Owners of Uptown Bazaar closed: Our business has been eaten up by a pandemic

Of the 25 tenants, 5 remained

Kristina Paleičikaitė Lesevičienė, Director of Finance and Development at real estate development company (RE) Prodo, who was responsible for the market, said that the market located in Naujamiestis, which has been operating since 2017, has simply been trading at a loss recently. .

“The main reasons for the closure were the high turnover of all our tenants due to the second quarantine. Some of our tenants got out of debt because there was no turnover.

Afterwards, we looked for new tenants, as if we were filling up again, but the summer was hard because there were no clients, ”he said openly and assured that it was difficult even to pay utility bills during the pandemic.

“It just came to our attention then. It was a huge inconvenience,” he said.

Although the company had 25 tenants on the market before the pandemic, only 5 were left in operation just before closing.

“Our income came only from the rent and we did not pay the utilities of those places. It turned out so much that we could not survive. The daily turnover of some tenants was 0 euros,” said K. Paleičikaitė Lesevičienė.

According to her, if it weren’t for the pandemic, the market would have continued to function successfully.

“Before the first wave, we planned to raise rents, there were several people who wanted to work here, there were events, there were a lot of people, but the business was ‘eaten up’ by a pandemic,” he said.

Today these about 1000 square meters. The place is for sale.

Those who wanted to trade were online

Meanwhile, Ilona Drabavičienė, director of the Benediktas market in the capital, assures that the market managed by her has successfully survived the pandemic.

“We are a market with about 40 tenants and only 10 of them are cafes. During the quarantine, all our cafes were working to go, no cafes were closed. They worked with Wolt, Bolt, they communicated, they really drifted and they got together in the spring with the opportunity to feed people outside, “he said.

Speaking about traders, the director said that during the quarantine, the market not only did not lose traders, but simply filled all possible trading places and positions.

“It just came to our attention then. In January, there were even several people willing to trade with us, but we had no where to put them.

But the quarantine, because all the distance requirements had to be met, did not allow us to accept all of them, “he said, summing up by saying that the market did not feel the greatest impact of the pandemic.

“It just came to our knowledge then. No one would have said that something was wrong. Even people bought sweets very well,” he said, clarifying that the market had worked throughout the quarantine and had not been closed.

“I would say that in February and March, even the flow of customers was higher than usual,” said I. Drabavičienė.