# Store and other business names that bug you **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001 "2020-04-17T19:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/203 "2020-04-30T17:09:03Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Even more minimal: “Best.” [Best Products - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products) Wow, blast from the past! I think my buddy bought his fiancee’s engagement ring at a Best Products store in the mid-90s. Best made a big splash in the Sacramento area (where I grew up) with this very unusual store design, which looked like a hole had been blown out of the corner of the store (due to, say, a bomb). I guess the concept never really caught on, but it was eye-catching. > **[MALL HALL OF FAME](http://mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com/2009/01/outparcel-best-products-store-at-arden.html)** > > The grand opening promotion for the United Artists Arden Fair 6 , which was part of the second cinematic venue to operate in -or around... ---
**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 30, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/204 "2020-04-30T17:19:48Z")
I’ve never been to a Best Products store, but I remember an article, possible in the 1970s monthly revival of Life Magazine, about the unusual designs of its stores (and there is a mention of this in the Wikipedia article about the company). I kind of wish other companies did things like that. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/205 "2020-04-30T17:23:55Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I’m amazed to learn there is such a thing as a “chain of music stores” anymore. In addition to **Rasputin’s** , the Bay Area has another mini-chain of music stores called **Amoeba**. > **[Amoeba Music | The World's Largest Independent Record Store](https://www.amoeba.com/)** > > We Buy and Sell Used Records, DVDs, and CDs. The World's Largest Independently Owned Record Store! Amoeba and Rasputins have stores located about a block apart from each other on Berkeley’s Telegraph Ave. The Sacramento area had a chain of music stores called **Dimple Records** , which survived all the way to Sept 2019. They closed when their owners retired. So I guess Northern California is a hotbed for surviving independent music stores. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/206 "2020-04-30T17:49:31Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > C.O. Jones = cojones = slang for testicles 😃 Thanks for the explanation - I would never have figured it out on my own. And \*cojones \*is a Spanish word, although apparently slang. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/207 "2020-04-30T17:56:52Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > Up until about 4 years ago, there was a sign just as you entered the farming town of Tisdale SK Canada that said “The Land of Rape and Honey”. It had been there since around 1958. “Rapeseed” is substantially similar to Canola which is grown extensively in that area. The industrial band Ministry borrowed the phrase for the name of their third album. I’d thought they’d made the name up as a play on words, and to be shocking. But Wikipedia says they saw it on a souvenir mug in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/208 "2020-04-30T18:01:31Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#): > > In San Francisco the is a place (two actually) named [Squat and Gobble](http://squatandgobble.com/) > > I always thought they got the order wrong.:eek: How about “Squat and Gobble and Squat Again”? ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/209 "2020-04-30T20:07:30Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > [Dick’s Sporting Goods](https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/) > [BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse](https://www.bjsrestaurants.com/) > > Both reasonably good businesses for what they are, but embarrassing to say. I have a friend that works for Dick’s. He went to college at Ball State. Sounds like a joke, but it ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/210 "2020-04-30T22:49:03Z")
There’s also Dick Blick Art Supplies. They had a Christmas party at the hotel I worked at while I was in college, and the “L” fell off the sign (or more likely was deliberately removed). ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/211 "2020-05-01T08:09:17Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > For some reason I have an aversion to any business name with “Solutions”, e.g. “Staffing Solutions” or “Green Way Solutions”. > > It’s usually at the end, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a “Solutions Я Us”. > > I’m not sure why it puts me off, except that it sounds like a pretentious, artificially-created “marketing” term; it strikes me as somehow smug, or begging the question. We went through a wave of this notion at my firm. “We don’t sell products, we sell solutions.” Ugh… ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/212 "2020-05-01T08:20:21Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > …I don’t know why anyone would go to a hair salon called Shear Agony… “Shear Ecstasy”. Or “Shear Bliss”. They’re right there for the taking. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/213 "2020-05-01T17:56:12Z")
> [@TimfromNapa](#): > > The company is out of business now, but I used to find “Fleming Foods” to be an unappealing name. Phonetically, it just sounded gross. Heh. Back in (community) college, I used to hang with a crowd in the theater arts department who were working on forming a sketch troupe (along the lines of Firesign Theatre). Their go-to protagonist/Everyman was a character named Kendall Phlegming. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/214 "2020-05-01T18:08:25Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s a Mexican restaurant near my home called “The Whole Enchilada” which for whatever reason never sat right with me, it’s like the name you would give a restaurant in a bad sitcom because everything has to be a pun. Y’know, if you made an enchilada with a toroid form factor, “The Hole Enchilada” might actually be a pretty clever name for it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/215 "2020-05-01T18:19:37Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > One I only saw in passing, decades ago, that I kinda liked: a maternity-wear shop called “Mother Frockers.” > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > One definition of bobble: a small ball of fabric especially one in a series used on an edging. > > Sounds like they knew what they were doing. Apropos of nothing in particular, I don’t think you two should be allowed to post consecutively… ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/216 "2020-05-01T18:22:02Z")
In the early 70s a restaurant opened on campus called Sambo’s Pancake House. I think it was a chain. They had illustrations from the children’s book Little Black Sambo adorning the dining area. Even that long ago, the name and theme seemed quite wrong. In the same token, there used to be a grocery chain called Pickaninny’s. I may be spelling that wrong because I couldn’t find a Google hit for it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/217 "2020-05-01T18:32:01Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I passed a billboard the other day for Pro-Pest Pest Management. > > I’d rather hire someone more anti-pest, thanks. > [@Sunspace](#): > > To be fair, they _did_ say “pest _management_”, not “pest elimination”. Maybe they’re really good at providing little spas and _chaises longues_ for them. 🙂 Nah. They make the little vermin fill out time cards and put cover sheets on TPS reports. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/218 "2020-05-01T19:04:15Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > In the early 70s a restaurant opened on campus called Sambo’s Pancake House. I think it was a chain. They had illustrations from the children’s book Little Black Sambo adorning the dining area. Even that long ago, the name and theme seemed quite wrong. In the original book, _Little Black Sambo_ was a dark-skinned South Indian child (hence the tigers). Later versions used stereotypical depictions of Africans (including the one I read as a child in the 1950s). The name of the restaurant chain was based on the knicknames of the original owners, Sam and Bo, but they used illustrations based on the books in decorating the restaurants. At least later on, they tried to emphasize that the character was Indian instead of African, and tried changing the name, but it didn’t work and they folded in the early 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/219 "2020-05-01T19:12:03Z")
And that’s _kinda_ too bad, as they were pretty much the last bastion of the five-cent cup of coffee… ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/220 "2020-05-01T21:03:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > And that’s _kinda_ too bad, as they were pretty much the last bastion of the five-cent cup of coffee… You can still visit the last [Sambo’s, in Santa Barbara, CA](https://www.sambosrestaurant.com/). It has a nice view of the beach. When my brother and I were younger, we loved Sambo’s in Southern California. I never knew or comprehended what the name meant until I was grown-up. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/221 "2020-05-02T02:20:46Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Y’know, if you made an enchilada with a toroid form factor, “The Hole Enchilada” might actually be a pretty clever name for it. ZOMG there’s a Facebook page promoting locally owned restaurants in my region that deliver or do carryout, and earlier today, someone posted a picture of something like this! Granted, it was actually a burrito, but close enough. Unfortunately, he said it wasn’t very good, and proceeded to get piled on by people who told him to take his negative review to Yelp. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/222 "2020-05-02T14:58:03Z")
I thought Sambo’s turned into Denny’s? Maybe that’s only how it happened in my neck of the woods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001.md?page=12)