Narrative Essay Writing Sample I

Write a story based on the following: “The owner of a local business takes strong action when threatened by outside competition.”

Mr. Johnson, the owner of the only general store in our neighborhood, was a very rude and mean person. He used to charge very high prices because of his monopoly. Despite his goods being very expensive and of very low quality, the residents of our area, including me, bought from his store as we had no other alternatives. Many a times the items I bought from his store were expired but I had to go on buying from his store.

After many years of misery, a handful of the residents opened a consumer co-operative with much effort and investment. They offered discounts along with good quality products. The staff employed in their general store was also nice, polite and soft-spoken.

The immediate impact on Mr. Johnson’s business was that his sales fell rapidly and he started incurring losses. To cope up with the new threat, he started advertising extensively. He also brought in new merchandise and diversified his product range but even then his market share kept on declining at a great pace. Mr. Johnson was much aggrieved at this and started planning other ways to gain back his lost market share and customers likewise.

Another strategy he used was to sell his goods at extremely lower prices, even lower than his rivals, but for no avail and his rivals kept on gaining more ground. The result of this pricing strategy was even more losses to Mr. Johnson who had no other choice than to sell off his assets and close down the business as he was unable to fend off competition due to his bad behavior and indifference to others’ problems.

Mr. Johnson tried another tactic for the last time. He accosted the members of the consumer co-operative and plead to them about his problems. He told them that he had no alternative bread and butter as nobody would employ him due to his selfish behavior. If the consumer co-operative continues, he will have to move away. The members of the co-operative felt piety for him and told him that they would stop if he discards his previous attitude. Mr. Johnson promised that he would do as they said. Seeing this, the members of the co-operative closed down their store.

Mr. Johnson was back in business but he did not continue his acts but started off in a new manner with the main aim of public welfare with a reasonable profit. Ten years have passed by but Mr. Johnson has abided by his promise and his business is currently a very prosperous one. This is how he was able to fend off competition with much effort.