# Weird Businesses in Your Area **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293 "2003-06-07T15:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/181 "2004-05-05T05:30:56Z")
There’s a funeral home here that has, as their sign, a casket on a pole. The building was originally a Harley Shop, and they had a motorcycle up there; apparently the new tenant figured “why let a perfectly good object-mounting pole go to waste?” There was, until a few months ago, a discount grocery store – they sold expired and overstock groceries, apparently. Lots of Spanish-labeled stuff, brands nobody’s ever heard of, the leftovers of old package designs from when the local grocery chain’s store brand changed names, and, once, some Price Chopper brand cereal. Price Chopper is a grocery-store chain up in Yankeeland that is unheard of here in Texas. I don’t know how the discount store got _that_. We almost bought it, because Price Chopper’s where **racinchikki** used to do her grocery shopping when she lived in New York, and she was feeling kind of homesick… but it wasn’t worth buying a box of mildewed crap just for a familiar grocery store logo. We did get a good price on some short-dated Kodak film, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/182 "2004-05-05T07:51:49Z")
Near Federal Way here in Washington is a place called Billiards and Beads. Must be a Husband/Wife thing. In the Ballard area of Seattle, there was a Pets-n-Things, a Kitchen-n-Things and a Computer-n-Things all on consecutive blocks. Only Kitchen-n-Things survives. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/183 "2004-05-06T15:18:20Z")
On Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY is used record & CD/psychedelic poster & T-shirt/smoking paraphinalia AND Messianic-Jewish-anti-Catholic-book store called Electric Ladyland. Wonderful! Locally, up until about five years ago was the oddest combo shop I’ve ever seen- Grateful Dead T-shirt/poster AND Mormon book shop. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/184 "2004-05-06T15:29:33Z")
[http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/](http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/) That is site of the Messianic Jewish anti-Christendom teachings of Lew White, owner of Electric Ladyland- now imagine this stuff being sold inside a psychedelic head shop _L_ ---
**Author:** ![Jeff-O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@Jeff-O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff-O)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/185 "2004-05-07T03:18:53Z")
In my little town some people recently turned an old bar into a recording studio/beauty salon. Only about 500 people live here and I have yet to see a single customer enter the place. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/186 "2004-05-07T19:34:05Z")
On the way home last night, I spotted a nameless shop specializing in prom dresses and keys. About two blocks away was a beauty parlor that also did money orders. I just can’t imagine what transpired in someone’s mind to come up with these combinations. Beauty salon and dresses makes some sense. Money orders and keys is perfectly reasonable. But not dresses and keys. About a block from my office, [this outfit](http://www.centralcomputer.com/CentralGroup/Main.htm) sells computers, cars and bamboo floors. Across the street from home is a “card room supply” shop. The sign has dice on it, so I’m guessing they carry things like cards, poker chips and relacement bearings for roulette wheels. Just seems like a really focused specialty in an area without any gambling or gaming to speak of. ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/187 "2004-05-07T22:05:59Z")
For interesting names, there’s always ‘Tacoma Screw’. I love driving past that place. In downtown Bothell, WA, there’s an old house that’s been turned into a second-hand furniture store. At least, it’s full of second-hand furniture, and it has the sign ‘Estate Sale’ or ‘The Yard Sale’ or something. The yard, in fact, is also full of furniture, all of which is presumably for sale despite sitting out in the rain for (in many cases) years. However, you’re only allowed to go in by appointment. I went in once on a whim, and some guy with a serious attitude made me leave, rather menacingly I might add, and demanded to know if I hadn’t seen the sign which said ‘by appointment only’. In point of fact, the sign was covered by some random piece of junk leaning up against the wall, but for gawd’s sake! I love second-hand and junk stores. But I’ve never gone back. I don’t think that’s a real business anyway. I think it’s a front for something. What, I don’t know. Something. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/188 "2004-05-08T04:09:20Z")
Chotii, are you talking about the Tacoma Screw that isn’t located in Tacoma but between Ballard and Fremont? If so, I know where it is. (Duh! 🙂 ) About a mile from there, on Market street is a junk shop similar to the one you mentioned. It has a small front yard that they’ve covered with an arched fabric roof. It’s called the Wizard of A-Z. The last couple of times I’ve been by there, there hasn’t been anything in the yard, so maybe they’ve closed up. My Dad reminded me of a place called Metal Shorts. Lol. They buy up leftover lots of steel and the like from industrial companies and sell them to other companies. Tacoma Screw also sells bulk lots of screws, etc, to companies. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/189 "2004-06-07T02:22:26Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > On Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY is used record & CD/psychedelic poster & T-shirt/smoking paraphinalia AND Messianic-Jewish-anti-Catholic-book store called Electric Ladyland. Wonderful! > > Locally, up until about five years ago was the oddest combo shop I’ve ever seen- Grateful Dead T-shirt/poster AND Mormon book shop. Apologies for bumping, but would that be… Grateful Threads? Never been in there, but I’ve seen it. That’s the trouble with Bardstown Road, too much traffic for a leisurely stroll. 😛 Elsewhere in Louisville, there is this odd round building that serves as a coffee shop AND an evangelical Christian bookstore. The decor consists of lots and lots of tropical themed kitsch. There is a mysterious second floor which I couldn’t readily see the way into or the purpose of. Since there is never anyone in the place, my mother and I concluded that the upstairs was used for religious meetings. It struck us as rather cultish, somehow. Good cappuccino, though. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/190 "2004-06-07T03:49:34Z")
