Seattle: Barney's Jewelry and Loan-Mob Front?

Factual Questions
1

As a little kid I was always interested in this pawn shop because in the window you can see a Nintendo NES U-Force accessory that I always wanted to try, and in the dark insides I always imagined amazing videogame stuff to be had.

However, I have never, ever, EVER seen this place open. It is ALWAYS closed. Weekdays, weekends, days, nights. I hadn’t thought of this place in years but now I have a busroute home from work that passes me by this place.

Here is what info I could find about it:

http://oaseattle.net/barneys-jewelry-and-loan-4.html

How can a place in expensive downtown Seattle stay closed for business for a decade or more?

2

When I look at it on google maps, it appears to be open.

3

There are a couple places nearby me that whenever my SO and I pass them, an awning store/a lamp shade place/a cookie shop that is never ever open, we say “drug front”.

4

Called their number. The recording said they were open Monday - Saturday, 9-5. Maybe you should drop by during those times.

5

There is a pizza place about a mile from my house that has been in business, albeit under different names, for more than 40 years. My father and I used to drive by it and like Pavlov’s dog, every time we’d pass, my father (nobody’s idea of a poster boy for sanity) would tell me the place was a mob front because nobody ever went in or came out and the door was always closed.

Finally, after decades of this bullshit, I pointed out that the parking lot was in the back and that patrons likely used the back door.

6

We had this discussion awhile back.

7

What’s odder to me in Seattle is the Mexican grocery store next to the original Starbuck’s at Pike Place Market. They have a selection of about 20 different grocery items. I never see anybody shopping there. This is also prime real estate. There’s a much better Mexican store a block up, kind of behind Copacabana. It must be a front for the Mexican drug cartel or something.

8

And this one. The whole surrealism of a store which really isn’t a store and isn’t actually interested in selling the things it ostensibly features fascinates me more than a little.

9

Yeah, me too! :smiley:

I am fascinated in general by abandoned churches, dead malls, vacant houses or businesses or what have you.

10

Are you serious with the snippyness of your post? As I said in the OP, this place is NEVER open. It hasn’t been for years. EVER.

Let me highlight the relevent part of my post for you:

11

No! That place is awesome. I used to get breakfast tacos there a couple of times a week. I like their tamales too.

They seem to be busiest early in the morning and right at the beginning of the lunch hour. Empty the rest of the day.

12

I bought tortillas & chili powder there on Saturday, and I had to wait in line to get them. (It was the first sunny Saturday in Pike Place? Everything was just one big, giant line.)

13

Amazing. I’ve never seen it when it wasn’t empty. I’ll have to try it out. That still doesn’t seem like enough business to keep it afloat, though.

14

Maybe restaurant people buy in great quantity very early in the morning and that’s their business right there. People like you and Pork Rind who pick up retail items are just pocket change.

15

Have you every tried to walk in? Or did you assume by the storefront that it was closed? Their telephone # works, and they say they are open.

16

Just spoke with them on the phone. Very cheerful, invited me down to look at the jewelry. He assured me they are open every Monday - Saturday, 9-5.

17

Some places, especially those that have been in business a long time, are very poorly lit and often look closed regardless of whether they are open or not.

18

You apparently did not read the OP either. :wink:

19

Barney’s was open today at lunchtime. If I worked in a place that miserable looking, I’d close early, too. They probably heard people were questioning whether they were legit and decided to open for a few days until things quieted down.

20

Interesting. I would have to get off of my bus to inspect it closer, is there a Nintendo U-Force still in the window? It looks like this: http://www.nesplayer.com/database/accessories/uforce.htm

I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic, but it definitely looks miserable and as soon as I have a week day open I will be there. I can’t comprehend their supposed hours (which I still don’t believe): Who ARE these people going to a pawn shop before 5pm? They don’t think to stay open late on mariners games when HOARDS of people are walking by? Just bizarre…