The court in Assen has ordered the Big Bazar retail chain to leave two stores. The retail company had not paid the rent for its premises on Nobellaan in Assen and Coevorden for months, after which the landlords demanded that those premises be evicted. The judge now agrees with them.
In total, Big Bazar had rent arrears of almost 55,000 euros with the two landlords. Big Bazar still has to pay that amount to the landlords, the judge ruled.
In Coevorden, the rent was overdue by two months, which is usually not enough for judges to evict a tenant from a building. But Big Bazar previously announced that it wanted to close properties for which it no longer pays rent. The landlord in Coevorden can therefore assume that Big Bazar would leave his premises anyway. In addition, the tenant was unable to get in touch with Big Bazar.
This means that a verdict has been passed on two of the nine shops in Drenthe. The other seven appear to remain open for now.
Big Bazar admitted in July that it was struggling to bear all the burdens and wanted to close stores to become financially healthier. Later, landlords filed for bankruptcy for the company with about 1,400 employees and more than a hundred stores. Earlier on Friday, it was announced that the judge in Leeuwarden granted Big Bazar more time to reach an agreement with creditors, as a result of which all bankruptcy cases are paused. CEO Heerke Kooistra emphasized this week that his company needs longer to pay bills, but can eventually pay.
Meanwhile, Big Bazar has started closing branches. For example, the company is vacating a location in Goes, reports a collection company that tries to collect money from Big Bazar on behalf of the landlord. Kooistra said earlier that he wanted to close twenty loss-making stores and wants a rent reduction for another twenty.