Court judgement: Prisma does not have to operate a supermarket in the Linnamäe Centre
Harju County Court came to a judgement today, 20 January, in the court case between Prisma Peremarket and Linnamäe Shopping Centre manager L95 OÜ, where L95 OÜ demanded that Prisma keep the supermarket open in the Linnamäe Centre. The court dismissed L95 OÜ's lawsuit and confirmed Prisma's position that Prisma is not required to reopen the supermarket in the Linnamäe Centre.
"We are satisfied with the judgement because keeping the supermarket open in the Linnamäe Centre would be extremely unreasonable and would only result in huge amounts of food being wasted." We are ready to pay rent to L95 OÜ until the end of the period specified in the lease agreement and we hope that we can now put this business dispute behind us," said Teemu Kilpiä, Regional Manager of Prisma Estonia.
The Linnamäe store was closed in January 2024. Before that, Prisma attempted to negotiate with L95 OÜ, the owner of the centre, to reach a compromise acceptable to both parties. Unfortunately, the negotiations were not successful and L95 OÜ took Prisma to court, demanding the reopening of the supermarket in Linnamäe Centre. During the court proceedings, L95 OÜ attempted to pressure Prisma with several unproductive and unfounded bankruptcy filings.
Prisma Peremarket is part of S Group, Finland's largest retail company and one of the largest companies in Finland, employing more than 400,000 people. Prisma currently has eight hypermarkets and five supermarkets in Estonia and plans to open hypermarkets in Viljandi and Kuressaare.