Two years ago, I moved to my mom’s town to help her with her business and eventually take over. For the past 10 years, she has owned a large consignment store that sells gently used furniture and home accessories. She was doing great during the boom years, but when this recession hit, the business began to struggle, which is when I entered the picture.

I cleaned and renovated the store, created an online presence, re-evaluated our advertising programme and chose more successful avenues. In one year, our sales rose 100 per cent.

A lighting company leased the 3,700-square-foot space next to our 8,000-square-foot space. The problem is the lighting company went out of business, and a woman leased the space and opened a business identical to ours. The woman never came over to introduce herself, so I went there to say hello and to see how we could work together. She was curt and cold. She has taken advantage of all our advertising and done none of her own. When we put up a “sale” sign, she does the same on the same day. All she did was hang an “open for business” sign to zero in on our customers. It’s very frustrating, and we want to know what we can do.

YOU need to read your existing lease, talk to a lawyer and then talk to your landlord.

Many commercial leases have clauses restricting similar businesses from opening in the same mall or complex, much less directly next door. For example, if you owned and operated a specialty wine and cheese store, your lease probably would contain a clause not allowing a competing wine and cheese store to lease in the same building.

It’s surprising that after 10 years of your mom’s leasing her space, the landlord did not call or meet with her to report that this identical business was opening next door. It’s also hard to believe the landlord leased the space not knowing what kind of business was to open.

You may not have the upper hand if your lease doesn’t have a noncompete clause, but hire a commercial real estate lawyer anyway to try to negotiate this new neighbour out of business. If nothing can be done to shut her down, create a sign she can’t take advantage of, such as “Successfully serving our neighbourhood since 2000”.

— Creators News Service