# More businesses you suspect of being fronts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985 "2013-11-15T15:05:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![parsnip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parsnip/32/4564_2.png) [@parsnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parsnip)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/41 "2013-11-17T12:11:31Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Back in the mid 1980s, I spent about four years at a job in the Chatsworth district of the San Fernando Valley. At the time there were a lot of light industrial concerns, warehouses, and so on; this may still be the case but I haven’t been up there in years. Bugle Boy Jeans had its factory there, as did Arco Solar, Infinity Home Audio, and several others–including the Pioneer Photograph Album Company. Out of all these companies, PPAC was the one encircled by the nastiest, most brutal razor wire perimeter I’ve ever seen. Now a photo album, by itself, isn’t particularly valuable or expensive, so why was it this place that went to the greatest lengths to repel intruders? It looked more like a storage and transfer point for a large illegal drugs operation. > > It turns out they’re still in Chatsworth but they seem to have dialed back the visible security. I’m not sure they’re in the same building anymore. PPAC is a going concern–they are stocked in Michaels craft stores and I believe they make a lot of branded stuff for the designers of custom scrapbooks. Maybe with scrap booking starting to cycle down as a nationwide hobby, they can’t afford so much security. anything that is a national brand for a niche market ends up on eBay or trading boards at a “discount”. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/42 "2013-11-17T13:53:13Z")
Update from original thread: The [Collectibles Shop](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8523314&postcount=96) I talked about quietly closed a few years ago. An Italian restaurant moved into the building and is currently doing a brisk business. I don’t think they’re a front for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/43 "2013-11-17T14:34:04Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > The founder of Domino’s is anti-abortion and has supported anti-abortion groups. However, he no longer owns Domino’s. > [Domino's Pizza and Operation Rescue | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/dominos.asp) And I knew about that, but Monaghan hasn’t owned or been associated with Domino’s for over a decade (since 1998.) I was wondering if someone had a problem with some other political issue relating to Domino’s since that one is such old news I assumed anyone who cared enough to boycott a company over it would keep informed on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/44 "2013-11-17T15:10:37Z")
“Nail Salons” There are enough that pop up by me in every small store that closes that I’m suspicious that its even Possible for so many to be in business. Its like there is 1 shop for every 3 women drawing breath in this state, including toddlers and nursing home patients. Very few of them Ever have cars parked outside of them. Gambling fronts? Pharmaceutical distribution locations? Money laundering? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure they can’t make a profit doing nails w/o customers. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/45 "2013-11-17T19:39:15Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Flashers do seem to be on the low end of the criminal IQ scale. Locally, i can recall: > > - the flasher who stationed himself on the walking path from a hospital to the nursing students’ dorm. He disappeared after about 3 days of nurses who said they just ‘pointed and laughed’. > - the flasher who hung around the employee parking lot of the vasectomy clinic. He left after employees offered to ‘shave that for him’. > - and the flasher who left, disappointed by the lack of reaction from pairs of women coming out to their cars, he was hanging out in the dark parking lot of … the largest lesbian bar in the cities. > > These criminals don’t seem to put much thought into location. I’ve heard about women flashers who liked to do that to truck drivers, until recent years when large numbers of women have entered that line of work. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/46 "2013-11-17T20:03:50Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I was driving in the rural South one time when I came upon an “Antiques” shop inside what looked like an old barn. Fair enough, rural and small-town areas in the US tend to have a lot of antiques shops, but normally not in barns. A converted farmhouse maybe, but not the barn. Anyway, the “antiques” were basically consumer junk from the past few decades, not real “antiques”. They had a book collection, and I eventually selected one or two novels from the 1930’s, almost certainly not worth much on the resale market, and besides, they _smelled_! I went looking for the cashier, and the only staff appeared to be a bunch of people sitting around chatting. No cash register. I inquired about buying, they quoted some ridiculously small price like 50 cents or something, I happened to have exact change, and the one who took it just shoved it in their pocket, no receipt, nothing. Boy did that book reek! Guess that’s what happens when you store it in a barn with no climate control for 10 years. I have "seen many of these Äntique Shops…one in Stoughton MA appeared to have their stock from the local dump. I cannot imagine anyone buying any of the crap they had for sale. