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Joined: 25 Mar 2011
Posts: 532
Location: 30% pay increment plus 8 months bonus = $7.28m
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 8:44 am Post subject: 313@Somerset retailers petition for lower rents</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Mall tenants petition for lower rents
313@Somerset retailers complain of poor business; rents of new tenants also lower
By Huang Lijie
MORE than 20 retailers at shopping mall 313@Somerset have banded together to petition for lower rents after struggling to attract customers - despite high numbers of people passing through.
They had signed leases with premium rents comparable to those at other Orchard Road malls in the hope that 313@Somerset's location above an MRT station would bring plenty of passing trade.
The trouble is, there have been no crowds at their shops since the mall opened in December 2009. For some, this has meant monthly losses of as much as tens of thousands of dollars.
Other shop owners interviewed said they are also struggling. Retailers, including those on the busy ground floor, said many people pass through the mall but only a fraction stop to shop and dine.
What has upset retailers even more is that new tenants, replacing businesses which have closed, pay rents that are on average 50 per cent lower.
For example, clothing store Iora, which took over the fashion outlet bYSI, pays a fraction of the almost $53,000 that bYSI was paying a month. Food kiosks that have changed hands pay rents of about $8,500 instead of over $10,000 for original tenants.
The spokesman for Central, a Hong Kong cafe chain that closed its outlet at the mall this month, said: 'If the landlord can offer new tenants such low rents, why can't they do more to help tenants with 'pioneer status' who took the risk to ride with the landlord.'
The mall's landlord, Lend Lease, would not confirm or deny receiving the petition last month.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Joined: 25 Mar 2011
Posts: 532
Location: 30% pay increment plus 8 months bonus = $7.28m
</TD><TD class=row1 height=28 vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 8:44 am Post subject: 313@Somerset retailers petition for lower rents</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Mall tenants petition for lower rents 313@Somerset retailers complain of poor business; rents of new tenants also lower
By Huang Lijie
MORE than 20 retailers at shopping mall 313@Somerset have banded together to petition for lower rents after struggling to attract customers - despite high numbers of people passing through.
They had signed leases with premium rents comparable to those at other Orchard Road malls in the hope that 313@Somerset's location above an MRT station would bring plenty of passing trade.
The trouble is, there have been no crowds at their shops since the mall opened in December 2009. For some, this has meant monthly losses of as much as tens of thousands of dollars.
Other shop owners interviewed said they are also struggling. Retailers, including those on the busy ground floor, said many people pass through the mall but only a fraction stop to shop and dine.
What has upset retailers even more is that new tenants, replacing businesses which have closed, pay rents that are on average 50 per cent lower.
For example, clothing store Iora, which took over the fashion outlet bYSI, pays a fraction of the almost $53,000 that bYSI was paying a month. Food kiosks that have changed hands pay rents of about $8,500 instead of over $10,000 for original tenants.
The spokesman for Central, a Hong Kong cafe chain that closed its outlet at the mall this month, said: 'If the landlord can offer new tenants such low rents, why can't they do more to help tenants with 'pioneer status' who took the risk to ride with the landlord.'
The mall's landlord, Lend Lease, would not confirm or deny receiving the petition last month.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
