Vendors at Little Village Discount Mall reporting drop in sales

CHICAGO - The Little Village Discount Mall is under construction, but vendors say they are still open for business.

The mall is under new management and operating at a smaller capacity.

On Tuesday, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez toured the facility and said vendors are reporting a 60 to 80 percent drop in sales.

The discount mall has been a neighborhood icon since it opened in 1991.

However, the property was sold to a developer with plans to replace it with national retail chains.

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More than half of the original vendors were evicted this spring.

Sigcho-Lopez is now calling on the Chicago City Council to pass an ordinance that would block private companies from forcing small businesses out of their communities.               

"Under the Lightfoot administration, I think it's clear, when you hear what happened with the casino proposal, what is happening with many other issues in the city, the lack of the process, developers who were doing as they please, and the consequences fall on small businesses and the whole community on the 26th street and across the city," said Sigcho-Lopez.

Ald. Sigcho-Lopez says any future permits for the discount mall will be discussed with the community and not behind doors.