Amazon has entered into a legal battle with the owners of the retail space it leases, and as a result, more and more bogus Amazon Fresh stores are opening. According to the owners of the commercial premises it rents, Giga, which mainly deals with online commerce, does not pay the rent. However, Amazon claims it didn’t even agree with the owners. Thus, more and more Amazon Fresh “Zombie Stores” are opening.
The most recent example is on Long Island, near New York City. In court here, Amazon entered into legal battles with Salisbury Partners, Insider reported after receiving information from the New York Post. The background to the story is that Amazon signed a lease with Salisbury for a commercial site in East Meadow in April 2022.
Mark Sagliuca, whose family runs Salisbury and the property in question, told the newspaper: “The two companies have negotiated with each other several times without any problems, but in November 2022 they argued over things like colors and a lamp.”
Representatives for Salisbury and Amazon are scheduled to appear in New York State Supreme Court in Nassau County on September 22. Salisbury, who deals in private and business financial advisory, sued Amazon last spring, which, he says, was too late in paying rent for the property he rented, among other offenses, and is therefore demanding $37 million from the defendant. However, the company, which mainly specializes in online commerce, claims that under its agreement, it is not obligated to pay rent for the commercial premises.
So far, neither Salisbury nor Amazon have come forward to comment on the incident.
In a similar case against Amazon, court proceedings are also under way in New Jersey, with the commercial building’s lessor claiming $10 million from it. But the company has also faced lawsuits from realtors in Philadelphia and Seattle.
Amazon opened its first Fresh store in 2020 and now has 44 stores, according to its website. However, due to lawsuits, the company stopped opening more and more stores. This summer, it has already fired hundreds of employees who worked at these Fresh stores.
In this year’s annual report to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote that he still sees potential in grocery stores, though he added: “We need to find a group grocery store format that we think could be a good fit for our broad expansion plan.” we’ve got. “
Amazon has already tried to get out of leases of Fresh stores in US regions: Minneapolis/St. For example, Paul tried to rent six such properties in the Attraction.
