Less than a year after the announcement was made that
KISS would be opening
KissWorld, the first official
KISS store in Melbourne, Australia, the store appears to be all but a thing of the past, with the tenants allegedly having been evicted by the landlord for failure to pay rent. Read on for an exclusive report from a
BLABBERMOUTH.NET visitor — and longtime
KISS fan — by the name of
Kelvin Richards:
"The much-hyped
KissWorld has closed before it ever opened, with the tenants being evicted by the landlord for failure to pay the rent, the locks have been changed and an 'Entry Prohibited' sign posted on all entry doors. Plus e-mails to
KissWorld management in Melbourne are returned as 'undeliverable'!
"The only sales activity ever seen inside the incomplete shell was an impromptu sale of a mixed bag of merchandise sold on a bare cement floor. A desperate bid to raise cash was made by the tenants by selling excess manufacturers stock of
'Australian Idol' and
'Big Brother' 2005 calendars, plus
NRL rugby shorts and cheap teenage makeup kits. Peeking through the dirty glass to inside the building you can still see a few boxes of trash, some lipstick and a rack of unsold rugby shorts gathering dust....plus a smashed phone/fax machine.
"The project was ill-conceived from day one with an inappropriate location chosen well over 25 miles from the Melbourne CBD [central business district] in a new housing estate full of young families with new homes and big mortgages...hardly the type of person to rush out to buy expensive
KISS memorabilia. Added to the fact that the store was far too big (think the size of a
Toys R Us), with parking for over 60 cars!!
"The
KissWorld web site claims that the ongoing problems lie with landlords and structural problems with the building. However, money (or lack of it) is the cause of the collapse of this grand project.
"My photos were taken [this past weekend as well as earlier today, Jan. 25] by myself, and I have spoken to the building's agent who confirmed the building's rent ($20K per month) and that the
KissWorld tenant was evicted for failing to pay the rent. After being evicted by one agent for their lack of money, the
KissWorld management are going to find it very difficult to get another premises, as in Australia commercial landlords run a central registry and they will be blacklisted for defaulting on rent payments!
"Additionally, I've spoken to two other commercial estate agents I know and they both knew of the fiasco with the
KissWorld premises.
"I've been in consumer retailing for over 20 years in a senior management role (and a
KISS fan for 30+ years ), and when I heard about which suburb where they were planning to open
KissWorld, I said right away that the project would fail.
"It was a disaster waiting to happen..."
"Having been in retail for 20-plus years.... My belief is that they ran out of money to complete the shopfitting of the building, and then they ran out of money to pay the rent. I've seen it happen dozens of times with new retailers starting up....they all underestimate fit-out costs! As mentioned, the store was way too big... you could have sold memorabilia for 50 different bands and still not filled this oversized barn.
"Whilst there was some
KISS memorabilia on offer during the rushed sale, most of the stuff was just run-of-the-mill posters, pictures, jigsaws etc. Plus they were flogging
'Lizzie McGuire',
'Australian Idol' and
'Big Brother' T-Shirts, posters etc, and
Maybelline-style makeup packs for 8-16 year old girls!
"Hardly what I would call
KissWorld!
"You can see from those shots that the building was incomplete inside and they traded off bare cement floors with hung plastic sheeting to hide the unfinished nature of the premises...
"The building is now virtually empty save for a few empty clothing racks, a lipstick display stand and boxes of rubbish.
"Plus hundreds of dead flies in the windows!"
Check out these exclusive photos taken by
Kelvin Richards:
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