Landlords need retailers. Retailers rent their spaces, but retailers can always go elsewhere. Landlords are dead without retailers.  Given this admittedly biased logic, why are some landlords (and often their representatives) such jerks?

In all the years I’ve been involved in retail, I’ve encountered very few landlords who could see things from our side. Very few. When one of my clients tells me about a conflict with their landlord, I’m rarely suprised at the ways in which landlords make it difficult for retailers to conduct business.

A few years ago, I had a client located  in an ambitious new development in Atlanta. This mixed-use project includes retail, restaurants, a hotel, entertainment, and residential units. Think Kentlands in Maryland, Santana Row in San Jose, or the Americana at Brand in Los Angeles.

Early on, the development was pretty impressive—and pretty problematic.  Apparently, the masonry contractor (or somebody) didn’t get the water sealing quite right and all the exterior bricks of this new small city need to be removed and replaced or reset. Thousands and thousands of bricks.

So the scaffolding goes up and in a matter of days, a formerly appealing and accessible block of nice shops was turned into something that could only be called “retail jail.”  Vertical and horizontal bars and street barriers prevent all but the most remote access to the dozen or so stores along this particular block. The windows got filthy every day, and there was noise and dust to deal with.  And each and every block endured the same fate as the brickwork was redone.

Retail customers and potential home buyers stayed away. The lawsuits start flying.

Certainly, the exterior walls needed to be watertight.  But why didn’t the landlords to do something to soften the blow?   What was presented to the shops as a short-term inconvenience lasted more than three months—an eternity in retail!  Stores that were doing well found themselves 30% and more below last year.  One retailer’s usually well-attended trunk show resulted in confusion, low turnout and concern that they were closing.  Some guests saw the barriers and scaffolding, assumed they were in the wrong place,  and left.

While I had empathy for the landlord and their representatives, the truth is simple: problems with a property are bad for landlords, but murder for tenants.

The landlord has construction insurance, retailers don’t. The landlord has on-staff legal counsel, the retailers don’t. The landlord can sue the contractor, the retailers can’t. The retailers are at the mercy of the landlord, who often shows no mercy.

In this particular case, a good landlord would have supported his tenants with some combination of :

• Discounted rent during construction
• Free weekend valet parking to lure customers in
• Increased cleaning in construction areas
• Better signage

An attractive store, a great sales staff and in-demand merchandise really can’t overcome “retail jail” alone.