Lotte World Mall, Lotte Mall, and Lotte Fitin Join as 'Good Landlords'

Rent Payment Deferred for 3 Months for Over 760 SME Partner Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Lotte Asset Development announced on the 8th that it has prepared support measures for partner companies to overcome the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

First, it plans to reduce the financial burden on tenant partners facing liquidity crises. For about 760 small and medium-sized enterprise partners located in Lotte World Mall, Lotte Mall, and others, rent payments for March and April will be deferred for three months. Afterwards, starting from July and August respectively, the rent can be paid in installments over three months, aiming to maximize support for securing liquidity for small and medium partners.

Payment amounts to partners will also be paid in advance in installments. Instead of the existing monthly payment once on the 20th, payments will be split into twice a month on the 5th and 20th, with 15 days’ worth of payment paid in advance to support partners experiencing difficulties in fund management.

Additionally, from the 9th until the end of this month, Lotte Asset Development will temporarily shorten the business hours of stores it operates, including Lotte World Mall, Lotte Mall, and Lotte Fitin Sanbon. Business hours will be changed to 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM, reducing the existing hours by 1.5 hours. Lotte World Mall will shorten its hours by one hour, operating from 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM. Through this, partners can expect to reduce operating costs such as labor and management expenses.

In particular, to alleviate difficulties at kids’ attraction facilities, shortened business hours of more than two hours have been implemented since the 20th of last month. Lotte Fitin Dongdaemun has also been operating with shortened hours since the 2nd. Lotte Asset Development plans to readjust business hours according to future circumstances.

Lee Sang-geun, Head of the Shopping Mall Business Division at Lotte Asset Development, said, “As Lotte Asset Development operates a complex shopping mall business, it is both a tenant paying rent and a landlord attracting tenant brands, so we deeply understand the COVID-19 crisis situation of our partners,” adding, “We will share the pain with small and medium-sized partners and overcome the crisis together with employees as well as partners.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.