There's a common thing we often talk about when getting into a business, and that's not just about getting any location but getting the perfect one where there are potential clients and demand for the goods or services one is to render.
Yeah, we know this, and it's always highly considered when one wants to get into a business or even expand, but sometimes, the situation of things can just push one into a setting that appears manageable yet may probably crash down in the long run.
Okay, I have an experience with this...
Just yesterday in the afternoon, while I was attending to work, I heard my neighbours chit-chatting about a nearby shop that closed down two days ago, and I was surprised because I had noticed the shop hadn’t been opened for two days, and I thought maybe the owner had gone on a long trip.
So the thing is, finding a shop to rent in my city is very hard. Shops are so scarce that anytime one sees one, they grab it with full force, not minding if the place or street where the shop is located is suitable for the business they want to bring in or not. So yeah, the owner of that shop rented it and brought in the same business that I do, and we were just close neighbours. I won’t lie, I got scared when they moved in because I thought they were going to sweep me off my feet—I mean, take away my clients—because their shop was more studded and well-equipped. But hey, it didn’t go that way. I saw the owner struggling to maintain the run of the business. He wasn’t getting many clients, and with the few ones he had, he struggled to maintain the flow due to how he was employing and firing different staff every now and then.
Long story short, after two years, he realized that he was just paying shop rent with nothing to show for it. I mean, the business was dead—no patronage at all—and most of my clients, whom I feared would switch to my neighbour, remained with me. The obvious reason he had to stop and pack out was because the area was very competitive and very hard for him to cope in. He had just stayed for two years paying shop rent with nothing to show, and he ran at a loss.
Although it also shows that the struggle with maintaining the flow of the business contributed to his downfall, the major problem was the choice of the area he decided to rent the shop. And honestly, it wasn’t entirely his fault because shops are very scarce here, but regardless, it's ideal one do a proper survey before renting a shop.
Thanks for reading.
Image used is mine