# Businesses you suspect of being fronts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652 "2007-04-25T21:34:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/41 "2007-04-26T08:00:35Z")
There’s a little store in a residential neighborhood near us that sells (Maybe) Hiphop clothing. They have no signage, and they are only open late at night. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/42 "2007-04-26T08:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] I’ve always wondered about the place where I get my breakfast burritos. And I’ve always hoped that whatever they’re doing, they don’t get caught. They make damn fine breakfast burritos. [/QUOTE] Santiago’s? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/43 "2007-04-26T09:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Cyn] There was a run down miniature golf place 30 minutes away from the nearest decent-sized town, middle of nowhere that almost never had anyone parked in front. […] Then they did an elaborate re-model, put in a pond with bumper boats, foutains, **the statue of liberty.** [/QUOTE] :eek: Talk about being connected! Did anybody in New York ever notice it was missing? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/44 "2007-04-26T09:53:40Z")
There’s a 24-hour doughnut shop a mile or so from my apartment. I’ve been known to drop by for a donut or two while burning the midnight oil; the doughnuts are at least three times as good as the ones at my workplace, fresh, and cost about a third as much. A couple nights ago I popped in at about 2:30 in the morning and got a glazed doughnut, a chocolate doughnut and, for the first time, asked for a soda to go along with them. (I don’t buy coffee from places whose “cappucino” comes out of a dispenser.) Well, after I ordered “a Coke” it became immediately clear that he thought I was asking for something completely different and was happy to comply. Yowza! That would explain the four trashy-lookin’ dudes sipping coffee at the tables outside, then. (I didn’t report them because, if someone’s selling coke on Broadway at 2:30 in the morning, I’d rather they do it at a donut shop than in a back alley.) > [@Chotii](#): > > Once I stopped by when the door was open, and was run out by a man who didn’t bother to veil his hostility and my unwelcome. I had a similar experience at a seemingly customer-free diner the other day, and for a moment I thought they might be a front for something… And then I realized that I was very visibly driving a white Cadillac at the time. No, they probably wouldn’tve wanted to send me away! 😉 > [@Kythereia](#): > > Nobody’s said Starbucks yet? You’re kidding, right? If not, I’d be delighted to hear your reasoning. Seriously. My dream is to see Starbucks crash and burn. > [@Sublight](#): > > Tokyo, Los Angeles and Langley. Can’t get your crime much more organized than that. Really? If I were running an international crime syndicate, I think Langley would be one of the last places I’d wanna build a branch in. > [@jellyblue](#): > > In a neighborhood where successful business regularly close up shop because the rent is too high, there is nestled…wait for it… > > a used magazine store. Yep, they are asking us to believe they sell the old, out of date magazines collecting dust in the window even though no one goes in or comes out. > > In this hip, trendy neighborhood there is also a Bingo Store with astounding square footage. Apparently, lots and lots of the hot gay young guys and other assorted Gen Y-ers are really really into bingo supplies. > > Still not enough? How about Irish Collectibles? > > Why not just put up a sign: “Money Laundered Here”? Heh…are these all in Hillcrest? Jeez, a _Bingo store_? Come on, people. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Turns out what they really do is cash checks and sell MO. What’s MO? ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoderk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cryptoderk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoderk)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/45 "2007-04-26T10:52:23Z")
Around here, there’s plenty of “hand car washes”… They tend to have about ten employees that spend at least ten minutes (so almost two man hours) on your car for £5. Something’s up - but they’re good at washing cars, so I’m not complaining. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/46 "2007-04-26T11:13:12Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] What’s MO? [/QUOTE] Missouri, _modus operandi_, molecular orbital… I’m guessing from context he meant “money order” though. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/47 "2007-04-26T11:41:30Z")
Not far from where I live there’s a barber shop amongst other businesses in a well-to-do town. It almost never has customers, and when you actually see someone besides the barber, it seems more like there’s conversation than actual hair cutting. The shop looks bare-bones, fairly dingy, and unwelcoming. The shop rents in that area are so expensive that many shops are having to move out, but this no-business barber stays open. Meanwhile, other hair salons and even a standard old-style barber shop nearby get a lot of business. My husband used to deliver the mail along that route and confirmed never seeing customers, but wondered what went on in the back room. We suspect it’s some kind of Mafia front. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/48 "2007-04-26T11:41:33Z")
There’s a restaurant in NYC called Rice to Riches, they sell rice pudding. That’s it, different flavors of rice pudding. From a pretty sizable space, with really high class decor,[look, a picture!](http://gonyc.about.com/cs/atozindex/gr/ricetoriches.htm) How can you run a profitable business in a high rent district, with a big space, selling only rice pudding? Then, the owners get busted for running a big sports book operation, and I figured it all out. Of course, I was wrong, because the store is still running years after the bust. I still can’t figure out how they make money. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/49 "2007-04-26T11:55:07Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Really? If I were running an international crime syndicate, I think Langley would be one of the last places I’d wanna build a branch in. [/QUOTE] Yeah, too much competition there already. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/50 "2007-04-26T12:19:44Z")
