A massive city mall with 70 stores is now closing ten years ahead of its contract due to a rapid surge in crime, sources confirm.
Retail operator Westfield announced that it intends to end its lease and sever all operations with the Fulton Center in Lower Manhattan.
Westfield put pen to paper on a two-decade long lease in 2014, reports The-Sun.
However, as levels of theft and homelessness continue to spiral, the company have decided to forego the contract 10 years early.
Westfield has cited soaring crime and quality of life concerns as their reason for terminating the lease.
In response, the MTA is suing the retail management company for breaking the lease.
“The rate of subtenant vacancies is at an all-time high,” Westfield wrote in a legal filing.
“Few businesses want to open and operate a store where their employees and customers regularly would experience theft, property damage, bodily harm, or threats.”
Workers and subway riders told ABC 7 News that homeless encampments routinely congregate outside the building.
“The real problem is homelessness here, you can just look out the window and see people roaming around, it probably lessened because it’s getting nicer outside but during the winter months, it’s a lot,” said Nia Moore, who works at Birch Coffee.
Retail theft in the Big Apple has already spiked by 4% in 2024.
“While we are unable to comment on specific pending litigation, we have full confidence in the NYPD, which has surged officers into the subway, to ensure safety across the transit system, including at Fulton Center,” a spokesperson for the MTA said in a statement.
2023 saw a number of retailers close down, often citing losses from theft.
In part fueled by the rise of online shopping and ongoing inflation, many stores have not been able to remain open.
Stores like Target, which closed nine stores in major cities last year, said that theft made certain locations unsafe.
One of the greatest concerns for stores, organized retail crime, involves mass thefts by groups of shoplifters.
By stealing in large groups, thieves make it difficult for authorities to intervene.
Widely shared images of “flash mob” organized robberies have caused panic for many retailers in recent months.
Though theft is just part of the picture, many blame shoplifting for the nearly 3,000 stores that closed across the country in 2023.
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Also Read: A Grocery Brand Is Now Led Into An Unexpected Bankruptcy
Other Economy News Today
A chain with 500 locations now makes an unexpected closure in a prominent Texas area where it conducted business just over a year.
MOD Pizza, a chain that allows patrons to customize individually sized pizzas, revealed that its Flower Mound, Texas location will close just 18 months after its opening.
Samantha Vescio, the location manager of the restaurant, which only opened in September 2022, shared in a Facebook post that the store would permanently close due to “not enough business.”
The closest location for residents is located in Roanoke, reported The Cross Timbers Gazette.
The news comes as MOD Pizza announced earlier this week that it will close two locations in New Jersey.
Locations in Cherry Hill and Marlton respectively were suddenly closed as well.
A Facebook post claimed employees were only given two days’ notice of the closure.
“According to their employees, MOD Pizza of Marlton and MOD Pizza of Cherry Hill are closing permanently tomorrow!!” the post read.
“Tomorrow, Friday, will be their last day in business,” said the statement online.
“A real shame. Their food was good and they were amazing community partners,” wrote one person.
“Awww that’s so sad. So many good, local businesses are closing,” wrote another person.
“Wishing their employees the best and that they can find other opportunities soon.”
According to some of the comments, one of the locations was recently remodeled.
Unlike the Flower Mound location, there has been no official statement regarding the closures in New Jersey.
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Also Read: A Giant Company Now Announces Unexpected Layoffs in Michigan
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