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/47 "2013-11-18T00:09:40Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I suspect a _ **lot** _ of churches are not legit. I figure it’s the _perfect_ front organization, since you don’t have to worry about inventory, bookkeeping, etc. “Oh, look… Gertrude donated another $5000 last Sunday. She is so sweet.” I laughed at this when I first read it, because the idea of a non-profit front sounded so silly, at least if we’re talking organised crime, and churches are hierarchical. You can’t just open or take over a, say, Methodist church without the governing structure knowing and caring. “Eh, Luigi, I have a new racket to launder money, we’ll give it away. The IRS will never catch on because nobody claims charitable deductions.” Bahaha. Then I thought maybe you knew something I don’t-- your post sounded _so_ **sure** , I mean you _suspect_ a **lot** of churches are fronts-- so I googled. Turns out that I couldn’t find a church that was a front, but one of them has fronts. You guessed it, it’s the Church of Scientology, which, according to Wikipedia, controls entities such as the Cult Awareness Network. That’s in addition to well-known CoS fronts like self help operations for recruiting, of course. > **[Front organization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_organization#Scientology)** > > A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group, thereby allowing them to hide certain activities from the authorities or the public. > Front organizations that appear to be ... ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/48 "2013-11-18T00:59:32Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > I figure it’s far more benign than prostitution or drugs. That’s the sort of thinking which opposed Rev. Hill of New Rochelle’s North Avenue Presbyterian in the '60s. Turned out he and his “irregulars” were dealing with The Mob. Kinda funny when you realize wholesome Rob & Laura Petrie were living in a city where The Mob was running a numbers racket out of practically every other corner downtown. Funnier if you imagine Laura as one of the irregulars. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/49 "2013-11-18T02:42:54Z")
I work in retail and if you came into my store 10 months out of the year you’d think we were a front. We do 95% of our business in a 2 month period. The rest of the year is just babysitting the store really. Having said that, I have noticed some seeming fronts nearby. In the city centre in particular there are lots of tiny internet cafes that offer access for €1 an hour. Like with as few as 8 computers. Even if say every customer is only spending 15 minutes on a computer there’s not exactly much profit going through and presumably rents are pretty high in the centre of town. Also, my friend pointed this out, sex shops have proliferated in Dublin in recent years. Because of Catholic fuddyduddiness we didn’t have too many until recent years. Neither of us can figure out why there would be a market for so many sex shops when there’s an internet that has all the porn you want for free and also any paraphernalia you might want too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/50 "2013-11-18T02:45:27Z")
To further note, my cousin runs a legit nail bar, but he has found that off-the-books payment, not paying minimum wage to staff etc. is rife in the industry. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/51 "2013-11-18T02:47:54Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I work in retail and if you came into my store 10 months out of the year you’d think we were a front. We do 95% of our business in a 2 month period. The rest of the year is just babysitting the store really. > > Having said that, I have noticed some seeming fronts nearby. In the city centre in particular there are lots of tiny internet cafes that offer access for €1 an hour. Like with as few as 8 computers. Even if say every customer is only spending 15 minutes on a computer there’s not exactly much profit going through and presumably rents are pretty high in the centre of town. > > Also, my friend pointed this out, sex shops have proliferated in Dublin in recent years. Because of Catholic fuddyduddiness we didn’t have too many until recent years.\*\* Neither of us can figure out why there would be a market for so many sex shops when there’s an internet that has all the porn you want for free and also any paraphernalia you might want too.\*\* Import/shipping restrictions? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/52 "2013-11-18T02:59:10Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Neither of us can figure out why there would be a market for so many sex shops when there’s an internet that has all the porn you want for free and also any paraphernalia you might want too. I always have a vague idea modern sex-shops are fronts for…something? Given the ubiquity of porn on the internet and the fact that you can order toys online without the awkwardness of having to make eye-contact with a bored store-clerk while buying that extra-large tri-dildo with ridges, it seems like there are much better options for buying the same thing. Granted there’s probably a thin slice of the population that have money to pay for porn but can’t afford internet access, and I guess if you need a dildo _right now_ and can’t wait, mail-order won’t cut it. But I wouldn’t think those cases would make enough business in most places. