Centre owners accuse Big W Calamvale of only giving ‘hours’ notice they were vacating lease

The owner of a Brisbane shopping centre claims it was blindsided by a Big W store’s sudden closure, accusing the retailer of capitalising on the coronavirus outbreak. And now, both parties are set to battle it out after the lease was broken seven years early.

A COURT battle is brewing after a Brisbane shopping centre owner accused Big W of using the COVID-19 crisis to terminate the lease on their “underperforming” store seven years prematurely.

Owner YFG has confirmed it plans to take Big W to court over the decision, claiming they were “shocked and disappointed” they only received notice of Wednesday’s closure at 4.30pm the previous evening.

Big W has responded that they “acted consistently” with the terms of their Calamvale Central lease.

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Centre managers Retail First said the “opportunistic” decision came just days before COVID-19 restrictions are eased, including the lifting of a ban on non-essential shopping.

They said that Big W Calamvale’s three neighbours, Noni B, Rockmans and Mosaic Group’s W Lane were all reopening tomorrow.

“The shopping centre owners are of the opinion that Woolworths Group (owner of Big W) has taken advantage of the COVID-19 temporary store closures... to the detriment of the landlord, staff, and the surrounding retailers,” they said.

Owners of Calamvale Central shopping centre YFG say they intend on taking Big W to court after the retail giant allegedly informed centre management only late on Tuesday afternoon they wouldn't open the following day. Picture: Facebook

Yesterday, a Woolworths Group spokesman said the store had “underperformed for some time”.

He said that the terms of Calamvale’s dictated they were “obliged” to shut the store immediately upon giving notice of intention to terminate.

All 70 staff would be offered redeployments within the company, he said.

There are three other stores within 7km of Big W Calamvale: Browns Plains, Underwood and Upper Mount Gravatt.

The closure is part of an ongoing “network review” at the company which commenced in April last year with the aim of shuttering 30 stores. In January this year, three Big Ws in Sydney closed.

Social media reaction was generally affectionate towards their doomed local Big W.

BREAKING: Retail in Brisbane has taken another COVID-19 hit with a store on the southside closed suddenly. 70 workers are affected. Big W spokesman says the closure was pre-planned.

Posted by Southern Star on Tuesday, 28 April 2020

“Calamvale has been my preferred Big W for a long time, it’s a great little shopping centre with a great Woolies there also... Very sad,” one said.

Another said she’d miss it, but acknowledged its problems.

“Perhaps if the store was open the same hours as the other stores nearby then they would have had core business,” she said.

“They constantly either had no or low stock on a lot of items or didn’t stock products that the other Big W stores nearby do.

“In saying that, it has been my preferred Big W due to it being close to home.”