Cyprus Shopping Malls urge various stakeholders to help support their retail tenants to protect jobs and businesses

The five main shopping malls across the Island have, this week, joined forces and written to various governmental departments, party leaderships and other key stakeholders in support of their respective tenants and the retail sector as a whole.

The letter, supported by MY MALL Limassol, Kings Avenue Mall, Nicosia Mall, Mall of Cyprus and Mall of Engomi highlights the significant employment that mall retailers provide, employing well over 4,000 shop sales people and a considerable number of additional catering employees across the sector, many of whom have already seen their employment suspended as a result of the Malls being closed due to the outbreak of the corona virus in Cyprus.

Furthermore, the group pointed out the significant turnover generated by the Mall retailers, providing valuable VAT revenue to the economy of in excess of €80m annually, in addition to taxes and municipality charges paid by the respective operators locally.

As a final note, the Group added: “The sector requires full support in order to protect employment. An increase in unemployment will have detrimental effects on the people. The effect of a possible economic deterioration will prevent both tenants and the Malls to meet their financial obligations, worsening thus the economic conditions of the country even more. We welcome the recent Support Measures introduced by the Government. Additional measures for the support of the retail sector will safeguard its survival, reassuring the immediate recuperation of the economy and supporting the efforts for further growth. 

Recognising the enormous efforts being made by everyone in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the group went on to say that they would welcome further dialogue on this matter at the appropriate time and hope that the measures taken to restrict the spread of the virus will en-sure that the retail and food sectors can return to normal trading as quickly as possible, with the health, safety and wellbeing of all stakeholders remaining the highest priority.