With CZK 2.3 million in debts its unable to cover, the company First Prague Trading filed for insolvency. That matters to the Czech retail sector because the company runs the Pierre Cardin store in the shopping mall Westfield Chodov. Hospodarske noviny writes that its owners complain that the mall’s management refused to negotiate with them and then wanted them to pay for services the retailer wasn’t using. In the end, according to the company, it didn’t even qualify for state aid. First Prague Trading told the newspaper that it requested that it be forgiven its rent from April until June (nearly CZK 700,000) and demanded a 70 percent discount on its energy and services bill. Westfield’s counter-offer was allegedly that the company could begin paying its rent bill on a monthly rather than on a quarterly basis and that it could defer payments until the summer. “The deferral only put off the solution,” according to the company, complaining that it should have to pay energy costs for common areas in the mall that no one was using.
“We’re aware of the difficult situation of our tenants,” said Martin Makovec of Westfield. “That’s why we enabled them all to qualify for all of the requirements for requesting support from the Covid-rent program.” HN reports that the Optique store in Palladium has also filed for insolvency.
