[Closed] Shops that never have any customers.

Money laundering, cash heavy business, apparently tanning shops are renowned for it, cash and no stock, just run the money through the till

Front for an international pug smuggling ring? 😆

Most carpet or bed shops.

Never seen anybody in Baskin Robbins in Cardiff in 3 years of walking past it almost daily. Those phone accessory shops in motorway service stations must cost a fortune to rent the space...you hardly ever see anyone buying in there though..apart from the odd harassed parent who forgot the kids tablet charger whilst driving from Cornwall to Aviemore.

There is a row of about 8 shops near me with a chippy at each end, one is always full with queues out the door on friday etc and the other I don't think I have ever seen more than 1 person in there... yet it has been open for years.

Halfords

C S Lewis Narnia shops.

Sampling bias?

The Toyshop/Museum in Todmorden.
And the bookshop next door.

Because they're owned by vampires.

This place [img] /revision/latest?cb=20100414174909[/img]

It's all because of those pesky hipsters!!!!

The Chinese takeaway where we live, maybe it's cos theyr'e hardly ever open but FWIW we do a 22 mile round trip to a decent one.

I might open a Chinese takeaway here, that does good food, has suitable opening hours, takes debit cards & does a delivery service. Could make £££'s

I'll never forget the night when I was younger walking into a local Pizza shop in a quiet suburb of Leeds late on Sunday night thinking it slightly odd there were 10 4x4's with blacked out windows parked around. Blatant as anything the owner, who clearer spent most of his time in the Gym taking steroids was dolling out £20 notes to a load of very unsavory looking characters. I ordered my chips and cheese and left as soon as.

My local take away is always empty but then again it also has a 0 out 5 food hygiene rating so that's not surprising.

Seen unsuccessful businesses limp on for years before the curtain finally comes down, after all credit lines have been exhausted, every family and friend has been plundered!

Have been amazed how long some have dragged it out. The ugly fallout of unpaid suppliers, destroyed family and friendships, with the usual inevitable exile abroad if they were clever/snide enough to rip-off/hive money off in partners names etc.

Similar thing happens in Australia (where I live), but maybe for completely different reasons depending on whether UK immigration laws work in a similar way or not.

There is a category of visa for entry into Australia specifically for small business entrepreneurs. On this, you basically just have to operate a business in Australia for two years, then you get permanent residency. Nothing says it has to be successful, or even make a cent. Results in a lot of empty Asian restaurants/takeaways which never seem to have any customers, and which change hands to the next incoming family exactly every two years.

While the restaurant/takeaway is fronted by the kids the adults are usually working night & day in other jobs (in the grey economy) to make enough real money to actually survive.

Although I'm not sure that's how the visa category was intended to work, it's certainly attracting true 'entrepreneurs' 😆

If anyone used to watch Still Game - Navid's shop was our local when we were students. The real Navid's shop had next to no stock in it and was empty. 3 cans of soup, 5 newspapers, a snickers and err that was about it. Very odd. It never made any sense - everyone went to the much better shop 4 doors down.

It turned out he was selling all kinds of dodgy jazz mags and films under the counter. Which was in fact his main business.

Got one near me.....in my village....one side of the road a really popular curry house always packed then band opposite another curry house with one or two customers....and in the 16 years I have lived here the empty curry house has been renamed/refurbished 6 times......Defo drugs front!!

Bargain booze opened up in town a few months back, there's never anyone in it.

Except me, they have some real nice beers!. 😆

i made this assumption about our local Chinese - There is never anyone in it. I go there occasionally, but I wonder whether it's a mistake buying food from a drug smuggling ring. Tastes OK though.

Those phone accessories shops that don't actually sell phones, just phone related clutter - all of them. Why do they exist?

Hand Car Wash places - who knew there was that much need for them - every petrol station that's closed down in recent years seems to have turned into one.

Given that they're normally manned by around 15 blokes (ok, a little exaggeration), you've got to wonder how many cars they need to put through to justify even minimum wage for the day for all the blokes. Of course, they're all cash too. Prime money laundering opportunity too.

Apparently there is/was a cheese shop in London which is/was a front for Mi5

You need to check out Corson Hardware in Edinburgh - Stockbridge.
https://citythreepointzero.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/corson-the-rules/

And the restaurant we used to go to in Edinburgh, was never anyone else in :))

There's a hand car wash place near me, in a former petrol station. All the employees are from Eastern Europe and get to live in the building. They do a good trade but I always feel sorry for them, doesn't seem like the greatest life in the world.

Could be the local council trying to give the appearance that the high street isn't run down.

All cash businesses; taxis, ice cream vans, tanning salons, car washes and takeaways are ripe for organised crime to set up as fronts to launder drug money. Takings can't be traced and the books will appear far healthier than actual customer footfall would ever suggest.

Aside from making bad guys richer and swindling the exchequer, they also harm genuine businesses as they aren't trying to make a profit and can undercut competitors.

Exploitation of immigrant staff, no regard for H&S, minimum wage, snapping up cheap lets and moving on quickly if the authorities get a sniff all add up to making them a size-able and difficult to eradicate problem. Investigations take months, witnesses are intimidated, cases fail. Even if convicted and banned from operating, their wife, niece, dog, budgie takes over the next directorship.

a mistake buying food from a drug smuggling ring. Tastes OK though