Businesses Affected by 'National Mall' File Lawsuit, Funds Not Returned

On January 30, the 'National Mall' was opened at 26/8 Tbilisi Highway, designed to gather all Armenian producers under one roof. Many were optimistic, renting stalls and showcasing local products, but several months later, a significant number of these businesses have found themselves entangled in legal disputes to retrieve their lost funds. The reason is that the 'National Mall' is facing financial difficulties, as reported by 168.am.

The organizers failed to pay rent for the space in a timely and agreed manner, did not reimburse several business owners for their products, and after vacating the premises at 26/8 Tbilisi Highway, have not returned the previously collected rental payments to many.

It turns out that the project organizers rented space in a building on Tbilisi Highway, which they began to operate as the 'National Mall', and the businesses subsequently rented spaces from the organizers, becoming subtenants in the process. Moreover, the sales were not managed by the businesses themselves; instead, they handed their products over to the organizers, who were supposed to handle the sales on-site and transfer the remaining revenue to the businesses after deducting their owed percentages.

To date, most business owners have not received their funds. One business owner, Armen, told 168.am, "They haven’t handed over anything to anyone and probably won't either." Another business owner, Anna, stated: "I have not received a single dram since January." However, Anush Aslanyan, the president of the NGO 'Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities', which supports individuals with disabilities, is not planning to give up and has filed a lawsuit.

It turns out they signed a contract on April 28, 2021, and a day later transferred a prepayment for 12 months to place their stand, which amounted to 15,000 drams per month. “On April 29, just 7-10 days after transferring the money, we discovered that the mall was closed; however, we had a one-year contract in the form of a prepayment, which the 'Djinishyan' foundation allocated for our production. Now it’s a very paradoxical situation. If you know you will soon close down and you sign a one-year contract, that is outright deceit. We have submitted a lawsuit and will see what happens. In the past few days, there has been sales of about 13,000 drams, and there’s also the 180,000 drams of the one-year prepayment, totaling approximately 200,000 drams. About two months ago, I sent a written claim to the Yerevan Court of First Instance, demanding the funds be recovered, but to this day I have received no response from the court,” Anush Aslanyan elaborated.