Grocer booted from Capalaba Central after fire escape row

A grocer in a southside shopping centre has been shut down for the second time in two years after a dispute with his new landlord over a fire escape.

A shopping centre has slammed the shutters on a fruit store, locking the grocer out and then selling his produce, after a protracted dispute over the use of a designated fire escape as a loading bay.

Capalaba Central grocer Habib Habchi, popular with customers for spruiking his wares, was booted out of his store this month after the row over the loading bay ended in both parties complaining about breaches in the lease contract.

Mr Habib said he had paid to use an exclusive loading dock as part of his lease but that was later taken away from him after fire authorities said it was reserved for fire evacuations and banned its use.

The centre said Mr Habib had stacked boxes outside his lease, was spruiking and his truck was blocking a shared loading bay. The centre also gave him until August 31 to pay outstanding rent.

After the snap closure, bewildered customers of The Fresh Factory took to Facebook and email to slam the shopping centre for shutting its only fruit store.

Store no more: Capalaba Central closed The Fresh Factory after a dispute over a loading bay.

Capalaba shopper Patricia Wood said she was disgusted by the centre for closing the store.

“The complex must have known that the loading area was a fire route and they even widened the loading bay for the store,” she said.

“Now a man has lost his business and we don’t have a fruit shop, which was an exceptional store.”

Resident Amber Maya said it was her favourite fruit store.

“I’ve seen your Capalaba store has shut down, sadly that was my favourite fruit and veg shop,” she wrote.

“Just wondering if you guys were going to open up in the area again? It’s the only fruit and veg shop I go to.”

Mr Habib said when he arrived for work on August 20, hoardings blocked access to the entrance and the locks had been changed.

After the store’s closure, centre management advertised and gave away produce locked inside the store using Facebook.

Some of the produce that was given away after the shop’s snap closure and centre management advertising it on Facebook.

It is the second time in two years a shopping centre has kicked the fruiterer out over a dispute about using a loading bay after he was evicted from Redbank Plaza in 2019.

Mr Habib said his $10,000-a-month rent for the Capalaba site included the loading bay even though it is not stipulated in his lease.

However, the lease does record the company that runs the centre agreeing to widen the rear access to the store, install a roller door and allow Mr Habib to spruik.

Staff at the busy fruit shop unload up to 900 cartons of produce a day and without access to a nearby loading dock, they have to deliver goods to the front of the shop via the centre’s mall.

The lease dispute arose after Queensland Fire Emergency Service visited Mr Habib in July 2020, two months after he started operating at Capalaba.

Fireys told him the service bay was a fire evacuation route and off limits to commercial use with fines of up to $23,000 for misuse.

“The centre never told me that it was a fire evacuation route which is why my lawyers are saying it is misleading conduct,” Mr Habib said.

“The centre agreed to allow me to use the loading bay when they approved the plans for my fit-out of the new store, which cost $600,000.

“Those plans stipulate that area as a loading dock and the opening of the loading dock was created by the landlord for us to use exclusively.”

The loading bay access to the store.

Centre management wrote to Mr Habib in August last year and said they would work to find a solution to help him unload his stock, after a gate into the loading bay area was welded shut.

For eight months the store staff used trolleys to move the pallets of produce from a shared loading bay into the store via the shopping mall.

Solicitors for Mr Habib issued the centre with a legal notice in April 2021 asking for access to a loading dock for the store, as agreed to in the lease offer.

The legal notice also told management that the store would only pay 60 per cent of the rent until the shop had access to its own loading bay.

Centre management counteracted, sending Mr Habib a legal letter on August 16 claiming he had breached the terms of his lease by leaving boxes outside his shop, intruding on the space in the mall.

Management at Capalaba Central shut The Fresh Factory after a dispute over the loading bay.

They gave him four days to stop spruiking, to ensure boxes in the centre’s mall were not protruding and to make sure no trucks were blocking access to the centre’s shared loading bay.

They also gave him until today, August 31, to pay outstanding rent, which they claimed was approximately $28,000 and said they were going to repossess his tenancy.

“They closed my tenancy 11 days ago but the money is not due until August 31, so it is difficult for them to say they closed me down because of outstanding rent,” Mr Habib said.

“Legally they closed my shop because boxes were 10cm over the line into the mall – it can’t be because of outstanding rent because that deadline had not expired.”

Capalaba Central management refused to comment on the details of Mr Habib’s claims but said legal proceedings had yet to start.

“At Capalaba Central, it is our utmost priority to provide a safe and enjoyable shopping environment for our customers,” the statement said.

“Our energy and focus will now be on providing a new fresh offering to people of the Redlands. There will be no further comment in relation to this matter due to ongoing legal proceedings.”