Recently I was taking a class at a local yarn store. While I was there practicing, there was a knitting circle going on. One of the woman is a business owner. She is a master gardener along with a partner. They have been in business for quite some time and have a long list of loyal clients. Recently they made the decision to downscale their business, as they are both getting older.

They have a very recognizable business name that fits their industry. When they made the decision to downsize they did not renew their business registration with the state. Two entrepreneurs scooped up their name and are now operating their own master gardener business. This woman was a bit outraged that they had done that. Many of the other woman in the class expressed sympathy.

This discussion brought up some interesting questions in my mind. When a domain name is not renewed after serving a previous business, it is sometimes purchased by another for various reasons. One of those is business recognition and the possibility of old customers visiting and continuing to be a customer.

Would these same woman feel differently if the discussion had been about an online business? I didn’t ask at the time as I was an outsider to their group. How do you feel about it both from an offline and an online business perspective?