This reminds me of a front operation i saw, many years ago as a child, in South Boston, MA. It was a corner variety store-they had a few boxes of corn flakes-with boxes so old they were turning yellow! Add a few cans of campbells, soups, franks and beans-again with ancient fly-spotted labels. And the penny candy was bleaching out. if you tried to buy something, the owner would snarl at you-it was pretty obvious it was a bookie joint and nothing else! ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/51 "2007-04-26T12:22:12Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] There’s a restaurant in NYC called Rice to Riches, they sell rice pudding. That’s it, different flavors of rice pudding. From a pretty sizable space, with really high class decor,[look, a picture!](http://gonyc.about.com/cs/atozindex/gr/ricetoriches.htm) How can you run a profitable business in a high rent district, with a big space, selling only rice pudding? Then, the owners get busted for running a big sports book operation, and I figured it all out. Of course, I was wrong, because the store is still running years after the bust. I still can’t figure out how they make money. [/QUOTE] How many floors above - all legitimate rentals ? ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/52 "2007-04-26T12:26:18Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] After two more weeks I had my wife go in and try to buy some fish, just out of curiosity. Again, “not for sale”. I don’t know what their business is, but it damn sure ain’t tropical fish sales. [/QUOTE] Maybe the fish just aren’t on sale _for you_. You know you’ve got that suspicious, “I’m gonna hug 'em and squeeze 'em, my cute little fishies” look about you. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/53 "2007-04-26T12:28:41Z")
There was a CD store that sold CDS so cheap that everyone knew it was a front. Sure enough, eventually busted for drugs. I got a lotta of CDs there. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/54 "2007-04-26T12:46:34Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] I’ve always wondered about the place where I get my breakfast burritos. And I’ve always hoped that whatever they’re doing, they don’t get caught. They make damn fine breakfast burritos. [/QUOTE] Speaking of Denver, years ago when I lived in the West Highlands neighborhood, there was a pinata store at the corner of 38th and Tennyson. Never saw anyone go in there, ever. As the neighborhood was gentrifying, and the area’s Mexican-American population were cashing out and hightailing it to Brighton, the store moved to a new, larger location a block or so away. The place just screamed “front”. I mean, can someone make enough money selling pinatas to maintain a storefront in an increasingly pricey neighborhood, while still having enough left over for their own paycheck? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/55 "2007-04-26T13:00:35Z")
[hijack] **Stuffy** – if you’re still reading, think about what you want to do with that $240 bonsai. For $240, that’s probably a very nice tree with some age, and you (probably) can’t keep it going sitting it on your desk like it’s some kind of spider plant. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/56 "2007-04-26T14:06:09Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] How can you run a profitable business in a high rent district, with a big space, selling only rice pudding? [/QUOTE] Volume, volume, volume. I told a friend of mine that I got a pizza from a shop in town and couldn’t believe they had any repeat business. The pizza was awful. When I named the shop, he laughed at me. Seems I am the only person around who doesn’t know they sell bags o’ weed, not pizza. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/57 "2007-04-26T14:32:15Z")
Heh. The summer after our senior year of high school (1991), my best friend Alex got a job as a waiter at an Italian restaurant that specialized in seafood. It was kind of out of the way, not close to any other restaurants or shopping centers. It looked unassuming from the outside, but the interior decor was very nice. The food was terrific and reasonably priced (I ate there a few times), yet the place was never crowded. Getting the picture? The funniest thing about this place, though, was the customer base. It was, I shit you not, all olive-skinned, heavyset guys in dark, double-breasted suits. And it was a pretty tight group - Alex estimated they served 80% of their meals to the same 50 or 60 people. The customers were always wonderfully polite to Alex, and usually left good tips. Sometimes those tips were _literally_ “tips” – Maryland is a big horse racing state, and the tip would be “Hey kid, keep the change and \ _bet on Fever Dream to place this Saturday_.” One Friday morning he showed up to work around 11:00AM. He found the restaurant locked, and through the windows he could see that every bit of furniture was gone. He had worked the night before, so all this had happened in the last 12 hours. One of his co-workers was at the door with a stack of envelopes, which he rifled through before holding one out to Alex with Alex’s name handwritten on it. In response to Alex’s confused stare, he said “Terry paid me to stay here until five and hand these out.” The envelope contained two crisp $100 bills, Alex’s severance package from his summer at the Mob restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/58 "2007-04-26T14:51:02Z")
Arby’s. Well, no, not really, but I’ve never seen a busy one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/59 "2007-04-26T15:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] It’s scary how often The Onion is out ahead with things like [this](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how) article about Radio Shack’s business model. [/QUOTE] A former coworker sent that to my husband yesterday. We both spent nine years at Radio Shack’s corporate headquarters and we always wondered how the place stayed in business. Even with our employee discount we didn’t shop there, and there’s a store right on the corporate campus. I think the only thing my husband ever went in there for was coffee at Starbucks. (The corporate campus had not one, but two Starbucks.) In truth, they did get plenty of business. They processed thousands of orders just for the cellular carriers every day (my job involved the electronic communications between RS and their vendors.) I think the company was or is in a slow decline. Multi-billion dollar corporations just don’t fall that fast. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652/60 "2007-04-26T15:12:37Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] You’re kidding, right? If not, I’d be delighted to hear your reasoning. Seriously. My dream is to see Starbucks crash and burn. [/QUOTE] Well, if I told you _everything_ I know… Just kidding you. Sorry. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/401652.md?page=4)