Assuming the door says “open”, and doesn’t say “by appointment only”, presumably they want your business. But the door being closed, it having no windows, or being in a strange neighborhood, may make you hesitant.
Have you ever felt this way? Are there any businesses where this is intentional?
You’ve been asking some strange questions lately.
I’d say if a business is displaying an “Open” sign and the door is unlocked, they expect people to walk in. Assuming it’s normal business hours, of course.
Thanks for noticing 
I’m thinking most adult bookstores and “novelty” shops (funny, they used to advertise “marital aids”) are like this. Is that the type of place you mean?
Well, except for those weird restaurants that keep coming up on this board that seem to be mob fronts or something.
If you enter a business with a genuine interest in shopping there and you obey any reasonable requests by the owner (e.g. no pets), then entering should be considered polite.
If you’re just going in there to gawk or eat some free samples, I’d consider that impolite, personally.
The only time I’m hesitant is when it’s when the store front looks more like a converted residence then an actual store. When you get the feeling the owner might live upstairs and probably doesn’t get a lot of customers. Sometimes in these cases I almost feel like I should knock first.
Here’s a place that I pass near my house. If I wanted to go in there, I might feel like I had to knock or call first. Especially if the front door (the storm door, not the screen door) was closed.
Similarly, if you’ve ever seen those blue on white bumper stickers that say “I Closed Wolski’s” there from here. Not the most inviting place from the outside. If you head there during the day when the place isn’t hopping. You might not be sure if it’s even open. Do you just walk in? It’s basically just a regular front door like you’d find on a house (except there’s no knob and it opens out, but it looks normal as you approach it). It’s Wednesday at 2 in the afternoon, no one is going in or out, it looks dark inside, you can see someone wiping down the bar, but you can’t see any patrons from where you stand…what do you do? Walk in and see if they’re open, pull on the door and see if it’s locked, wait and see if someone else goes in first or comes out to smoke, go in and risk being told to leave because they’re not open until 6?
If you open the door and see guys in suits with earpieces then it’s a CIA sting operation. Back out slowly and close the door.
Or someone saying “Why don’t you take a seat over there…so, why do you have a backpack full of condoms and Mike’s Hard Lemonade”
We went to Chattanooga TN over the weekend, and found the Fireside Grille. There were no windows, well, maybe one, but it was blacked out, and the building looked like it was designed as a bowling alley in the 60s.
The sign said it was open, but we didn’t like the looks of the place (my 14-year old daughter was with us). Had I known about the reviews in the link, I would’ve at least looked in (although it says it’s a smoker’s paradise, which I hate, and it’s not a good place for kids).
In general, I never even notice these businesses. All the ones I’ve seen like this really aren’t that open to the public.
