Commercial Lease Contract - minimum business hours?
Does the following statement mean that the landlord is requiring my business to be open during these hours, or that these are the hours in which I'm allowed to operate? 

"Tenant covenants to continuously operate upon the whole of the Premises during minimum business hours of 10:00 am to 9:30 pm, six days per week".
[{"id": "ibx3qa0", "text": "Verbiage is like a retail lease.  If so, you are required to be operating the stated hours.", "replies": [{"id": "ibx4jub", "text": "Thank you! I would be operating a dog grooming salon, so the required hours are a little ridiculous in my opinion. We also never discussed operating hours, and they also state that if the business is closed for more than 5 consecutive days I am in default, so in general I'm annoyed at this request. But wanted to make sure it meant what I thought before getting too angry!", "replies": [{"id": "ibx75b6", "text": "In light of COVID, are there any carve outs for the 5 consecutive days when the government order your business to close?\n\nAsking for minimum number of hours in a week without specifying is probably a good start, as well as an initial period while you are starting up where you may have a lower minimum number of required hours.", "replies": [{"id": "ibx82hd", "text": "Thank you for the suggestions, I will mention those to my tenant rep. I didn't see anything regarding government required closure, but good call. I will receive it again. \n\nUltimately the business will be operating by appointment only, so standard business hours may not be a thing. I guess we will see if we're able to even get on the same page regarding that, or if it's better that I just walk away. The space has been empty for 2.5 years so I'm hoping he'll be a little motivated to work with me.", "replies": [{"id": "ibyauzj", "text": "If this guy is too shady and squirrelly, you might be dodging a bullet if you don't end up getting it.  Have you talked with your potential neighbors about how they like their landlord?", "replies": [{"id": "ibzenn6", "text": "I haven't, I wasn't exactly sure how to go about that. Do I just walk in? What if the owner isn't there?", "replies": [{"id": "ic0ctlu", "text": "It's easier if they are open for retail, I try not to bother peeps excessively so I just go during open hours and wait for when they don't look busy with other customers and then I say something like, \"Hey I wanted to come by and say hello, I am thinking of renting the space around the corner and was wondering if you like it here and what you thought of the management here?\"  The other thing I like to do is drive by at weird hours like say at night and check out the vibe, do homeless like to hang around, does it feel safe?  My current place has security that drives by a few times a night to make sure that does not happen, for instance.", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "ic33871", "text": "&gt;Ultimately the business will be operating by appointment only, so standard business hours may not be a thing. \n\nMaybe you don't even need to be retail?  Possibly an industrial/flex space? Much cheaper rent, and hours aren't so sensitive.", "replies": [{"id": "ic3upzg", "text": "The biggest issue is availability in my area, and zoning. I also am looking for a fairly small space and the industrial spaces available near me are 4,000 sq ft+. I will consider that if this falls through though!", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ibzwva1", "text": "Just counter it. I get this concern all the time and 99% of landlords don\u2019t care what your hours are. They just don\u2019t want a dark storefront. Totally ok and normal to counter any of this language.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibx4y9c", "text": "You must operate during those hours.  For a shopping center to be successful it helps for all the retailers to be open during the same operating hours.  That being said there is likely some wiggle room on either end of the range.    It\u2019s an easy non-economic ask for the landlord to concede.", "replies": [{"id": "ibx5bm8", "text": "The weird part for me is that there are only 4 other businesses in the same strip, and one is owned by another landlord (Domino's). The other businesses are a Mexican restaurant, a physical therapist, and a small fitness center.", "replies": [{"id": "ibx6r25", "text": "If it makes sense talk to the physical therapist as it\u2019s the most similar to your business. See what they did about their lease or what they are doing for hours and maybe you can negotiate a similar thing.", "replies": [{"id": "ibx89jd", "text": "Their hours are Mon-Fri, either 7:30-4:30pm or 9:30-6:30pm. Ultimately my business will run on an appointment only basis, so having set hours isn't really in the business plan. I'm hoping he's willing to negotiate or get rid of the operating hours completely.", "replies": [{"id": "ibxqc2i", "text": "I represent a physio type business and always negotiate out the continuous occupancy language. Sometimes it takes a conversation to explain why logistically that requirement just doesn't make sense for your business and you need to have the flexibility to run it.", "replies": [{"id": "ibxraep", "text": "I'm hoping this will be enough for them. Because there's no way I can be operating 11.5 hour days, 6 days per week right off the bat.", "replies": [{"id": "ibyb3xz", "text": "I don't know ANY groomers anywhere in my rather large suburb area in San Diego that runs grooming more than about 8 hours a day and closed on some days.  The fact is that groomers haul in good pay but also work hard, they can't work beyond about 8 hours. Plus there's often more than one animal in progress at a time.", "replies": [{"id": "ibzesog", "text": "It'd honestly only chain/corporate grooming salons that do this. I would need 2 shifts, and honestly nobody needs to be getting their dog groomed at 9pm in my opinion.", "replies": [{"id": "ic0c556", "text": " I used to work for Petco, even their grooming usely ended by about 5 or 6PM and the end hour or two was just cleanup and getting the pets back out the door to their owners.", "replies": [{"id": "ic0iey9", "text": "Ah, not mine. We groomed until 7:30, closed at 8pm", "replies": [], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ibxqmi4", "text": "The landlord likely just has a standard retail lease they send out but it doesn't mean that all the clauses make sense for your business. Don't listen to those saying that there won't be flexibility. I've negotiated this whole clause out of leases many times and have been successful in specifically including language that there is no requirement to continuously occupy the space.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibxaeia", "text": "You can easily negotiate this. This is really more in place for the anchor tenants.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibxb4vu", "text": "Most likely you are in a shopping center. For the success of the shopping center and all the tenants, the landlords have these requirements in the lease. Imagine going to a shopping center on a Saturday and seeing 50% of the stores closed. This will negatively affect the foot traffic and will negatively impact all the other businesses.\n\nI don't think you will be able to negotiate a lot with the LL, unless they are desperate to fill the vacancies.", "replies": [{"id": "ibxf2r6", "text": "This space has been empty for 2.5 years. And the only tenants in the same building are a carry out pizza place, a Mexican restaurant, a small physical fitness center and a physical therapist. So it's really not an area that someone will be strolling and shopping. In a separate parking lot is a Kohls, a McDonald's, and a bank.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibxdebe", "text": "It's a lease. Unless it is a large shopping mall, this clause is likely negotiable.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibxj47q", "text": "Likely the Landlord just has that as their default form lease. Put in what hours you operate and it\u2019s probably fine.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibxjyjm", "text": "Typically yes, however in board forms the continuous occupancy clause is sometimes tied to a percentage rent clause, whereas if you aren\u2019t obligated to pay percentage rent and all that entails (reporting sales, continuous occupancy, etc.) then that clause doesn\u2019t apply.\n\nCheck the language throughout the lease carefully to make sure and as always ask an attorney for any legal advice!", "replies": [{"id": "ibxlt6z", "text": "There is no percentage rent clause, rent is priced per sq ft with a 3% annual increase. I'll be having an attorney look over my final draft, for now I have a tenant rep helping me with negotiations but she's out of town for a few days.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibym89n", "text": "It's a boilerplate lease. Strike out or change the clauses that don't work for you. Add in the ones that you need but they don't have. If they won't budge, you have to decide if this place is right for you.\n\nI have a business that's open 4-9 pm weekdays and 9-noon Saturdays. Landlords generally know what to expect from my type of business going in and I've never had pushback on changing those clauses.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]