Shopping centers hurt both shopkeepers and each other

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

People are seen walking by shops in the northwestern province of İzmit in this photo. DHA photo

Turkish shopping malls are not only destroying small businesses in their surroundings but also eat into each other’s business, according to Bendevi Palandöken, the head of the Confederation of Turkish Craftsmen and Tradesmen (TESK), noting that the country urgently needs a retail law.

Every week at least five shopkeepers will go out of business and 10 families will go hungry if the enactment of the law is delayed, he said yesterday in a written statement. The number of shopping malls is estimated to have reached 40 in the capital city of Ankara, 120 in Istanbul and 350 nationwide, he said, adding that an unplanned rise in the number of shopping malls leaves shopkeepers in a difficult situation, he said.

“Wholesalers and distributors are obliged to sell products at the same price to all [scale] businesses in the United States, but in Turkey the same products are sold at higher prices to small businesses, which should be protected according to the Constitution, while they are sold at lower prices to big firms, which are mostly foreign,” he said. Shopping malls, which mushroom particularly in big cities, also hurt each other, according to him.

“Now shopping malls have slowly started to close down. The direst aspect of this situation is that shopping mall buildings cannot be used for other purposes. They cannot be turned into hotels, hospitals or schools,” he said.