Retailers Are Using Lease Clauses To Block Amazon's Future Plans For Whole Foods
Whole Foods Market has a Target on its back.
As the largest tenant at City Center mall in San Francisco, Target Corp. has the ability to deny major changes made to the property that it believes will negatively impact its brand.
Target put a stop to talks about Whole Foods Market joining the mall’s list of new tenants over fears of competition. Following failed negotiation attempts, Whole Foods may be forced to forfeit certain Amazon initiatives, including lockers that are installed for customers to pick up their e-commerce orders, Reuters reports.
This is not the first mall in which Amazon lockers have been banned.
Whole Foods stores set to open in Illinois and Florida that are near Targets have also been prevented from installing the lockers. Across the country, retailers are imposing restrictions on everything from the hours Whole Foods can use a loading dock to preventing it from selling Amazon goods such as electronics and toys.
While this experience may be new for Amazon and Whole Foods, reciprocal easement agreements have been an issue for landlords across the country for some time now as anchor tenants refuse property redevelopments, new tenants and more in an effort to protect their own sales during this time of flux.
