Tenants and staff were in shock after a shopping mall in Chiang Mai suddenly announced temporary closure due to economic fallout from Covid-19. Or is it economic mismanagement?
Thai media have reported that the centre had more than 20 million baht in debt from electricity bills and had to close immediately because they were unable to pay the bill.
Today, the shopping centre Promenada Chiang Mai sent an official letter to each tenant and store that the shopping centre would temporarily close from today onwards. Thai media reported that each store staff was shocked as they hadn’t received any alert in advance and even opened their shops as usual yesterday. The shopping mall’s representative also informed each shop to close and move their stuff out within 2 to 3 days as the electricity would be cut off very soon.
The management company running the shopping centre, ECC Chiang Mai Company, complained that they were seriously affected by the effects of the Covid pandemic and had been trying to manage the situation for over 2 years now.
The Centre also attempted to retain each tenant by decreasing the rental fee or waiving the rent for some months, but the company wasn’t able to earn enough to cover their costs. The statement ended by saying that the managing board were sorry for the situation and “would like to thank all partners for joining the business”.
According to Khaosod, the shopping Centre couldn’t afford its electricity bills for many months, accumulating a debt of almost 20 million baht. Last month, the electricity cost them 5 million baht, and the Provincial Electricity Authority ordered them to pay their arrears urgently.
SOURCE: Khaosod