Neighbors turned the other way around
Recently, I visited the home of one of my coursemates. We sat in her elder sister's retail shop as we discussed about school and other topics. Her sister's shop was located on the ground floor of the three-story building in which they lived. It also contained three other flats that were all occupied by other families.
As we were talking, she pointed at a middle-aged woman that had just passed the shop. According to her, this woman hardly patronizes her their shop even though they had been neighbors for almost two years. She prefers to go buy similar stuff elsewhere across the road.
This was not the first time I had heard of a case like this and I don't know why it happens this way.
Sometimes last year, a member of my extended family who is a hair stylist complained how some guys whom he was very friendly with prefer having an haircut at some other barbershop. And these are the same guys that would always run to his salon to boost the battery of their mobile phones whenever there's a prolonged power failure.
I wondered whether these were cases of "familiarity breeding contempt" or could it be a case of jealousy. I mean if my neighbor opens a business or starts offering a service, the least I could do is to support him. In fact it would be my utmost pleasure to patronise him because I would stand to achieve an optimum customer satisfactionion by virtue of the relationship between us.
Maybe this could be one of the reasons why some successful entrepreneurs never considered the idea of setting up a business in an area where they are well known by the people around. This is because of the fear that some people wouldn't be happy seeing you grow richer than them or make steady progress and they might start plotting ways to run down the business.
I might be wrong though, it's very possible that the neighbor already have a relative, friend, or old-time customer operating the same business. An old seller that has been providing them with the best customer experience long before her sister opened her own business. And I don't see anything wrong in that since everyone has their preferences and also the right to exercise their will. No one owes anyone anything you know.
By the way, it's quite understandable if one skip his neighbors shop and go buy elsewhere. You wouldn't have the free mind to haggle the price of a product as much as you would like since the person selling it is someone you know personally. But when buying at a stranger's shop, you have the liberty to haggle and beat the price down without feeling shy. And if the seller refuse to sell at the ridiculous price you are offering, you can always walk away. But the situation might be quite awkward if the person was someone as close as a neighbor and this could affect the relationship between the both of you afterwards.
It could also be that the problem was from her sister. Probably the young lady might not be that nice. It's possible that she's not the type that smiles often, maybe the introverted type. You see, business especially small scale retailing is very competitive. It's entails more than just stocking your store with assorted goods just so you could attract buyers. Having excellent communication skills and been cordial even to much younger buyers goes a long way in determining one's success in such a business.
I remember when I was younger, mom would insist I buy the milk and bread for breakfast from a particular shop even if there were two other shops that sold the same products and were closer to our house. Apart from the fact that she had the best attitude, I later found out that items from this particular lady's shop were cheaper than the two other shops whose owners always hike the prices of their goods unnecessarily.
I wouldn't care if my neighbor ignores my shop and decides to go patronize someone else. But if when they are broke and want to buy something on credit, they shouldn't dare come to my shop.
Thank you.
There are so many reasons for this. Familiarity.
Loyalty to the other person over you. (Maybe there were times they had no money and this person gave them credit. They can't forget it in a hurry.)
Sometimes, they don't trust the person to do the job better than the person they have been used to (the case of the barbing) and they want to avoid anything that can bring about confrontation.
Some people are just terrible with supporting friends 😂😂🤣...that's another reason.
The truth is, I can't understand what goes on in other people's heads because it can really be annoying when you see your friends pass you over to other places. Maybe they aren't friends afterall but I would rather patronize my friends and give an honest feed back than go to a place I've always been going because I don't want to "change".