April 4, 2020
Co-ops and building owners are banding together in bargaining partnerships as they go before City Hall in order to combat the invasion of big box mall stores like Best Buy, Starbucks, Walmart, and Home Depot. This week city planners in Portland have been hearing arguments from coop lawyers who are defending themselves against lawsuits from big box stores who have complained about backroom collusion and trickery.
Since 2018, longtime-Portland-area coops like REI and People's Coop have been allowed to stay in buildings without paying rent to building owners. This unusual partnership has allowed coops to flourish, while saving money on rent. Meanwhile, rents for big box mall stores continue to soar, and the global corporations are none too happy about it, which is why they have brought the law suit against building owners, asking the courts force the building owners to charge the coops rent.
Legal analysts say that the big box mall stores have little chance of winning this suit, and some predict a slow death for global corporate businesses in Portland.
Hi, I'm Kiana. I didn't know about this, but think it's a great idea that the building owners are helping the local businesses. It seems as though big companies are over running local businesses everywhere. It's great that the businesses are doing well there.
ReplyDeleteHi my name is Anna and I go to Punahou School in Hawaii. I have empathy for both the big box stores and the Co-ops and building owners. I can see why the Co-ops and building owners would feel threatened by the bigger company/stores however, I also feel bad for the big box stores because it's not fair for the Co-ops and building owners to bond together and win the suit.
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