# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/121 "2015-12-16T00:17:20Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > That empty space has been rented by the small Mexican restaurant next door, and is being renovated for use by this restaurant as a party room. šŸ™‚ > > Down the road from these businesses was, emphasize WAS, a pizza place in a very strange location - the main thing being that there was no parking for about half a block in any direction. That pizza place was busted today because it was really a front for selling drugs by the father and son who owned it. The feedback regarding the actual quality of the food varied widely; apparently, the deep dish pizza was great but anything else was awful. This county puts peopleā€™s court records online, and the father has a criminal record as long as your arm. Bumping this thread in part because I looked for it to post it in yet another thread. The Mexican restaurant had their business license revoked earlier this year for failure to pay taxes, and thereā€™s evidence that it was also a money laundry. ā˜¹ They had good food, too. In the meantime, someone else took over the busted pizza place. This one is carryout only. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/122 "2015-12-16T00:22:22Z")
> [@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 same mall has TWO stores that sell dietary supplements, and I donā€™t see many people in there either. Two years later and heā€™s still there. Not in the same storefront location, but heā€™s still there. šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/123 "2015-12-20T11:07:13Z")
Maybe a lunch truck would be a good front business. If you get too many annoying customers, you can just drive off. I have a typical hole-in-the-wall bodega type store near me, which is literally butted up against a busy 7-Eleven. They sell bongs, clothing, and other various flotsam. Several online business directories list their business type as ā€œVideo tape and disc sales and rentalsā€, and also say that they have 29 employees and revenues of $2 million a year. Uh-huh. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/124 "2015-12-20T14:33:42Z")
Interesting to read this resurrected threadā€¦Iā€™ve got twoā€¦ A guy I work with helps his FIL in two side businesses. I strongly suspect his family minivan with 3 car seats is a ā€œcommercial vehicleā€ for hauling business supplies. There is a flea mall I visit where two booths are operated by two brothers. Their items are terribly overpriced and never change, some items have been in the same spot for 3+ years. One brother is a minor administrator in the county planning and zoning office but I donā€™t see how a flea market can be a front for real estate/building favorsā€¦ šŸ˜• ---
**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:** [December 21, 2015, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/125 "2015-12-21T05:44:49Z")
> [@Nefario](#): > > There is a flea mall I visit where two booths are operated by two brothers. Their items are terribly overpriced and never change, some items have been in the same spot for 3+ years. Reminds me of some eBay sellers Iā€™ve seen. Is there a way to sell drugs or launder money on eBay? šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![Torontonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Torontonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torontonian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/126 "2015-12-21T11:35:33Z")
When i went to school there was a pizza parlor across the street that sold to students during lunch and at odd hours when students were in class when a lonely customer walked in, they sold weed and meth instead. They were raided around 2009 and the whole family was given lengthy sentences. The place is Subway sandwiches now. This year there has been a talk about a place that sold beef patis and they never had any food on display or in the kitchen. They never cooked when an occasional customer came in and refused to serve the guy. They too were raided. cops found out that the place a private club of sorts where local small time dealers went down the basement to pick up product from a Indian/Somalian/Paki gang. Wouldnā€™t you think Mafia invests in successful businesses? Like skyscraper condos? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/127 "2015-12-21T12:33:22Z")
I worked for a clipping service years ago. I donā€™t know how the hell the guy made money out of four women clipping newspaper articles for some clients. It was a very small operation and the guy always had other meetings going on during the day. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Thereā€™s a strip mall near a friendā€™s house, on a busy corner. Sandwiched in between a nightclub and a tanning salon is a ā€œSpaā€. Iā€™m sure itā€™s not at all suspicious that, in the window of the spa, is a neon sign advertising ā€œOpen 24 Hoursā€ā€¦I imagine that there are an absolute ton of people seeking out pedicures or aromatherapy sessions at 2 a.m. šŸ˜‰ That could be a ā€œcomfortā€ place. It fronts as a spa, but the clientele are all men, and the women wear lingerie under their lab coats. You can fill in the blanks. The sad part is that those places use human trafficking to get their employees. ---
**Author:** ![Torontonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Torontonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torontonian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/128 "2015-12-21T12:58:07Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > That could be a ā€œcomfortā€ place. It fronts as a spa, but the clientele are all men, and the women wear lingerie under their lab coats. You can fill in the blanks. Arenā€™t half 24/7 spas that offer massage offer sex for cash? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/129 "2015-12-21T16:20:13Z")
I was in something like that once ā€“ a store that was basically never open, full of 20 year old merchandise. The woman who had run it for decades, and owned the building (including her apartment upstairs) had really slowed down and couldnā€™t run it full time (or even really regularly part time) anymore, but evidently the concept of ā€˜full retirementā€™ wasnā€™t something she knew about or was comfortable with, and the family thought why push her to close it if it made her happy? This was a small Spanish town, so not a lot of pressure to use the real estate more efficiently, but I suspect the same kind of thing happens in US cities on occasion, too. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/130 "2018-04-17T00:45:03Z")
[Zombie note] Iā€™m currently in the middle of a move, and have hauled out several boxes of financial papers to a local shredding company. I took 3 boxfuls over Friday morning. What I found odd was I walked into a room with a locked door, had to sign in on a clipboard and then fill out another form (a contract of sorts telling me that my papers will be secure and recycled after ye shredding). I had to ring a doorbell to get someone to open the door and accept my papers. I got another boxful together today, drove on over-and noticed that only one person had signed in between my two visits. Unless they get a LOT of traffic from local businesses, donā€™t see how they could stay viable. Combine that with the weird setupā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/131 "2018-04-17T01:05:05Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Thereā€™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 locationā€¦thereā€™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. Itā€™s an upscale hip area with lots of bars and restaurants and quaint clothing shops. Iā€™ve never seen a single person in there. Itā€™s just baffling. > > Unless of course IBM in this case stands for International Blow Merchants. Printer dealers like this usually do the majority of their work at the customerā€™s location, not their own office. Printers and other office equipment get delivered, and are later serviced onsite. Their building likely consists of a parts warehouse, and a couple people up front answering phones and doing accounting/billing. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/132 "2018-04-17T02:17:29Z")