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/53 "2013-11-18T03:16:15Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The mall near my house has a store run by a Pakistani or Indian man that sells blingy purses, blankets, and stuffed animals. I walk at the mall several times a week for exercise, and I have never seen any customers in there, or anyone else working there either. \ This could describe my questions about Merle Norman. They were always located in expensive mall locations and had fancy furnishings, but very few customers could be seen. I could only guess that their stuff was so expensive that they didn’t need a lot of business. Bob ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/54 "2013-11-18T03:17:31Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Import/shipping restrictions? I haven’t explored that option, possible, though unlikely. We’re part of the EU. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/55 "2013-11-18T03:43:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s little places like that in my town too. I suspect that they make most of their money off of local businesses and/or government offices, and the occasional walk-in isn’t really where their profit is centered. A lot of businesses don’t have walk-in customers at all, but they need (or think they need) public offices/storefronts. They probably have clients in by appointment as needed. I’ve run several legit businesses out of my home that had 0 customers or no in-person contact with customers. If I felt the need to rent an office, I guess I’d appear the same way. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/56 "2013-11-18T03:58:34Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > There’s a place by where I live called IBM Office Solutions. In the street view it looks like there is an attached house in the back. I’m guessing that’s his house and he owns the lot. Likely he opened the shop back in the '80s and he has a few clients he still works with. It’s probably more of a retirement/hobby business than anything else. I think there are a lot of businesses where the owner owns the building and doesn’t really need to make a profit. As long as the inventory doesn’t expire, it doesn’t really matter if they make a lot of money. Book stores, curio shops, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/57 "2013-11-18T05:03:09Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > To further note, my cousin runs a legit nail bar, but he has found that off-the-books payment, not paying minimum wage to staff etc. is rife in the industry. I have a friend who puts gas stations in malls. According to her, the mall contracts are pretty arcane, and have clauses that say effectively ‘you pay us x per month and y percent of your gross.’ She mentioned that most mall based nail salons are only able to get by if they keep two sets of books since they are independently run. Anchor stores, gas stations, and other ‘big name’ stores get better rates. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/58 "2013-11-18T11:07:56Z")
Empty restaurants, especially ethnic restaurants, may do the bulk of their business catering for events within the community. I know some ethnic restaurants here that only have a few tables and rarely have more than a couple dishes available, but they do booming business with weddings and events. And many of these places keep costs down by using family labor. I have a friend who worked at a sketchy-looking rug store. They do a lot of business online (mostly on ebay), but most of their money comes from custom jobs. Wealthy clients will order tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise at a time to outfit their homes. The storefront is more of a combination of warehouse and office than a retail facility, and drop in sales are incidental. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/59 "2013-11-18T17:20:13Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > There’s a place by where I live called IBM Office Solutions. They sell and service business printers and stuff. The building, to say nothing of the business model, looks like it was transported from 1985. The thing is, the real estate on Hawthorne Street, in that location…there’s just no possible way that store is making more money than they would selling that lot. [Here it is](http://goo.gl/maps/gzJa2) if you want to take a look at the area in question. It’s an upscale hip area with lots of bars and restaurants and quaint clothing shops. I’ve never seen a single person in there. It’s just baffling. I have a couple acquaintances in the printer copier biz. You would be amazed how much on site service work they do. One of the guys I know has like 5 employees and a 5000 square foot warehouse full of old copiers that they scrounge parts from if needed. They charge like $150/hr for service calls and his guys regularly bill 3-4 hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/60 "2013-11-18T17:38:26Z")
It’s not quite a business, but lately I have become rather obsessed with the weird flyers that are posted in the subway (NYC) for psychics and palm readers and tarot card readers. Design-wise, they’re terrible. Black and white, sometimes they have clip art of something mystical-looking, they look like they were created in Microsoft Works, and are now 50th generation photocopies. Claim to give advice based on some combination of your astrology, palm, tarot, or tea leaves, with a phone number. I guess the thing I find so odd is that sure, I’d believe that one dopey “psychic” business is using these flyers, but it is a bunch of different ones and yet the flyers look so similar. At this point, it’s like you’d have to MAKE AN EFFORT to re-create that 1995 sad look. So I have been wondering if this is one of those things where everyone knows that these flyers are really for prostitutes, or drug dealers, or something illegal. I’m almost tempted to call one and make an appointment, and then show up and demand answers about the flyers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985.md?page=4)