Misleading Business names (that you've encountered in your travels)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Let’s limit this to businesses you’ve actually at least driven by yourself, okay?

In NH along route nine towards the capital, one encounters The Town Pump which is neither business that sells pumps of any sort or the hang out of a woman of easy virtue. Instead it sells antiques. Later on one drives past The Jelly Cupboard, which does not sell jelly. It does sell cupboards, however, but I personally thought the jelly was the more important part of the description until I realized what the business was.

What have you seen that doesn’t sell/do what the name suggested to you?

2

People’s Natural Gas, I believe it was in Glenwood Iowa, many years ago. I didn’t stop by, I am assuming it was the local power company (I hope).

3

There’s a store around here called Toy Florist. I still haven’t figured out if they make toys out of flowers or flower arrangements out of toys.

4

There is a shop in Abu Dhabi (or was the last time I was there in 2013) that proudly proclaims itself the “Butt Sweet House”.

It’s a candy store. Make of it what you will.

5

I was confused by “Best Buy” for many years. I had no idea what they sold and never even considered going in. Not “misleading” as much as ambiguous.

6

Toy is a very common surname around here. I drive by a used car lot with the sign Toys (sic). I assume the sign painter charged for punctuation.

7

True Story:
My mother came up to visit and was driving around with my wife Pepper Mill, when she saw a sign at a mall for “The Spice Closet”, and said she wanted to stop in there and see what exotic spices they sold.
My wife gently steered her away from the lingerie store.

Bonus points: There really IS a store not far away that sells exotic spices. The guy who runs it is named – no joke – David Bowie

8

I saw a store in a nearby town called the XXX Flower and Liquor Shop. Unfortunately, it had been closed for a number of years.

9

This just happened yesterday.

My wife and I have been considering getting a barn cat to ward off mice in our out building. Each of us, while out and about separately last week, saw a local farm with a small sign (think yard sign-sized) that said “Barn Cats” with some small print under it and a phone number. So my wife calls, and inquires about their barn cats. The woman on the other end of the phone laughs hysterically. My wife clarifies that she saw their sign and was wondering about their barn cats, and the woman goes “Oh, you’re serious?” My bewildered wife says yeah. The woman says they don’t have any barn cats; they restore old barns, their business is called “Barn Cats.”

She then asks my wife where she got the idea that they sold barn cats. My wife said “From the sign that says barn cats out in front of your house.” The woman started laughing again and my wife hung up. Either they need to change the name of their business or make the fine print on their sign easier to read while driving by on a 55-mile-an-hour country road.

10

Coldwell Banker is not a bank. Never walk into one and ask to be prequalified for a mortgage. BTDT and got the eyerolls to prove it. :smack:

11

Kum & Go. Boy was that awkward.

12

On our summer trips to the Austrian mountains we often come across an advert from a tandem paragliding company called “Icarus”

I’m thinking someone had only a passing knowledge of Greek Mythology.

13

I have the same general thought when I pass signs for Kalahari Water Park. I’m sure they’ve got some oasis theme going or something but nothing about this makes me think “Yay, cool time water fun!”

14

There used to be a place close to where I now live called Art Therapy. I assumed it was a gallery, and the name was variation on the New Age-y concepts of ‘color therapy’ or ‘aroma therapy’.

Wrong. it was the office of a pshrink who’s last name was Art.

15

I’ve always wondered, myself, why they would name a brand of prophylactics after the guys who lost the Trojan War.

Although it might be just as bad if they’d named them after the winners.

16

Not that their logo was and still is the Trojan helmet. That should explain things.

17

There’s a business in town with a weird name I don’t want to know more about.

It’s called D&C Pizza.

18

Duck and Cover? :slight_smile:

19

This one puzzles me too. In the middle of the green, rolling hills of the Wisconsin Dells, sits this paean to a big desert, that is also all about fun in the water. Go figure.

20

Just ewww.