KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): AEON Retail (Malaysia) will grant a 28-day rental waiver to its tenants throughout the partial lockdown or Movement Control Order (MCO) period that began on March 18 and scheduled to end on April 14.

The offer is for non-essential businesses that are unable to operate during this period, but they will be assessed on a case-to-case basis, and subject to terms and conditions.

The waiver will be enforced at all 28 Aeon Malls and 18 Aeon BiG Mall Hypermarkets, nationwide, the company said in a statement.

“We thank our partners and retailers for their valuable support during these trying times and we understand their predicament. We express our support as we help ease their financial burden by offering them a waiver of rental during the first and second MCO period,” said AEON Retail (Malaysia) chief executive officer (CEO) Shafie Shamsuddin.

Supply sufficient, don't panic buy

Shafie also assured that AEON Retail will continue to ensure its stores maintain sufficient stocks nationwide in light of the second phase of the MCO, and advised its customers not to engage in panic buying. "We are constantly replenishing our stocks at the store level,” he said.

He also stressed that the company is practising social distancing, and urged all shoppers to constantly maintain their distance while shopping in their stores.

The company's staff are also stationed throughout its malls to ensure that customers keep their distance from one another. Additionally, there are controls in place to ensure that only a limited number of shoppers are able to enter its outlets at any given time.

Customers are also required to stand at a designated spot before proceeding to make payments at cashier counters.

Meanwhile, AEON Retail said its staff are constantly ensuring that all public areas, as well as the cashier counter, shelves, trolleys and other facilities are regularly sanitised while its staff are required to protect themselves with masks, gloves and hand sanitisers.

“AEON Retail will continue to provide essential services to the general public as it continues to operate supermarkets, pharmacies, clinics, banks and financial services, convenience stores and most F&B outlets for delivery and take-away. The AEON outlets will be operational from 8am to 8pm every day,” the statement added.

AEON Retail is a subsidiary of Aeon Co (M) Bhd, whose shares were trading unchanged on Bursa Malaysia at RM1.08 per share at the time of writing, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.52 billion.