Parkson to shut MyTOWN store?

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): Department store operator Parkson Corp Sdn Bhd — which shut the Suria KLCC store and the Parkson M Square Mall store in Puchong this year — appears to be preparing for the closure of its store in MyTOWN Shopping Centre, Cheras. This store has been operating for less than three years.

Parkson in its Facebook update on Thursday (Dec 26) put up a post that read "Clearance Sale. Everything must go." The post also said the sale was being held between Dec 27, 2019 and Feb 2, 2020.

"Levels 1 & 2 will be closed by Jan 19, 2020. However, the sale will continue at Ground Floor until Feb 2, 2020. Come shop before everything's gone!!!" the notice read.

The post that came with a Facebook update stated: "Be sure to grab all you can at affordable prices for your desired value before we get moving. Hurry now!"

theedgemarkets.com is waiting for an official response from Parkson. Meanwhile, a call to the MyTOWN's general line confirmed that the outlet will be leaving the shopping centre for good.

The MyTOWN store, which opened on March 16, 2017, is Parkson's 45th store in Malaysia. The store occupies a total of 149,984 sq ft of retail space.

News of the likelihood of Parkson exiting another location went viral over social media over the weekend.

On Feb 17, Parkson shuttered its 126,000 sq ft outlet in Suria KLCC. Parkson had been operating there since 1998.

On June 30, Parkson closed the Parkson M Square Mall, located in Millenia City, Puchong. The store closed after 18 months of operating. It occupied 349,999 sq ft of retail space, including two levels of carpark. Apart from the department store, the retailer also offered a Foodpark Supermarket by Parkson, which is a gourmet supermarket and food hall.

Parkson had then said "it was always cautious and selective when choosing new store locations: however, when sales do not meet expectations, we have to cut losses and move on".

Meanwhile, it was reported last week that a firm owned by the Selangor State Development Corp (PKNS) and Andaman Group is suing Parkson for allegedly failing to pay rent for a retail space in EVO Shopping Mall in Bangi.

Parkson is wholly owned by Singapore-listed Parkson Retail Asia Ltd (PRA), which in turn is a subsidiary of Parkson Holdings Bhd. PRA operates Parkson Holdings' stores in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

PKNS is claiming RM3.66 million in accrued monthly rental for the period between April 2, 2018 and Dec 2, 2019, as well as RM182,958 per month until the return of the retail space to PKNS.

Alternatively, Parkson can also pay PKNS RM3.84 million, which represents the accrued rental from Feb 27, 2017 to Nov 27, 2017 and RM182,958 a month until Parkson delivers the retail space to PKNS.

In addition, PKNS is also claiming RM1.86 million from Parkson as compensation for PKNS' contribution to the department store's renovation costs.

Parkson is, however, defending the suit, saying that no rental is payable as PKNS failed to satisfy the condition precedent as set out in the tenancy agreement and that PKNS has backdated the commencement date of rental without satisfying the condition precedent.

Parkson has closed several stores since 2017 including stores in Megamall Kuantan (September 2017) and Melaka Mall (December 2017) after operating for 10 years. Subsequently, it closed stores in Maju Junction and Sungei Wang in 2018.

The home-grown retailer had a total of 42 stores in FY2015, 44 outlets in FY2016, 45 stores in FY2017, and 44 stores in FY2018. As at August, the retailer had 43 operating stores.

At 11.45am, Parkson shares were traded at 22 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM240.66 million.

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