Little Village vendors take legal action to stop discount mall eviction

CHICAGO - With their future at stake, vendors are taking legal action in hopes of stopping an eviction at the Little Village Discount Mall.

The news has been a devastating blow for this community and for all the vendors. Longtime renters had hoped that they'd be able to stay but after the landlord was unable to reach an agreement with the new developer more than 60 small businesses must relocate fast. 

They have now lawyered up. 

As a result, more discount vendors gathered at City Hall Wednesday, along with the alderman and community leaders pleading for help. 

Last month, nearly half of the vendors began receiving eviction notices after the property was sold to Novak Construction in 2020.

There are about 150 booths on the property renovation plans are slated to begin soon. Many of the workers have been employed here for 20 or 30 years. 

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When the mall first opened yesterday, an attorney representing the vendors who were forced out filed an emergency order for a grace period to give workers more time to transition. 

"These developers want to come in and take all the goodwill that's been built up by these vendors over these years and say, 'You're not really tenants. We can kick you out whenever we want. And now that you've put in all this value all this work we want to take it for ourselves and turn it into something new,'" said attorney Ramsin Canon.

More than 60 or 70 estimated vendors will have to be out by this coming Sunday. 

"I think we deserve to be treated fair because we don't have a place to go. We can not just go in the street with bills to pay," one vendor said.

On Thursday at 10 a.m., a Cook County judge will decide whether to grant that emergency order of protection or injunction, which again will give them 10 days to relocate. 

If not, the alderman of the ward told FOX 32 News that they will begin prohibiting people from entering this section of the mall beginning Thursday.