau, Indomaret had six stores in the city of Mataram as of December 2011, and by the following year plans were reported for expansion into five districts, including Gunung Sari, Narmada, Lembar, Gunungsari and the tourist area of Senggigi.

Since that reporting is more than a decade old, we couldn’t confirm the exact current store count, but central Mataram and Senggigi appear to have remained areas with a relatively high concentration of minimarkets since then.

Kuta Lombok (Mandalika), in Central Lombok Regency, also has multiple Indomaret and Alfamart outlets. However, in May 2026 CNN Indonesia reported that around 25 stores in the regency were temporarily closed for violating a local bylaw restricting stores within one kilometre of a traditional market.

Out of concern for employees’ livelihoods, the regency government ultimately allowed the stores to keep operating, and the head of a local business association said “by last week, all the stores had reopened.” It’s worth knowing that a high store count can also mean administrative treatment can shift.

On the other hand, we couldn’t find primary information confirming whether Indomaret or Alfamart operate in Sekotong or the South Gili islands (Gili Gede, Gili Nanggu, Gili Sudak and others).

The travel guide Travelfish’s write-up on Gili Gede notes “there are few standalone restaurants and no bars” and “meals are generally taken at your accommodation” — which suggests independent shops are similarly limited there, just as dining options are. We can’t say this definitively, so we’d recommend planning without relying on a shop being available.

← Scroll the table sideways to see more

Area	Minimarket presence	Shopping outlook
Central Mataram	Multiple long-established stores	Everyday goods and food readily available; malls, pharmacies and markets too
Senggigi	Included in 2012 expansion plans	Tourist-oriented selection; money-changers nearby
Kuta Lombok (Mandalika)	Multiple stores (some temporarily closed in May 2026)	Operating status can change — check locally
Sekotong	No primary information confirmed	Plan to stock up in Mataram before arriving
South Gili islands	Independent shops largely unconfirmed	Mostly relying on your accommodation

*This reflects what we could confirm as of September 2026. Individual store openings and closures change, so use this as a rough guide.

Diagram: Minimarket presence by area

Diagram note: this reflects what could be confirmed as of September 2026.

What you can and can’t buy

At minimarkets like Indomaret and Alfamart, you can mainly find drinks such as water and tea, snacks like chips and instant noodles, SIM cards, and everyday items like towels and toiletries.

Telkomsel’s official site has a promotional page for buying a Telkomsel prepaid SIM card (kartu perdana) at Indomaret counters, so picking up a SIM card at a minimarket is a realistic option. We cover SIM cards and Wi-Fi in more detail in our guide to Lombok’s SIM and Wi-Fi situation.

On medicine: an article from industry outlet farmacare.id, based on observing Indomaret stores, reports that what’s stocked is mainly topical treatments for colds and muscle pain, herbal products, supplements, and honey, with no restricted over-the-counter medicines seen on the shelves. Prescription medicine isn’t available. If you rely on regular medication, either bring it with you or use a pharmacy (apotek), covered below.

On the other hand, alcohol is a notable thing you can’t buy. According to ANTARA News, since 16 April 2015 a Ministry of Trade regulation (Permendag No. 06/2015) has fully banned the sale of alcohol at minimarkets and small retail stores across Indonesia. Since then, alcohol has been limited to supermarkets, hypermarkets, hotels and restaurants, and this appears to apply equally to Indomaret and Alfamart on Lombok.

Fresh food (vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and so on) also generally isn’t sold at convenience-store-format minimarkets — the focus is on processed and frozen food. If you want fresh food, a supermarket (covered below) or a traditional market (pasar) is your option.

Diagram: What minimarkets do and don’t sell

Diagram note: alcohol is only available at supermarkets, hypermarkets, hotels and restaurants.

Payment methods (cash, QRIS and cards)

Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, has established “QRIS” as the national standard for QR-code payments. According to its official site, QRIS is designed to make transactions fast, simple, affordable and secure, and in recent years a framework called “QRIS Antarnegara” (cross-border QRIS) has been developing to let travellers from abroad pay using Indonesian QRIS codes through their own country’s payment apps.

That said, this only applies to a limited set of participating countries and apps, and a card or app from your home country won’t necessarily work as-is. We cover currency exchange and payment methods generally in our guide to money and payments in Lombok.

Many minimarkets accept cash as well as domestically issued debit and credit cards and QRIS, but whether a foreign-issued card or QRIS app works depends on the specific store and its equipment. In rural areas like Sekotong especially, there are plenty of situations where only cash works, so make sure to carry a reasonable amount of cash with you.

Mataram’s malls, pharmacies (apotek) and traditional markets (pasar)

Within Mataram, there are shopping malls that offer a bigger shopping option than minimarkets. Lombok Epicentrum Mall (LEM) is one of them; according to its official site, it’s located in the city of Mataram and includes the hypermarket chain Hypermart.

According to ANTARA News’ Mataram bureau, this Hypermart opened on 30 June 2015 with roughly 5,712 square metres of retail space. If you want a wider selection than a minimarket, including fresh food, a supermarket inside a mall like this is an option.

