Tyler Kwon, representative of Jessica’s “Blanc & Eclare”, reveals his stance on the unpaid rent of the brand’s flagship store.
On May 25th, Tyler Kwon mentioned accusations of not paying monthly rent and expressed his grievances to TV Report, saying, “The building owner has been neglecting to provide the security guard’s overtime pay, and as a result, they have stopped the building’s elevators and locked the main entrance after 10 PM. As a tenant running a wine bar until 2 AM, we believe there is no greater disruption to our business than this, so we have notified them that we will not pay the rent”.
He further explained, “We tried to find a common ground through multiple discussions with the building owner, but no resolution was reached . The dissatisfaction of customers looking for the store has been accumulating, and it eventually led to the closure of the business.”
Earlier on the same day, a media outlet reported that Jessica’s fashion brand, Blanc & Eclare, has not paid rent for their Gangnam flagship store, and was forced to pay the rent by the court. According to the report, the Seoul Central District Court carried out an execution order for Blanc & Eclare’s Gangnam flagship store.
Blanc & Eclare opened their flagship store in a building located in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in September 2020. However, it was revealed that they had been overdue in paying the monthly rent since August 2021, and in December of that year, they were sued by the building owner for the rent. The situation seemed to have been resolved with a gentle agreement and a court’s conciliation recommendation in June of last year, but another occurrence of overdue rent arose.
Regarding this, Tyler Kwon stated, “I asked for the opportunity to run the business properly, but the building owner continued to neglect building management.” He also mentioned that when he appealed that they couldn’t pay the rent again, there was no response, and then they received the execution notice as if they were waiting for it.
He continued, “Considering that we cannot restore trust with the current building owner, we plan to reopen Blanc & Eclare’s store at a new location,” adding, “Separately, we are considering legal actions.”
At the same time, Tyler Kwon expressed his feelings about Jessica being criticized due to the controversy. He drew a line by saying, “Jessica herself is also saddened by the current situation,” and emphasized that it is a conflict between the building owner and the tenant, and the entire situation has nothing to do with Jessica.
Meanwhile, Blanc & Eclare is a brand founded by Jessica in 2014 after her departure from Girls’ Generation. Korean-American entrepreneur Tyler Kwon, known as Jessica’s partner, took on the role of CEO, while Jessica served as the chief designer.
Source: Nate
