Big Bazar has to close branches due to rent arrears | Economy

2023-07-18 14:27:32

Big Bazar has to close some stores in North Holland because the retail chain could no longer pay the rent. Owner BB-Retail confirms this after reporting from RTL News. Big Bazar has rent arrears with several landlords.

One of the landlords of buildings in Schagen and Wormer previously went to court. Last week, it ruled that Big Bazar still has to pay more than 89,000 euros in arrears in rent for those buildings. The chain must also leave those branches within a month, the court in Alkmaar decided.

The problems at Big Bazar would not only occur in North Holland. For example, the discounter would also have rent arrears in Vlaardingen and ‘s-Gravenzande.

According to management, the problems are partly caused by higher costs. The energy bill has risen considerably. Customers are also more careful about spending money now that they have to deal with inflation.

Another cause, according to Big Bazar, is that landlords are charging far too high a rent. “After the corona crisis, landlords have resumed their usual pattern of sharply increasing rents, so that the rental costs are no longer in proportion to the current economic situation.”

Big Bazar adds that the departure from the aforementioned branches does not lead to forced redundancies.

Until 2021, the chain, which has about 125 stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, was owned by Mirage Retail, which also owns Blokker, among others. Big Bazar has been owned by BB-Retail for two years now.

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