Many people are shaking their fists at Robinsons at the moment, and it’s not because they can longer buy clothes from the store.
For those who don’t know, Robinsons announced last Friday (30 Oct) that it would be closing its last two stores in the country, meaning it would exit the physical retail scene here after 162 years.
You’d expect everyone to feel sorry for the retail chain, but many business owners and even shoppers are none too pleased with Robinsons.
Why?
Well, while the announcement came as a shock to shoppers, merchants who sold their products at Robinsons didn’t even know about the closure.
Now, the question on every supplier’s lips is: will we get our money?
Merchants Owed Money By Robinsons
A tableware store who supplied goods to Robinsons has taken to Instagram to vent their frustrations over their interactions with Robinsons since the closure was announced.
According to AsiaOne, Vera Ong, owner of Lovera Collections, said she first learned of the news from an article in The Business Times on Friday.
She then discovered that she had not been paid for her August and September sales.
Worse, when she tried to reach her usual contact at the store, she was informed the person was no longer working for the company.
Suppliers were only notified of the liquidation in the afternoon, some time after the store had made the public announcement.
According to Ong, Robinsons urged suppliers to keep selling their products at their store.
“They also gave a date for a creditor’s meeting at end November and a form to fill in for the amount they owed us”, she said.
Consequently, Ong wanted to take back the remaining stocks she had at Robinson’s store in The Hereen, but was told that the liquidator had to give approval first.
The liquidator, however, was allegedly not contactable.
So Ong went down to The Hereen on Saturday (31 Oct) and retrieved 250 pieces of tableware that had been consigned with Robinsons.
This amounted to around $5,000 in retail value.
Yes, she managed to get her existing stock back, but Robinsons still reportedly owes her $6,000 in unpaid sales.
Staff Had Continued to Discuss About Sales & Promotions With Merchants in Mid-Oct
Ong isn’t the only vendor affected, of course.
Patrick Goh, owner of Intero Enterprise Pte Ltd, a wholesaler of bed linen and menswear, said the retail chain owes him a “substantial amount”.
He also echoed what Ong said; that suppliers had no idea about the liquidation until it was publicly announced.
In fact, merchants had no reason at all to suspect that the store would close its doors for good, because staff members at Robinsons had been discussing promotions and sales for Black Friday, Christmas, and Chinese New Year with him.
This likely means that the employees at Robinsons didn’t know about the impending closure either.
According to Goh, these conversations about promotions were taking place till mid-October.
Like Ong, Goh went down to both stores to retrieve his items, and while he was initially stopped by the liquidator, he managed to get his goods back after showing proof of ownership.
Buyers Having Issues With Mattress Purchases
Merchants aren’t the only ones displeased with Robinsons.
Some Robinsons customers are facing issues over mattresses they previously paid for from the store.
Customers who placed deposits or pre-payment on mattresses are worried that they’re not going to receive the product they paid for.
One customer who took to Instagram said she was told by a mattress supplier under Robinsons that her bed would not be arriving due to Robinsons’ closure, despite already making a full payment.
According to Mothership, the customer who made the post paid around $5,000 for a bed and bed frame.
In response, Robinsons said it’s urgently scheduling meetings with mattress suppliers in a bid to settle the issue.
Let’s just hope that everyone gets their money back.
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