Staff Launch 48-Hour Strike at Mall Varna

Almost half the tenants in Mall Varna went on strike to protest high rents, keeping their doors shut until May 20th, the mall’s management confirmed in a statement. This is not the first time they have done so, as the issue remains unresolved with mall management refusing to discuss the matter.

Even the Bulgarian Retail Association (BRA) has lended full support for the strike, Morski Dnevnik reported.

Among the petitioners’ grievances are a “lack of proper management and coherent strategy to attract new clients”. The claim is that Miller Developments, Varna Mall’s owners, had previously shown concern about the deteriorating economic situation and had promised to re-evaluate the rents. Miller Development had even promised to provide short-term financial assistance to the retail stores, they said, but it had never materialised.

On May 17, Varna Mall said that Miller Developments “has understood the predicament, and in the best interest of the retail companies within the mall, and the establishment as a whole, offers have been made for the re-evaluation and alteration of existing contracts with individual business organisations, envisaging eased conditions for 2009.” However, the union of retail managers insisted that the new offer entails far more severe repercussions for companies that cannot meet their contractual obligations toward the mall in full.

In December 2008, Pfohe Mall in Varna had experienced a similar rebellion about rents. Tenants claimed that bad management had caused a decline in customer and as a consequence, demanded lower rents.

Construction on about 25 new malls had been planned for around the country.