CMDsport reports that the owner of Base Deportes Santa Gema, Francisco Torrejón, deems the Spanish government’s moratorium on rents “insufficient,” as it doubly excludes companies like his own. Decreed on April 21, the moratorium applies to independent workers and, more pertinently, to SMEs with no more than €6 million in annual revenues and 110 employees, enabling them to postpone payment without penalties. Base Deportes Santa Gema operates 14 stores at major malls and on major thoroughfares in eight areas of Málaga and Granada. Its total monthly rents amount to €175,000 – or 13 to 20 percent of its sales. According to Torrejón, rent owed since March 14 – when the government shut down retail in Spain – will soon reach €350,000. So far the banner has obtained discounts from only two of its landlords. Three things compound the problem for Torrejón: uncertainty over the shutdown’s duration (May 9 is the projected end), uncertainty over consumer behavior in the pandemic’s aftermath and the undoubtable lack of tourists this summer. The government, he tells CMDsport, “is unaware of our problem.” “Without help,” he adds, “we will not be able to open all the stores or employ the same people.” Base Deportes Santa Gema’s suppliers, according to Torrejón, estimate a 50 percent drop in sales for June, July and August and declines of 20 percent in November and December.
