NEW DELHI: Prominent malls said they will ignore or reject proposals from about 200 retail and restaurant tenants seeking move to a flat revenue-sharing model without payment of common area maintenance charges for nine months from March.
“I would simply ignore it,” said the top executive of a firm that operates malls in various cities.
Last week, 195 retailers and restaurants including Future Group, Aditya BirlaFashion, Arvind Brands, Domino’s Pizza, Adidas and Levi’s wrote a common letter to mall owners for a “collaborative dialogue” between shopping centres and tenants.
They said a large group of retailers had been discussing emergency measures for their collective survival and that the issue of rentals during and after the lockdown was a “critical item” on their agenda. Retail has been one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with malls and stores shut for more than a month, raising the question of paying rent when there is no business.
About a dozen prominent malls in various cities that ET spoke to said they are in touch with individual tenants but would not engage with the group that sent the letter.
“We don’t even recognise this group,” said the top executive of a large mall company. Mall executives said they don’t want to be identified as they have longstanding relations with retailers.
April 29, 2020