Non-competes are pretty standard in retail leasing. It has NOTHING to do with "the big boys throwing their weight around". In many ways it has to do with who gets there first. If Mom & Pops sub shop was the first one there, they could have it too. You also pay a lease premium for that kind of protection. It also helps the person leasing the property. If you have a strip property and somebody opens up a sub shop, then somebody else opens up another sub shop and then somebody else opens yet another one..no matter how you dice it..there will only be so much customer traffic and instead on one successful sub shop who's succeeding and paying his rent, you wind up with 3 shops who are barely making it..or NOT making it, and the strip owner's the loser when they bail out.
They are also very common when a business sells out to a new owner. If for example you own an Italian restaurant and you decide to sell it, there will almost always be a non-compete agreement, so you can't sell your business to a new owner, and then open up a brand new Italian restaurant just a block down the street from the guy you sold it to and compete against him.
There's nothing sinister about it. It has nothing to do with "robber barons". It has nothing to do with the "big boys" throwing their weight around. It has EVERYTHING to do with smart business practices.
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