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“Yes, we are closed,” he said Wednesday. 15 minutes confirmed by K. Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė, director of the Uptown Bazaar gourmet food market, which has been in operation for 3.5 years.
According to her, such a decision was made because the gastronomic food market, which rented premises for shops and restaurants, could no longer accumulate losses.
“It is a simple solution: we were closed, we could not survive. Too many operators have changed, some have not received compensation so far. We ourselves cannot stay with them and pay for utilities because we are going to lose ourselves. The second quarantine was completely eliminated. . Especially shops. Some of the cafes were still running, preparing take out food. And no one even looked at the store premises, “said K. Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė.
Photo by Vigantas Ovadnevas / Žmonės.lt / Renata Paleičikaitė-Polujanskienė with her sister Kristina Paleičikaitė
Already after the first quarantine last year, the number of restaurants and stores that rented premises in this food hall has decreased, especially stores. Although, as the person in charge of the gastronomic space says, before the close of business, the company even exempted tenants from rent.
Following the lifting of restrictions on catering last summer, Uptown Bazaar was up and running and in the fall, the renovation of some catering establishments and the search for new tenants were welcomed. However, with the re-imposition of the quarantine in the country, it became even more difficult for restaurants and shops to withstand the second blow, so tenants began to load suitcases one after another.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Lunch at Uptown Bazaar
“When it closed for the second time, we were no longer able to finance them ourselves and we see that renting to catering establishments is quite a complicated business. We only earn with the rent, we no longer pay ourselves. Half of the premises were empty, “lamented K. Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė.
Most of the tenants still left, leaving 5-7 seats out of a possible 19.
“Most of the tenants still left, leaving 5-7 places out of 19 possible. The new operators we found came out again, finding new ones again. <...> – and equipment, other costs. We could no longer afford to go into the red, “he added.
According to the businesswoman, the debts were growing, it was not certain when the catering establishments would be fully open, so the decision was made to close as of May 1. K.Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė did not elaborate on how much he suffered, but hinted that “the amount is really small.”
“It just came to our attention then. At first we covered ourselves a bit because some of the rooms were empty, we had to pay for the services ourselves.” After the second quarantine, it was already clear that it is not clear when everything will end, if it is the third, we simply cannot afford to go back to the same negative point, “he said.
The premises where the gastronomic food market operated will be sold.
Currently, they can only operate outdoor cafes, but starting in late May, catering establishment customers with passport options will also be able to serve indoors.
The idea was brought from Italy.
K. Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė before 15 minutes it is said that her sister Renata Paleičikaitė-Polujanskienė brought this business idea from Italy. Together with her mother, during her visit to Bologna, the businesswoman entered a food market and admired such gastronomic space. The family had a large store in Vilnius, so they decided to establish one of the first gastronomic markets here.
K. Paleičikaitė-Lesevičienė stated that he had no regrets about starting this business.
“Before the first quarantine, we also came a lot of people, and we had developed events. We believed a lot and we saw that everything was going well. But this whole situation … there was nowhere to go, “lamented the businessman.
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