# Opinion: If Your Business Needs to Push Others Down, Is It Really a Business Worth Supporting?

There is an old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats. In a small town like ours, that couldn't be more true.

This week, a local business owner was seen removing one business's flyer from the front of a community brochure rack and deliberately placing their own flyer in front of it. There was no shortage of space. Their own business already had a position in the rack. This wasn't about finding somewhere to display information—it was about making sure someone else's wasn't seen.

Fortunately, someone witnessed it happen.

Without saying a word, they quietly restored the display to the way it should have been.

That simple act of honesty spoke louder than the original act ever could.

Sadly, this isn't an isolated incident. Businesses have long whispered about brochures disappearing, signs being moved, advertising being covered and opportunities quietly undermined. Usually there is no proof. This time, there was.

We're not naming names. We don't need to.

The person involved already knows exactly who they are.

What deserves attention isn't the individual—it is the mindset.

If your business strategy relies on making another business less visible, less successful or less competitive, perhaps it is time to ask a difficult question:

If your business can't survive without hurting someone else's, what exactly are you offering your customers?

Good businesses don't fear competition.

They welcome it.

Competition drives better service, better value, better ideas and a stronger community. It encourages businesses to improve themselves rather than spend their energy trying to diminish someone else.

The opposite is true of petty sabotage.

Moving a flyer may seem insignificant, but it reveals something much bigger. It says, "I don't believe my business can stand on its own merits." That's a message no business owner should ever want to send.

Back in July 2025 we published an opinion piece discussing the way some businesses attempt to claim public space as though it belongs exclusively to them. The issue wasn't really about containers or displays—it was about respect. Respect for shared spaces, for fair competition and for the understanding that every local business is trying to make a living.

Unfortunately, the lesson appears to have been lost on some.

Our community deserves better than backroom tactics and schoolyard behaviour disguised as business.

Imagine if the same effort spent undermining competitors was invested into improving customer service, upgrading products, supporting community events or creating something genuinely better. Everyone would benefit.

The strongest businesses earn loyalty.

They don't steal attention.

Customers are remarkably good at recognising authenticity. They remember businesses that contribute positively to the community. They also remember those whose success seems to come at someone else's expense.

Every business owner has a choice.

Build your reputation by offering something worth talking about.

Or build it by quietly trying to silence someone else.

One earns respect.

The other simply earns a reputation.

In a town where word travels faster than advertising ever could, that is a choice worth thinking carefully about.