Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was a whirlwind 24-hour period for Nathan Mroz, owner of the BFLO Store at the Eastern Hills Mall.
It was around 6 p.m. ET on Monday when mall officials started telling customers to leave the store before they padlocked the entrance. In addition, the mall placed a tractor in front of the main entrance of the BFLO Store, as well as a moving truck in front of the rear entrance.
These actions from the mall came following Mroz and others trying to remove, what they thought to be, unauthorized components from the BFLO Event Center, such as windows, doors, flooring, plumbing and light fixtures. The BFLO Store is currently in the process of moving its flagship location from the Eastern Hills Mall to nearby Transitown Plaza in Williamsville.
Shortly after having his doors padlocked and entrances blocked off from the public, Mroz filed a lawsuit against the mall, which is co-ownered by Mountain Development Corporation and Uniland Development Corporation.
It was then on Tuesday when both parties appeared in New York State Supreme Court to have their sides of the case heard by Justice Emilio Colaiacovo. After nearly 45 minutes of deliberation between both parties, Colaiacovo issued relief in the case under three conditions:
1.) Eastern Hills Mall will remove any blockage to allow folks from the BFLO Store access to the store.
2.) The BFLO Store shall not remove anymore electrical, flooring or plumbing items and shall put back or replace anything that was removed. The store agreed to put any windows or flooring back in place by Friday.
3.) If no agreement between parties is made by 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, a "referee" will come in and determine what will remain or can be removed at the mall.
"It's a fair notion to allow us to re-open for business and take our items out of there. So we agree with the judge. We're appreciative of the quick order that was given," said Mroz following Tuesday's court hearing in Downtown Buffalo. "Our intent now is to continue to move into our new space, so we can open. We don't want anything impeding that, and certainly because we were locked out of the building, we weren't able to replace a lot of the items we wanted to replace. A lot of this came on so strong. They locked us out of the building before we could do, really, the respectful thing, which is when you take something off, you're going to patch it, you're going to be respectful about it.
"We've operated and leased for many, many malls in the area, every single one of them in Buffalo, Erie, and Niagara County. Never have done anything, as far as stripping a place, etc. So I think our reputation precedes us, and I believe the court will see that we're upstanding citizens. We're the BFLO Store, we represent not just us, but a lot of this community. So we're going to focus on that."
When it came to Mroz making the decision to begin removing some items from the BFLO Event Center and other parts of the store, he says nothing was done with any sort of vain intent. Mroz says they had two bank loans they have to pay back, so he was advised by his attorney to take out what's theirs.
"We were intending to replace everything that we took. Whether it'd be the flooring, sconces, any sort of electrical on the walls it would be capped. In ceiling, we're leaving additional lighting in there, just not our look," he said. "The big thing is we have our brand. We have our brand as the BFLO Store. When people come in, it's very distinct and unique to our concept. The certain warm tones, to lighting, everything is very particular when it comes to the look that we want. We're protective of that, and I think, frankly, our customers, who have helped really have a stake and everything that we've done. Every piece of the building that you see has really been from them. Every purchase they make of a Bills hat or anything like that goes towards bettering our building and the community."
However, when fellow tenants showed up to the Eastern Hills Mall on Monday, they were caught off guard by what Mroz and his team were intending to do.
"I came in to do some paperwork and realized that the BFLO Events Store and his staff were taking anything that wasn't bolted down out of the event space here," said Peter Zlotkowski from Chrusciki Bakery. "Ripping up floorboards, taking off wall fixtures, ripping out a fireplace, which is fine, because we can repair that with the Event Center - because no one's gonna see it right now - but unfortunately, with the shared space of the hallway with an access point; he's shut down bathrooms, put up caution signs and under construction [signs] so people don't use the bathrooms. He's taken out lighting, he's taken off wall sconces. His claim was that he was being denied access to move his store over when he was just really taking out anything that wasn't bolted down from the Event Center and the shared space of the hallway."
As Zlotkowski explained, shops like Chrusciki Bakery, Simply Pierogi and Sto Lat bar came to an agreement with Uniland and Mountain Development Corporation to take over the space when Mroz was leaving, and they had agreed to it.
Since their agreement to take over the BFLO Event Center space, Zlotkowski said they had started planning and holding some parties. However, with the removal of some of the flooring and other aspects of the room, they have had to re-schedule some gatherings.
"When it comes to the tenants, we appreciate the tenants," Mroz said. "Certainly, we're not touching anything that's theirs. We're not going into the bakery space and ripping up their floor. We're not doing that. We're strictly the BFLO Event Center, which I own, which I had to cancel weddings and other events because the mall canceled my agreement. I'm taking out what's there and moving it over next door. That's, unfortunately, how things have to work."
Mroz also added that he had no intentions to sneak around when making the decision to rip up the floors and remove other assets from the Event Center. All he says he was trying to do was make sure to get the job done when most tenants were closed so not to cause any disruption to business operation.
"They may see it as, 'Oh, they're trying to sneak this in.' No, we don't sneak around. There's cameras everywhere, we have contracting trucks. We're not one to sneak. We're not doing things out of spite," Mroz said. "People like to jump to conclusions. I'm an upstanding individual. I have a lot of faith in God. Where I'm sitting right now in life, I'm 28-years-old, we have a multi-million dollar company, and a lot of people are relying on the store. [We're] the official retailer of the Buffalo Bills, we love working with them. So it's kind of a shocking thing."
Although Monday's actions by Mroz took many fellow tenants by surprise, Zlotkowski was hoping to see a very amicable resolution between the BLFO Store and the Eastern Hills Mall. Zlotkowski understands that Mroz's beef isn't with any of the tenants, it's with Uniland and Mountain Development.
"Unfortunately, the rest of us are suffering due to the process that's been going on with the cease and desist, and trying to re-gain entry into the mall. It really is not our fight. It's his beef with everybody else," he said. "He's got '716 Day' coming up in [four] days. I'd say that's more pressing for him to get underway, but he's going to do what he wants to do as a business owner."
As for the Event Center, Zlotkowski says his owners are very crafty people, and believes they can get back up and running in maybe a month.
Meanwhile, Mroz and his team will continue to work towards preparing for the grand opening at the new Transitown Plaza location this Saturday on "716 Day".
As part of the agreement in the court on Tuesday, Mroz and his attorney said they will create a wishlist of what they're looking to keep and what they'd be willing to leave at the mall, and then the mall will be able to go through and give the proper approvals or denials on the list.
Attorneys representing the Eastern Hills Mall said following the court hearing they were satisfied with the judge's determination, but offered no further comment.
Both sides are set to return to court via a phone conference on Thursday, Aug. 11.
