Singapore retailers ask landlords for three months of rental rebates as coronavirus impact stings
More than 300 retailers in Singapore have banded together to ask their landlords for a lifeline amid plummeting sales, as the coronavirus outbreak keeps both tourists and local shoppers away from once-bustling malls.
The retailers, acting as an informal grouping called Singapore Tenants United for Fairness, are asking for 50 per cent rebates off three months’ rent and have produced a template that each one can use to write to their landlords. They intend to liaise with local authorities and business associations as a collective.
While the group says they do not intend to close shops in a strike. One retailer, who runs eight stores in the city state, said the business owners had no choice but to come together. “We are learning from what the tenants in Hong Kong did,” said a member of the collective, who runs a 10,000 sq ft store in central Singapore. The premise is simple. Many mall landlords in Singapore are property giants such as real estate investment trusts and they will talk down to individual retailers. Only by banding together do all small and medium size retailers have a chance at getting some sort of a fair deal,” he told This Week in Asia.
Major landlords, including SGX-listed property giant CapitaLand, have said they would release one month’s worth of security deposits to offset rental payments for the month of March. “But that is using my own money to help me,” said Kurt Wee, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).
- Some 300 businesses have banded together to ask their landlords to halve rents for three months as customers stay away
- They say they won’t close shops in a strike but have taken note of Hong Kong retailers’ coordinated efforts
More than 300 retailers in Singapore have banded together to ask their landlords for a lifeline amid plummeting sales, as the coronavirus outbreak keeps both tourists and local shoppers away from once-bustling malls.
The retailers, acting as an informal grouping called Singapore Tenants United for Fairness, are asking for 50 per cent rebates off three months’ rent and have produced a template that each one can use to write to their landlords. They intend to liaise with local authorities and business associations as a collective.
While the group says they do not intend to close shops in a strike. One retailer, who runs eight stores in the city state, said the business owners had no choice but to come together. “We are learning from what the tenants in Hong Kong did,” said a member of the collective, who runs a 10,000 sq ft store in central Singapore. The premise is simple. Many mall landlords in Singapore are property giants such as real estate investment trusts and they will talk down to individual retailers. Only by banding together do all small and medium size retailers have a chance at getting some sort of a fair deal,” he told This Week in Asia.
Major landlords, including SGX-listed property giant CapitaLand, have said they would release one month’s worth of security deposits to offset rental payments for the month of March. “But that is using my own money to help me,” said Kurt Wee, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).
