Someone I supported is now opening a rival business

[Bluebells81]

I run a small retail business. Not an easy way to make a living. I've been working hard for 2 years and am now just about making minimum wage.

As part of the business I sell items made by other people. Over the summer I worked with a lady who'd been made redundant get started with selling. I tried very hard to be supportive because from experience I know that redundancy can be a really mentaly tough time.

Anyway, I've just learnt that she now plans to take a shop lease across the road and open a business that competes directly with mine. I'm gutted. There really isn't enough money in our small town to support both of us.
There are so many other places she could have done this - why directly across the road!? As well as being a bad business move it also seems just plain rude!

Having just started to get on my feet, this feels like a massive blow.
I know I am going to have to start protecting my business and tell clients that they can only sell with me if they don't sell with her. It all feels like it is going to end badly and cause upset in this small town.

Should I try and put her off and point out to her that I'm hardly making any money after 2 yrs?
Is there anything else I can do?

Or is this just life and I should suck it up and knuckle down?

I’m sorry you’re struggling OP as the current climate is awful for small businesses. Especially small businesses in small towns. Most high streets are dead and gone and will never recover.

However, as annoying as it is for a rival business to be set up across from you, just concentrate on your business. Thats all you can do. If you’re confident you have a good business a rival shouldn’t be a threat.

That’s really upsetting considering you have supported her. I don’t think there is anything you can do. Just keep going & hope she doesn’t steal customers from you.

You might find that now there are two similar shops more people come into your town for your kind of trade. Direct competition isn't always a bad thing in retail. I hope it works that way for you.

This.

Clusters of a particular type of business can increase business overall as they become the default destination for demand for that product.

Think Hatton Garden, Jermyn Street, Harley Street, Savile Row, Tottenham Court Road, Silicon Valley…

I would wait and see what happens op because at the moment it's all hearsay it seems. I hope your ok and completely understand why you feel the way you do. You are already an established business which puts you on a good footing, could you add more products/diversified stock and increase your social media presence especially on Tiktok. I would also recommend opening up a website to sell from then you will have further reach. Do you have a Google business account for advertising and reviews? Could you hold a cheese and wine evening inviting local businesses to team up with etc and you could offer loyal customers a loyalty card.

Good luck op and hope my thoughts help you in some way.

That's just life. You could always find a job somewhere if running a business is too hard or there's too much competition. 🙄

That’s a good point. Although my instant reaction was to think about putting her windows in.

“Follow me for more motivational tips…”

@MakeYourOwnSunshine I have a job - one which i work hard at and is an asset to the community - which is the point of the post. For the purposes of this post and to avoid identification, it sounds like I run a gift shop. It isn't a gift shop.

@Ladymuckypuddle thanks - you have the right attitude. I guess I'm a bit stressed with half term and didn't need an extra thing on my plate. Need to look for opportunities and improve my marketing. Hopefully what @NoFiller said will be true.

That’s incredibly rude and very unhelpful. Perhaps you should take a look at your user name and maybe follow the advice. Or change your name to something a bit more appropriate.

I think that reliability and recognition will be your strong suit in this upcoming battle of the shops.

We have several small, independent shops in my village. The ones that are doing best are the ones who open reliably at set days and times, advertise on Facebook and via word of mouth.

There are frequently posts on our local FB page from some small business owners bemoaning the low footfall and cries of 'support small businesses' but then they treat it like a hobby and open on Tuesday 12-3, Thursdays 10-2 and Saturdays 3-6 - WTF.

If your rival is just starting out on this new path, she might be ill prepared for the hard work required. It might fall apart for her pretty sharpish, with zero input from you.

Totally unnecessary and unsupportive post.

It feels like it's unfortunate it's so geographically close to your business. Though surely while working together you knew her intention was to start selling in a similar market to you as you helped her.

I'd say to fall out over it wouldn't really help though. You need to focus on making yours the best in the area. It's unusual for there to be only one of any type of business in a town so maybe the competition won't be a terrible thing.

If you and her together with other small businesses help make the high street a shopping destination, then having a few businesses of a similar type near eachother can actually attract footfall overall.

Though in this climate it's never going to be easy.

It's tricky - I wonder whether from her point of view, your supportive attitude means that she assumes you are quite secure and successful, and you were happy to help her, so perhaps she thinks this is a natural progression? She might indeed be assuming, as a PP says, that having two shops nearby will increase rather than decrease trade.

I’m sorry you’re facing this position, but you might want to get legal advice around telling suppliers they can’t supply to her if supplying you. Competition law usually frowns on this - but there might be ways to do it legally through exclusivity contracts. But definitely get legal advice or she could sue you which is the last thing you’d want!

A good deed never goes unpunished, does it?

However, her business is not open yet so are there things you can do so your business is not entirely reliant on bricks and mortar?

I think the most successful independent shops now seem to have an amazing social media presence. It’s probably a different area to yours but have a look at the Botanical Candle Company on insta. Gorgeous shop in Shaftesbury, but also huge mail order side, which I believe has grown mostly from SM. (I don’t work for them, just a frequent visitor!)

Are there any locally planning or training laws that prevent this? I’d check with your local council planning department just in case.

How would there be? Sainsbury's aren't prohibited from opening across the road from Tesco if they want to. In our high street there are four hairdressing salons within around 25 yards of each other!

@Bluebells81 I think you have to do as much as you can, as soon as you can, to ensure you have a good database of your customers, so that you can encourage their loyalty - perhaps with some kind of event or loyalty scheme?

On the positive side, you've inspired her and that's something really lovely.

The fact you say it's a struggle, she doesn't know this yet, but you are established and have/are working hard to overcome this.

Id wish her well, stay friendly, but also be aware she may come to fish for tips. You are not in business with her, so prepare for this and just keep on working hard and let her find her own way.

I doubt very much if business is slow, hers will be different but a new fresh shop might attract more customers and that will benefit you both.

I think some councils do like to preserve individuality for standalone shops like the OPs. It depends very much on the council.

That's shitty.

But it's business. For many.

A clothes shop I go into was in competition with another one and the same street (different styles) and they talked to each other. Then a junk sort of shop opened which sold vintage clothes on the same street. Now one of the clothes shops has closed down, unsure why as it was popular.

What is the business?

Do not bad mouth her or tell your clients not to go to her, that will make you look bad. Just make your business the best it can be, great service, competitive pricing etc.

We had the exact same thing happen in our town. A well established and popular dress agency on the high street, and then a woman she used to work with went and set up a "rival" dress agency across the road. The dress agency which was opened by the rival didn't last long at all - literally a month. The original shop was well established and had loyal customers and plenty of people who would take her their clothes/shoes (including myself) for her to sell on their behalf, whereas the other shop just didn't have enough footfall once their friends and family members had run through it. So just because it's there doesn't mean it will last!

Another thing the original shop did was start doing more online selling - she spent some time growing her instagram page, on Facebook, set up a better website for her stock. She's now more successful than she was before to be honest! Could this be an option for you though?

As an aside, though, sending lots of sympathy. It feels a really shitty thing for someone to do, especially when you've built something up from scratch and you've helped them. Been there myself and really empathise with how you'll be feeling.