The owner of three closed Italian food outlets inside and next door to the Grafton Center in Cambridge has spoken out about the treatment of the centre’s owners. Alex Signorelli says he is about to lose his home and face bankruptcy after trying to sell one of his three independent businesses, Signorelli’s Deli in Burleigh Street – a sale he says was thwarted by the centre’s owners.
The Pioneer Group bought the center in August 2022. It plans to partially demolish the mall to make way for new life science labs, a hotel and a gym.
Alex said decisions made by owners have caused footfall to drop and businesses to go into debt, which he says is a deliberate tactic to remove businesses from downtown. These decisions included terminating contracts and forcing businesses to close, leaving the remaining businesses struggling with less interference; not turning on the central heating, which is unattractive to customers; and not promote downtown businesses on social media.
Read more: The multi-million pound Grafton Center plan is going ahead
Read more: The Cambridge shop will close as the Grafton Center lease ends
Alex said: “I kept telling them, ‘I’m worried about money. I can’t afford to pay the rent.”
“They said ‘don’t worry about the rent.’ Do what you can to revive the business. They kept telling me to try harder with La Piazza. So I said, hey, I’m reinvesting — I’m reinvesting in the staff, I’m reinvesting in the menu.
“I wish they’d told me from the start—don’t bother. In a few years, that place won’t exist, so don’t bother. Instead, they let everyone go into debt by not pushing them, and then suddenly start demanding money.
“We all had our backs against the wall and then this new deal came out that said, I’ll tell you what, we’ll waive your arrears if you agree to get out of your ten-year lease and sign a rolling lease so we can terminate your contract at any time .”
Alex likened these deals to “deals with the devil”. Two of his businesses, Il Mercato and La Piazza, were closed. However, he continued to pay business rates for La Piazza as he still had years left on the lease.
This contributed to his financial difficulties and left him unable to continue to operate Signorelli’s Deli in Burleigh Street. He found a buyer for the treats and asked the Pioneer Group if they would authorize the sale, which had to be done in writing.
CambridgeshireLive saw a text to Alex from John O’Shea, center manager at the Grafton Centre, indicating “progress is being made” towards authorisation. Alex planned to sell Signorelli’s Deli and move to another location in Cambridge.
He continued: “I approached them and said the money I get from selling the treats will pay off the debt, a big part of it, then I’ll go to my new shop and continue my brand and everyone wins.
“I said, ‘I’m going to take out the personal guarantee loan that got me my house. Are you sure you’ll let me sell?’
“They said, ‘Yes, of course we’ll let you sell it’.” I spoke to them face to face three times.”
Alex took out a loan, but The Pioneer Group never authorized the sale, which brought Alex to the brink of losing his home and bankruptcy, he claimed. Signorelli’s deli closed its doors for the last time in May.
Discussing how the centre’s owners had ’caused a drop in footfall’, Alex also described how they removed the ‘park and ride’ stop at the center and did not advertise any Grafton Center businesses involved in Cambridge Restaurant Week – but instead promoted the restaurants on the other side. cities.
He also said independent business owners have written letters to downtown owners asking them to tell the public that Grafton is still open even though many of its businesses have closed, but they have not done so.
The Grafton Center store was last mentioned in a post on the center’s Facebook page in June 2023.
Alex described how many business owners are afraid to speak up because they are making deals with the center owners. He said he tried to start a merchants association for Grafton Center businesses, but when the owners found out about it, he was called to a meeting.
He claims he was told it would not be in his personal or business interests to be part of such a group, as the owners would not be able to guarantee him a future at Grafton if that was the case. Another shopkeeper at the center, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “They are just strangling us. It’s heating us up.
“They let the water rise and rise and rise with no customers, expecting or hoping or knowing that we will eventually close due to lack of foot traffic. They just wiped their hands on us.
“We have invested a lot of money in this business. I dedicated five years of my life to this mall.
“My biggest crime was trying to promote Grafton as much as possible – trying to tell people ‘It’s not as bad as you think’. I can’t defend that anymore.”
“I don’t know how long we can last.” It’s been years and years since I went home and said to my wife – my girlfriend at the time – I promise you next year will be better, I promise you we’ll get there.
“It’s been years and years of just paying the bills because I’m still trying to catch up and dedicate my life to something that I really believed in, knowing that I had a ten-year lease and that I was hoping to renew. I really believed it.”
A Pioneer Group spokesperson said: “We are extremely supportive of Mr. Signorelli’s situation. Grafton Center was already 40 percent vacant when we acquired it and is now 60 percent vacant.
“High street traders are also struggling with the current economic climate and changes in the way people shop. As the owner of the Grafton Centre, we have tried to support struggling local businesses by allowing them to continue trading with concessions on their rent. charges on some time.
“However, the number of shoppers visiting the Grafton Center has been falling sharply for a number of years, with footfall currently around 25 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The same economic forces also affected local businesses in and around Grafton.
“That’s why we’re funding a major redevelopment of the center and completely rethinking how it operates, which in turn will breathe new life into the local economy.”