Even though a fair share of businesses are reopening, they're still facing an uphill battle. A business in the Walden Galleria is accusing the mall of bullying them into making rent payments for the months they were closed during the pandemic.
"We're running at a loss," the general manager of a business in the mall said.
The tenant wants to remain anonymous, but did go on the record with Spectrum News to voice frustrations with the mall.
"Right now they just say, ‘take it or leave it.’ There is no negotiation involved," the business said.
The tenant is referring to the mall giving them only one option for them to make good on their rent. The plan would allow them to defer their April, May, June, and July rent payments to October 1 — that'd be more than $36,000 in rent expenses they'd have to come up with by then.
The GM says their sales were down right before the pandemic forced the mall to close in March. Even though the mall has been back open for almost a month now, the shop is struggling to make ends meet.
"As far as sales go, we're basically doing half of what we normally do, so basically it just covers supplies and payroll. We'd be short for July and perhaps August as well," the business said.
The business considers one of the biggest factors behind decreased sales is the closure of the U.S.-Canada border.
"During this time, there are no Canadians in the mall so right there I'm losing out, the mall is losing out a good 30 to 40 percent of the traffic even with back to school shopping," the tenant said.
The shop says mall management hasn't offered relief because they too are in financial distress. The shop's GM tells Spectrum News they're speaking out not to bad mouth the mall, but to make other tenants aware of what's going on. They plea for the mall to work with them to ultimately come up with a better plan.
"We're not asking for a complete deduction, we just want the mall to work with us in some way," the business said.
The Walden Galleria did not immediately return multiple requests for comment.