> [@Lizard](#): > > This thread has revealed to me that a store near where I used to live off the OSU campus must have been a true head shop. It was the only place I’ve ever seen genuine full-sized hookahs for sale. I believe you are referring to “Higher Ground”. I bought a tie-dyed T-shirt there once. Now that they’re out of business, the potheads all have to go to Waterbeds-N-Stuff for their supplies. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/191 "2004-06-07T04:28:56Z")
I’ve never been there myself, but a little place called [The Bone Room](http://www.boneroom.com/) is a not-too-long drive away. You can find fossil, fake, and real bones from just about any animal. [ANY animal.](http://www.boneroom.com/bone/bone1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/192 "2004-06-07T05:13:33Z")
> [@Lizard](#): > > There is an adult bookstore just two miles down the road from my parents house. This is not unusual until you consider that in the county where they live (we’re talking VERY rural Ohio here) there are exactly _two_ bars but at least two dozen churches. The bookstore is right off I-71, and it is easily the only one for an hours drive in every direction. If they weren’t just an hour or so from Columbus, it’d probably be the only adult bookstore for at least _two_ hours in ever direction. > But the strangest part is the billboards all the local conservative types have erected around the place. Stuff like “real Adults will drive on by!” and “Real men don’t need porn!” This wouldn’t be in Morrow County, would it? Mt. Gilead/Cardington area? If so, I’ve been in that bookstore. That was 9 years ago, so if it’s the same one, I’m glad to see that it survived against the fundies. On the other side of the freeway from it was an auto shop, of sorts. The only cars I ever saw there were great looking rebuilt Corvettes, and burned-up Corvette hulks. So the shop specialized in rebuilding burned-up Corvettes. Selling Corvettes in that community was as odd as selling porn, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/193 "2004-06-07T05:24:52Z")
**Loneraven** , you’re not from Plattsburgh, NY by any chance, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/194 "2004-06-07T05:31:40Z")
Aw, crap, zombie thread. Didn’t notice that at first. My apologies to the hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/195 "2004-06-07T11:17:43Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > There’s a place called “Guthries” in my old college town that sells chicken fingers & fries. > > That’s it. Available as a plate or a sandwich. As a plate, it’s chicken fingers, fries & a slice of Texas toast. As a sandwich, just rearrange the ingrediants. > > It also comes with a “secret sauce”, pretty much made by mixing ketchup & mayo together, we figured. > > Place is packed all the time. No trip back to the Alma Mater would be complete without stopping through. Athens, Georgia. Tasty stuff! ---
**Author:** ![adeba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@adeba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adeba)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/196 "2010-07-12T21:31:17Z")
Somewhere in here someone credited Fred’s Fill Dirt & Croissants to The Far Side. No. It was The Neighborhood. One of my favorite cards & notions, ever. Went on line to see if i could find a digital image & instead found this thread. I actually joined just to clear this up & will go now. ---
**Author:** ![hougaswd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@hougaswd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hougaswd)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/197 "2010-07-13T01:50:10Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I doubt if “weird” is just right, but I always smile whenever I pass the “Batteries Plus” (or whatever it’s called) place. Good-sized store, parking lot, TV ads. I even went in there once to get an odd battery for an old graphics calculator. > > It’s just that it reminds me of the “Scotch Tape Boutique” bit on the old SNL. Can you imagine the overhead for such a place and how many batteries they have to sell to break even? It’s not like you can’t buy batteries in most grocery or drug checkout lanes. > > I also wonder how the chewing gum people can justify their advertising budgets… FWIW, I think they make their profits on specialty batteries. Gel lead/acid batteries, NiCads for power tools and the like. Walt ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/198 "2010-07-13T02:35:03Z")
There’s a shop just down the street from me that sells BRAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNSSS! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293/199 "2010-07-13T02:49:53Z")
> [@adeba](#): > > Somewhere in here someone credited Fred’s Fill Dirt & Croissants to The Far Side. > > No. It was The Neighborhood. One of my favorite cards & notions, ever. Went on line to see if i could find a digital image & instead found this thread. > > I actually joined just to clear this up & will go now. While we be forever in your debt, this one is now closed. You have the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped to fight ignorance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-businesses-in-your-area/180293.md?page=9)