There are a handful of RV places in my travels I feel almost have to be a front for something. Thereā€™s never anyone shopping at them. They donā€™t actually ever seem to be _open_, despite me driving by them on a variety of days of the week at varying time. And they always seem to have the same number of RVs parked outside - no new stock, no departed stockā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/133 "2018-04-17T02:42:49Z")
> [@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 same mall has TWO stores that sell dietary supplements, and I donā€™t see many people in there either. Yeah, I know this is a a 4 1/2 year old post in a zombie thread. I was at that mall today, and the guy was there by his kiosk, which right now ā€œsellsā€ sunglasses. Heā€™ll have something else next month. And one of the dietary-supplement places closed. They only have GNC now. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/134 "2018-04-17T06:35:47Z")
For all 20 years Iā€™ve lived at my current location thereā€™s been a chain gas station near me that gets zero business and still has been operational that entire time. Basically itā€™s in an extremely busy shopping center with a very busy Wal-Mart, an incredibly busy McDonalds (7 cars are always jutting out of the drive-thru) and a few more smaller shops including a Pizza Hut, and its the only gas station for a mile and a half in either direction. However despite all of this thereā€™s never anyone using it because its gasoline has consistently been more than 30 cents more per gallon than the other local gas stations. I pass by that gas station at least twice a week and thereā€™s literally never been more than a single person using that gas station despite its six pumps and most of the time thereā€™s nobody there at all. Also it doesnā€™t even have a food mart or anything, just a teller at a window and thatā€™s it. The only possible solution I can think of is that maybe the trucks that bring supplies to the Wal-Mart or McDonalds fill up there but Iā€™ve also never ever seen that either and the pumps roof seems too low to allow semi-trucks to fill up there. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/135 "2018-04-17T06:43:10Z")
Fireworks stores that are open year-round. There are a few of these in my area and there are _never, ever_ any cars in the parking lots. Why the hell would people be interested in buying firecrackers in January? Itā€™s got to be a front for _something_ unsavory. What that may be I have no idea, the whole situation just makes zero sense to me. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2018, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/136 "2018-04-17T12:22:58Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The only possible solution I can think of is that maybe the trucks that bring supplies to the Wal-Mart or McDonalds fill up there but Iā€™ve also never ever seen that either and the pumps roof seems too low to allow semi-trucks to fill up there. Semis either use truck stops, commercial fueling stations or the trucking company has itā€™s own pumps. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/137 "2018-04-17T12:37:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Fireworks stores that are open year-round. There are a few of these in my area and there are _never, ever_ any cars in the parking lots. Why the hell would people be interested in buying firecrackers in January? Itā€™s got to be a front for _something_ unsavory. What that may be I have no idea, the whole situation just makes zero sense to me. If you know the right way to ask, the guy will reach under the table and sell you an advent calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/138 "2018-04-17T13:43:00Z")
Youā€™d think a mall would be the worst possible place to have a front business. In addition to the usual scrutiny a store has from the IRS and various levels of government, you now have the operating group for the mall, plus hundreds of ready-made witnesses in the form of the foot traffic. Weirder stuff has happened though Iā€™m sure šŸ™‚ I guess if it was just money laundering, then you wouldnā€™t really worry about any of the above. Just the IRS wondering why 99.9% of your transactions were cash. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/139 "2018-04-17T13:56:41Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [Zombie note] > > Iā€™m currently in the middle of a move, and have hauled out several boxes of financial papers to a local shredding company. > > I took 3 boxfuls over Friday morning. What I found odd was I walked into a room with a locked door, had to sign in on a clipboard and then fill out another form (a contract of sorts telling me that my papers will be secure and recycled after ye shredding). I had to ring a doorbell to get someone to open the door and accept my papers. > > I got another boxful together today, drove on over-and noticed that only one person had signed in between my two visits. Unless they get a LOT of traffic from local businesses, donā€™t see how they could stay viable. Combine that with the weird setupā€¦ Much of their business may be going out to large offices and hospitals and collecting documents for shredding. Where I work, there are designated bins everywhere, and a guy comes round every couple of weeks to empty them. They then use a truck-mounted shredder to destroy the documents on site. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985/140 "2018-04-17T14:48:15Z")
I think one of the grocery stores near where I used to live might have been one, or at least my former housemate reckoned so. It looked a bit run down, and had mostly specialist Asian vegetables outside, normally a couple of guys hanging round watching passers by, but none of them seemed to be buying things. Bit of dodgy area, next to a gentrified one. My -Asian- housemate went in once, said the inside looked even more suspicious, with dusty old tins. The staff looked a bit suspicious initially, but then apparently decided he was OK, and not only sold him some vegetables, but charged a ludicrously cheap price, and kept shoving extra stuff in the bag for free, like they were trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible. He reckoned it might be a drug smuggling thing, with a few extras coming in the vegetable boxes, because there was no way they were making money on the stuff they were selling, but itā€™s been there for years. There are multiple established Asian fruit and vegetable shops nearby, including a place that does wholesale, so I doubt theyā€™re even supplying restaurants or anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-businesses-you-suspect-of-being-fronts/673985.md?page=8)