I have NC'd for this, think I might get flamed.
I sell handmade crafts and soaps, vintage bits and pieces and the odd piece of retro furniture. There are some shabby chic in there as well. I also sell chalk paint. At the moment I am based out of my garage and my kitchen and had been looking at a property for a while.
Moving into a shop will also mean my sister can have an outlet for her dressmaking and haberdashery bits that she sells.
Anyhow, a retail shop close to us became vacant months ago but no one was interested as it had been a really dodgy takeaway. We viewed and worked out that we could afford the rent between the two of us. The only problem was the refitting of the shop, so I approached a builder who I know personally for a quote for a strip out of the kitchen and counter and obligatory fish tank.
Anyhow, he was quite taken up with what we wanted to do. He listened to what we wanted and then gave us a quote which was a little higher than we had expected. We then approached the letting agent, imagine our surprise from being the only person interested to the shop had suddenly been rented out earlier that day. A change of usage notice was posted on the door, so I guessed it was going to be a shop of some kind.
Roll on a few months, and guess who is starting up a business in there selling all of the above? The builder's wife. Guess what she is selling? Exactly the same stock as we were going to have, she is on FB posting about all of her "vintage stock". Guess how they have done the decor? Exactly to our specification.
Am I right to be devastated or AIBU and this is just how people do "business"?