I own a sort of vending machine business. The vending machine is a part of an industry I’ve been a professional in for a few years now. But, we just launched this project over a year ago and it has expanded and gratefully so, been in demand. The machines do quite well. Recently, we worked with one of the popular and high end malls with lots of foot traffic to place a machine with them. They’re very difficult to deal with but understandably so as they have high standards. So, after lots of talking, we customized one of our most expensive machines yet to fit their aesthetic and launched it 2 weeks ago. It’s been going well with them as they liked it and saw their mall visitors form lines to use our machine.

I would like to clarify that since we were eager to place a booth with them and we’re relatively new to the market and a very small business, we built the machine with no contract, just hoping that they would like it and give us a month to month deal just like the other places. We’re placed in other luxury malls so we have had experience with these month to month contracts and everyone likes having us that we didn’t worry that we couldn’t meet their standards or that we wouldn’t be able to perform. Every place says we can renew up to our liking. Our deal with this mall was to pay a low amount in rent and in return offer them a branded product, as everyone takes photos of our product and shares on social media, so it was great exposure and a way to attract the youth to their mall (also our target audience). So we placed the machine and they gave us a 30 day deal, “we’ll see how it goes” type, but in a “you cant renew up to your liking – we’re the boss & we’ll let you know”.

And it went quite well. However, as soon as they saw the queue form, their horrible & rude manager of the specific area we’re renting in (the one we made the deal with but rarely speak to as she sends her guys to speak to us and do her dirty work) has been asking us to hand over sales. They tried to ask me in between conversations in a sly way acting as if that was normal. But the way that they were asking was quite obvious that they had no right of access to said, because they didn’t demand it, they were kind of sussing it out of me if that makes sense. Anyways, I brushed them off and didn’t give their asks any attention. But the manager sent a bottom of the foodchain worker in her department to call me and ask me for sales today (again, do her dirty work). I refused and told him that it’s against company policy to share sales and no where was that mentioned or agreed upon earlier. We agreed to pay them a certain amount and provide them the marketing and they agreed to that. He said then the end of these 30 days we should see ourselves out and remove the booth, and I said we can agree to remove it tomorrow too (I was pissed because we’re providing value and have worked hard to meet their demands of this custom machine). He then called me right back but I declined the phone call and proceeded to send me an apologetic voice note saying that we should leave at the end of the contract and that this is orders given to him and not his doing (seems he was a bit worried that I took it this way ? are they just intimidating?)

I honestly believe they think that I, a young female, without any business partners, they can jerk around. The mall is good business for us, however, they’re gigantic players with so many malls and always invest in other sectors. I, am a tiny business owner on my own, and think that they’re looking for an opportunity to take advantage or see how well or how bad the business is doing so they can probably do the same (its not gonna be easy for them as i’m a professional in this industry and its taken me a long time to get here) but again, they have millions to invest. I think they love having us there but taking us for granted by treating us this way. There is no way in which I would like to share with them private company information. They know we can afford the rent, so they’re looking to pry more so, but I’m not sure for what reason.

Can I get some helpful advice on this, thanks so much for your time and I apologize for the long post.

TL;DR: We agreed (stupidly without a contract) with a high end mall to place an expensive customized machine and when the sleezy area manager saw it was doing well, she sent one of her boys to do the dirty work and ask for our sales (not agreed upon). they said if we didnt hand them over, end of our trial (30 days) they’re kicking us out if we don’t. they know we can afford rent. i think they might be looking to get into our sector.

UPDATE: after reading all the responses (seriously, thanks for taking the time) and speaking to another renter in the mall, they’ve said that they share sales and that the mall management might offer more opportunities if they see you’re doing well, I’ve decided it would be best to speak to my lawyer and draft up an NDA / Noncompete and negotiate better terms for a longer relationship. I’m no longer settling for this unstable month to month relationship nor am I just spilling the beans only to be kicked out next month.

Also missing info: They actually gave us a tiny space (we require a tiny space) in a previously empty corner where they were desperate to find a business that would fit the space (they didnt know what to do with it). So they’re definitely not losing out on space and we’re not adjacent to any other business we could bother. Furthermore, most businesses would want a successful stall nearby to drive more traffic towards their store.