Give us a break on rental front: Retailers

They are seeking rebates of 30% to 50% for the next six months to ride out Covid-19 impact

local people who have become very cautious and staying home, shying away from crowded places like shopping malls,” the joint statement said.

Given the latest development, these associations are appealing to shopping mall and shophouse landlords and owners to give rental rebates of 30% to 50% from this month for the next six months to help tenants ride out the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

They cited that many association members have reported as much as a 50% drop in sales, with some expecting revenue to further drop by more than 80% over the next three months.

Apart from rental reductions, retailers are also urging landlords to offer holistic support such as the flexibility to operate shorter store hours, to cut down or reduce unproductive operational hours, free parking for shoppers, complimentary booking of atrium areas, and marketing support for both retailer-driven promotions and mall-wide marketing initiatives.

In addition to the drop in retail traffic, the associations said retail outlets have had to further incur extra social responsibility costs in engaging more cleaners to wipe down public areas, administration staff to take temperatures, to advise staff and customers on good hygiene practices, as well as providing more hand sanitisers at strategic locations.

“As rent makes up a high proportion of our operational costs, this is the time that landlords and tenants have to be in good partnership, and landlords need to be ‘socially responsible’ to help us to protect jobs and stir domestic consumption for the greater good of the Malaysia economy,” they said.

The associations noted that while there are no closures yet, many retailers and F&B outlets are quite empty as shoppers avoid malls.

“This is despite our Health Ministry announcing that Malaysia is at containment stage and not at medication stage, no fatality thus far, and a few victims have recovered.

“We hope that businesses will bounce back in six to eight months with the hope that the outbreak will be contained and ended soon,” they added in their statement.