Valpark mall group loses $12 million owing to covid19

Hummingbird Investments, the group which owns Atlantic Plaza, Maraval Plaza, Shops of Arima, Midland Centre and Valpark Shopping Plaza, is reporting losses of over $12 million between March 2020 and June 2021.

The group whose malls house over 350 stores, 200 of which are retail, join with Omar Hadeed, spokesman of the newly formed TT Retailers Association in their call to government to reopen the retail sector as soon as possible.

Hummingbird Investments general manager Candice Bejai on Thursday said the malls, heavily dependent on revenue from retail stores, have done their best to work with business owners still owing rent but while they continue to be lenient their overheads continue to mount.

“Coming out of the first lockdown, we had tenants having outstanding balances. That has impacted us even more into this lockdown. So it is uncertain how they are going to pay off their balances. As a landlord we have given discounts to tenants, but generally our costs are fixed. If a business closes we do not see a reduction in costs. We have our utility bills, loans, security, insurance, just to mention a few.”

Bejai said for Valpark Shopping Plaza the overheads exceeded $800,000 a month.

Valpark manager Cindy-Ann John-Serrette told Newsday the plaza in Valsayn incurred a loss of over $5 million between 2020 and 2021. This affected 300 people employed at the 56 retail stores. Among the tenants operating are Tru Valu Supermarket, Republic Bank and a pharmacy.

“Some of the stores have been affected since 2020. They just can’t open. Online sales and delivery was something that we thought of in 2020, in order to assist retail businesses with sales but as the restrictions became even more stringent, especially with throwing out the option of delivery, that stopped the entire idea of producing an online platform.”

Expressing its support for government's vaccinate to operate drive, the managers said they have been encouraging staff to vaccinate, which remains a choice that depends on the individuals.

“The most we can do is encourage them to take the vaccine,” Bejai said.

“We provide as much education as we can,” John-Serrette added. “That is the most that we can provide and encouragement for them to do what is right, because they are seriously affected by these closures as well."

The TT Retailers Association, representing 125 retailers, also made a plea to government on Thursday to reopen the retail sector.

Faced with growing debt and an inability to earn because of restrictions barring businesses from delivering or opening their doors, the association says it is working with the government to establish protocols and policies for a safe and effective reopening, but while that is happening, businesses, malls, and more than 100,000 formal and informal employees of retail stores continue to struggle.

Spokesperson Omar Hadeed said the association was formed out of a need for retail businesses to come together to ensure the survival of the retail sector.

“In times of crisis such as now, competitors put aside their differences for one common goal – in this case, to reopen to survive. We hope to be the respected and collective voice of the retail industry to advance its interests insights, education and strategic collaborations.”

Hadeed said the closure of the retail sector affects 78,000 people formally employed and an estimated 42,000 people informally.

Formal employees are those who work in registered retail businesses, while informal workers are those who work in unregistered businesses.

Unicomer managing director Clive Fletcher said the closure of the retail sector has not only affected their businesses which include Courts, Courts Optical, Ashley Furniture HomeStore, Lucky Dollar and Servitech, but has also affected the group's 900 employees.

“While we have tried for some months to alleviate the impact on our team we have now arrived at the difficult position of issuing temporary and permanent layoff letters to hundreds of our valued and dedicated team members,” he said.

Fletcher added that while they continue to lessen the burden of on their customers by relaxing requirements for payments, their overheads, too, continue to pile up.

“We continue to clear containers of goods on a daily basis while paying all requisite import duty, VAT, freight and sometimes unavoidable port rent and demurrage.”

This inventory with no sales has created difficulties with warehousing and logistics which add to the financial challenge, Fletcher said.