A store in the Canberra Centre was given no choice but to close after facing rent hikes and fit-out requirements the costs of which could not be met.
Go Vita, in the city, had its rent increased by around 30 per cent, and was told by the Canberra Centre it also needed to renovate to meet leasing requirements, store owner and director Harry Karabalis said.
He said the same requirements were needed for his store in Woden, however there was a key difference between the scenarios.
Mr Karabalis said his Woden store, at the time, was in need of upgrades, and the centre management was willing to discuss the situation regarding renovation costs and rising rents.
The Canberra Centre, on the other hand, made its decision without consultation.
"Those renovation requirements would have cost us additional thousands of dollars, and the store wasn't even run down," he said.
"The rent increases were just unsustainable, so we had no option but to walk out in the end."
Mr Karabalis said there was no consideration from the centre of outside factors and their impact on customer spending when the rents were continuously hiked.
Go Vita's Canberra Centre store opened in December 2019, and had one month of "normal conditions" before bushfires and the pandemic decreased the numbers of customers coming to the store, he said.
The residual effects of COVID has left more public servants working from home, which has reduced people's average spending.
"Customers are just not spending the amount that matches the increases we are being faced with in regards to rent rises," Mr Karabalis said.
Mr Karabalis said his store brought people into the centre, and without it, there weren't any other health food options.
He said he had return customers coming in for years, and some were distraught when told of the store's closing.
Tuesday, April 4 was the final day of retailing for the Civic store, and sales were through the roof as they were forced to get rid of stock.
"We were really bringing people into the centre. We had customers, once we told them we were closing, saying to us, 'Where are we going to get this stuff now?'," Mr Karabalis said.
"Thankfully, we do still have our Woden store and our website too, but that isn't helpful for our older customers who lived in Civic and relied on us.
"They're taking these stores from being profitable to in jeopardy."
Mr Karabalis said the sentiment towards the Canberra Centre's rising rents is shared amongst the majority of shop owners.
Canberra Centre general manager Gary Stewart said in a statement lease renewals and reviews are a normal part of the shopping centre business, and said he works closely with retailers when they occur.
"Any lease deals presented are individual to each tenant and assessed against a number of commercial considerations, as well as any relevant legislation," he said in a statement.
"As is widespread practice within any dynamic retail destination in Australia, we periodically remix our offers at Canberra Centre.
"We value our close relationship with our retail partners, and we are committed to working closely with them."
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