Centre landlords blamed for retail failures
PREMIER Investments chief Mark McInnes has launched a blistering attack on the nation’s shopping centre landlords, accusing them of “killing companies and killing jobs”.
Mr McInnes said the landlords were offering better deals to foreign chains than to Australian retailers.
Speaking after Premier’s annual meeting yesterday, Mr McInnes said the failure of many retailers and a poorlyperforming retail sector could be laid at the feet of landlords.
Mr McInnes and Premier’s chair, billionaire retailer Solomon Lew, have long criticised landlords for charging excessive rents that are far out of step with the economic environment.
But the attack by Mr McInnes yesterday is the pair’s most ferocious yet.
“Landlords have incentivised international retailers into this space,” he said.
“They have diluted the market and killed companies.”
Mr McInnes said womenswear chain Bardot “is just one of those”.
Melbourne-based Bardot, which has 72 stores and employs 800 people, fell into administration on Thursday – the latest in a long line of retailers to fail.
Landlords were “incentivising H&M, Uniqlo and offering them more capital and better deals than they are offering Australian retailers”, said Mr McInnes.
”They are bringing down Australian companies, they are killing Australian jobs and killing Australian retailers.”
Mr McInnes said he had been demanding for years that shopping centre landlords offered Australian retailers the same types of rent and capital deals they were offering international retail chains.
Speaking at the annual meeting in Melbourne earlier yesterday, Mr Lew lauded the financial and operational strength of Premier Investments and its portfolio of retail chains, which include Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Smiggle, Dotti and Peter Alexander.
Mr Lew said the group was thriving at a time when global economic uncertainty was causing upheaval.
Smiggle brand was continuing its global roll out, having launched in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and Qatar through wholesale partnerships with prominent retailers, he said.
It was “another outstanding year for Premier, with your business performing very strongly”, Mr Lew said.