Landlords of premises in Assen and Coevorden, where the ailing Big Bazar is located, are suing the retail chain for payment arrears. A landlord in Meppel is also thinking about this. Big Bazar is in financial trouble and earlier this week asked for a rent reduction at twenty locations in the Netherlands.
The landlords would be owed tens of thousands of euros. One of them is Mas Boom, lessor of the Big Bazaar building in Meppel. According to him, almost all landlords in the country suffer from rent arrears. “Without warning, we haven’t been paid since April.” According to Boom, the amount involved in Meppel has now risen to more than 20,000 euros. “We are therefore also considering joining the nine landlords who have filed summary proceedings.”
The Meppel landlord is surprised about the situation. “We were very benevolent during the corona period, we gave a discount on the rent or a rent-free period to companies that were struggling. But now we hear nothing. Even after sending reminders and reminders, it remained silent. We had contact with the employees in the store, but there was no response from the head office either. Our patience has now run out.”
According to director Heerke Kooistra of Big Bazar, the financial situation is due to the sharp price rises in the shopping street, as a result of which customers have started to spend less. He has therefore asked property owners to break up the leases. According to Kooistra, there is nothing left but Big Bazar to stop paying the rent when the real estate companies refuse to talk.
For that reason, Big Bazar is on a collision course with property owners. A landlord from Zeeland has insisted on bankruptcy, which nine other creditors have since joined. Boom is also considering participating. “That will have to lead to payment of the rent or bankruptcy. But of course we don’t want the latter. We want to urge Mr. Kooistra and his colleagues to take their responsibilities.”
A tour of the landlords of the other six properties in Drenthe shows that most of them do not want to discuss their own situation with Big Bazar. “It is common knowledge that Big Bazar is not doing very well,” says one of the landlords. “With large companies it is not easy to find an individual solution, an integrated solution is needed. I don’t expect them to last much longer.”
Another landlord says he is sitting down with Big Bazar and also underlines that they are in dire straits. It is not known whether these other locations in Drenthe have joined the initiative in Zeeland or whether they will also file summary proceedings.