To the struggling Mom and Pop store owners and their Landlords,

#standbymomandpop
 

Time has come!

The rents are due and we cannot pretend like coronavirus has not affected us. The main reason why

we are losing the battle against coronavirus is not only the virus itself, but the daily uncertainty it has

created in our lives and our economy. We can get one step ahead of this virus and the financial

burden it has on our property owners, the management companies, and our small businesses.

 

SBA loans were a bust!

These payroll stimulus loans were obviously an embarrassment and disappointment on either side

between our government and small businesses. These loans were not intended for covering rent,

but heavily focused on payroll. Most mom and pop stores usually have very little to offer as payroll

since they work themselves. Businesses who have applied for common loans like PPP and EIDL,

are expecting very little to none since SBA ran out of money. Not to mention over 25,000 approved

applications are worth 2 million dollars each, whereas only one of those approved applications could

have saved an entirety of all small businesses in a mall. The money did not go to where it was

intended and took many revisions and has become the biggest fiasco leaving property owners and

small businesses in an unsolved dilemma.

 

Neither the tenants nor the landlords are able to keep their responsibilities towards each other!

Tenants are responsible for paying rent, and the landlord's responsibility is to provide traffic. The

rental value of a location in a mall is equivalent to how much traffic they provide. Due to global

quarantine, malls and their tenants are forced to close down. We all know that even once the

doors open, people are not going to be running to the malls to spend a ton of money right away.

There will be a curve in sales leveling in at least 4 years.

 

Extended lease option may be our only chance!

We must find ways to help small businesses fulfill their rental dues. There are many ways to do this

and the most common offer out there is the extended lease option. It is like pausing time and your

rent doesn’t change but instead the period of time you are closed down is added to the end of your

lease. So you aren’t paying for rent for when you are closed, but you will be paying the same amount

of rent for the remaining of your lease term and the extended period on top of that. This puts

pressure on business owners to match their sales as they open up and keep their agreed rents from

before the pandemic to a longer extent. But it gives a fighting chance. This seems to be a fairly

understandable compromise for both sides.

 

We must get creative in bringing the business back!

The property managers and owners must work together with small businesses with creative

solutions by thinking outside the box and adapting new services and products.

 

We can prevent closures and endless battles of Force Majeur by coming to the table today!

The property management or owner may still ask for a full amount as if there is no global pandemic.

When we signed our leases a global pandemic that happens once every thousand years or so was

not something foreseen. Even the most powerful and all intelligence provided man, the President of

the U.S.A. did not see this coming up until 2 months ago. We can’t expect a mom and pop store to

foresee this global collapse and expect to be in binding of an agreement of a trap of sorts. There is

no jury or court out there that will let this fly. This will cause a public outcry.

 

Acting like nothing is happening will cause the collapse of many small andlocal businesses!

The effects of folding small businesses will reach out to the state and will cause a second wave of

global financial crisis. Because the money you spend in a small and local business stays in your

community, creating an economy that benefits your neighborhood. When a small and local business

can’t survive, they become homeless, a burden on the government, and a financial strain on the city

and state economy due to taxes and more.

 

This is what my landlord offered and why it won’t work!

My Landlord postponed one month’s rent to 90 days, as if we will have money to pay double the rent

by then, especially after paying the other closed month and a slower traffic even when opened.

 

Let’s #standbymomandpop for a fighting chance!

We can talk or we can walk the plank of bankruptcy. Your small and local mom and pop store is not

asking for a handout, it is asking for a fighting chance. Please bring ideas in person or online.