Mall at Marathon loses two, but retains most of its 90-plus stores

While The Mall at Marathon lost two large tenants this year, yesterday the mall’s Marketing Director Carla Moss-Fitzgerald said the mall has retained most of its 90-plus stores and inquiries for retail space are coming in for the Christmas season, despite the current economic conditions due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Moss-Fitzgerald, who was part of a virtual press conference held by the Bahamas Federation of Retailers, said Shoe Depot and Jean Junction, familiar brands within the mall, decided not to renew their leases this year. 

She said their decision was not due to economic hardship caused by COVID-19, but one that was in play before the start of the pandemic.

“With regard to the 

COVID-19 situation and the economic downturn, we haven’t had that many stores leave for that reason,” said Moss-Fitzgerald. 

“We had two stores whose leases had come to an end and they declined to re-sign, those were major stores, Shoe Depot and Jean Junction.

“They also had other things that they were looking into and other things that were going on within their store management. They made the decision that they weren’t going to renew. It wasn’t so much the economic downturn at that time, because those stores had planned their departure prior to the big lockdowns that came.”

Moss-Fitzgerald said brick and mortar stores have started to dwindle because of the growing online shopping revolution in The Bahamas. She called on Bahamians to shop locally.

She explained that only several kiosks and smaller companies that require close contact between clerk and client closed in the midst of the pandemic, even as others come in looking for retail space as the Christmas season nears.

“We had a few of the smaller stores, massage kiosks close because if you’re not able to come out and touch and feel and what not, those smaller kiosks had to close due to COVID-19. But we haven’t lost significantly large amounts of stores,” said Moss-Fitzgerald. 

“We’re hoping most stores can continue to hold on. We have had a number of people come in to inquire about shop space and that is generally the tradition during the Christmas season anyway, people are more interested in retailing during that time.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/mall-at-marathon-loses-two-but-retains-most-of-its-90-plus-stores/