For pharmacies (apotek), Kimia Farma operates a large chain across Indonesia. We confirmed via a pharmacy-search site that it has a branch on Jalan Pejanggik in Mataram (in the Cakranegara area).

According to reporting from industry outlet insidelombok.id, it also has branches in Selong and Aikmel in East Lombok Regency. If you need prescription medicine, or over-the-counter medicine not carried at minimarkets, use an apotek.

Traditional markets (pasar) are where you can buy fresh food and everyday goods at local prices. If you’re not used to price negotiation or transacting in Indonesian, a minimarket or supermarket may feel more approachable, but for anyone who wants a shopping experience closer to local daily life, the pasar is worth considering.

A note of caution

Store operating status can change: in May 2026, around 25 stores in Central Lombok Regency were temporarily closed over an administrative matter and later reopened. Check locally whether a particular store is still operating.
We couldn’t confirm store information for Sekotong or South Gili: we found no primary information showing whether Indomaret or Alfamart operate in Sekotong or the South Gili islands. Plan on the assumption you may need to rely on your accommodation’s own shop or a village warung.

How to think about shopping in Sekotong or South Gili

If you’re considering a stay in Sekotong or the South Gili islands, the basic approach to shopping is: stock up in an urban area like Mataram before you arrive. There are small shops along the road from the airport toward Sekotong, but we couldn’t confirm enough information about their range of goods or opening hours to rely on. It’s more reliable to pick up essentials — water, snacks, sunscreen and so on — in central Mataram or near the airport before heading onward.

Villages in Sekotong and South Gili often have small, locally run warungs (a kind of combined eatery and general store), where you may be able to find water and simple snacks. That said, what’s stocked varies widely from shop to shop, and opening hours are generally not fixed. If you want to be sure of getting a specific item, it’s more practical to bring it with you rather than count on a warung.

Some accommodations offer a small shop or minibar for guests. It’s worth checking during your planning stage whether your accommodation stocks everyday items and drinks, so you’re not caught out on the day. Sekotong itself is covered in more detail in our complete guide to Sekotong.

A note from Sekotong

A good first step when planning your shopping is to separate “what I absolutely need during my stay” from “what’s fine to pick up locally if it’s there.” Things that directly affect the quality of your stay — water, sunscreen, regular medication, a SIM card — are worth securing in central Mataram or near the airport beforehand. On the other hand, small snacks or drinks are fine to buy at a village warung as they come up; that mindset tends to fit the pace of local life better. It’s easy to overlook that alcohol isn’t sold at minimarkets at all, so it’s worth checking in advance which shops or accommodations carry it.

Beyond the convenience of shopping, there’s a place called Sekotong

Honestly, Sekotong doesn’t match Mataram, Senggigi, or certainly Bali, for shopping convenience. If you’re looking for the urban convenience of finding what you want at a convenience store or supermarket right away, you’ll likely find plenty of moments that feel inconvenient. If you forget something or suddenly need an item, there’s no guarantee of a nearby shop to run to, so preparing in advance shapes how comfortable your trip will be.

Even so, this inconvenience is the flip side of a fishing-village life that hasn’t been shaped around tourism. Instead of a skyline of convenience-store signs, Sekotong offers the everyday rhythm of village life and closeness to the sea.

Sekotong suits people who can prepare what they need in advance and who’d rather have quiet and fewer crowds than convenience. If you’re after a wide range of shopping and dining options, Mataram, Senggigi or Bali will suit you better.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Where on Lombok are Indomaret and Alfamart located?

As far as we could confirm, there are multiple stores in central Mataram, Senggigi and Kuta Lombok (Mandalika). We couldn’t confirm through primary information whether there are stores in Sekotong or the South Gili islands.

Q. Are there convenience stores or supermarkets in Sekotong?

We found no primary information confirming a national chain store there. There are local warungs, but what they stock and their opening hours vary by shop. We’d recommend preparing what you need in an urban area like Mataram beforehand.

Q. Can I buy alcohol at a minimarket?

No. Since April 2015, a Ministry of Trade regulation has banned alcohol sales at minimarkets and small retail stores nationwide. It’s limited to supermarkets, hypermarkets, hotels and restaurants.

Q. Should I use cash or QRIS?

Bring both. Cross-border QRIS is developing, but the countries and apps it supports are limited. In more rural parts of Lombok, there are plenty of situations where only cash works.

Q. Where can I buy fresh food or regular medication?

Minimarkets don’t stock fresh food — a supermarket inside a mall, or a traditional market (pasar), are your options. For prescription or restricted over-the-counter medicine, use a pharmacy (apotek) such as Kimia Farma.

Summary

As far as we could confirm, Indomaret and Alfamart on Lombok have a long-standing presence centred on central Mataram, Senggigi and Kuta Lombok (Mandalika). What you can buy is mainly water, snacks, SIM cards, everyday essentials and some over-the-counter medicine — alcohol and fresh food aren’t sold. It’s reassuring to prepare to pay with a mix of cash, QRIS and cards.

On the other hand, we found no primary information confirming a national chain presence in Sekotong or the South Gili islands. Plan your shopping around stocking up in an urban area like Mataram before you arrive. Store openings, closures and operating status can change, so check the latest situation locally close to your trip too.