Lesson for successful retailers--watch your back

The Washington Business Journal reports that the owner of the building where Results Gym is located at 1612 U Street NW, is starting his own Fitness Chain, including a site in the Verizon Center, and he intends to boot Results out at the end of the lease in 2011, and restart one of his branches in the same location. See "Gym owners face space race in beefed-up market." Also see "Gay gym owners spar over Results’ U Street location (Gay)Results’ Jefferies says landlord von Storch is envious and ‘jealous’" from the Washington Blade.

It turns out that the property owner also owns Capitol City Brewing Company. Hmm, by then I'll have to hire myself out to Results to create a "corporate campaign." I think it would be pretty fun to have people out flyering every customer walking in to various CC locations about what a lousy owner they have, who runs out other independent businesses.

Frankly, with 5 years before the end of his lease, I imagine the Results owner will retain good lawyers. There is something here about misuse by the property owner of information provided in good faith in the context of the lease. I don't know if there's some "conspiracy" thing here.

An early corporate campaign flyer... image from the Anti-Discrimination Campaign from the early 1950s. This campaign culminated in the District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Company case, which when ruled upon by the Supreme Court, brought about the integration of public accommodations in DC in 1953. (Image from a flyer in the Moorland-Spingarn Collection at Howard University.) You can't equate the two issues, but still there is precedent vis-a-vis the owner of Capitol City Brewing Company, which, I will say, has good beer.

Index Keywords: retail; property-management