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Portland businesses that you don’t know is a front, but it’s definitely a front?
Looking ForTrio Club. Always empty
Definitely this one. I can’t believe it is still open.
Always empty, always blasting music outside for no reason.
The one time we tried to go there, because we were coming from Doug Fir basically across the street, it was closed at like 10pm on a Saturday
😂😂😂 so true
I saw it busy one time!
Nye 2017? Cause I walked by it to open the brewery on NYD and walked passed 1.64 pairs of shoes out front.
(For those wondering, there was not a complete shoe to be found. It was a series of soles)
Club trio is the (probably a front) pet project of the son of a billionaire. It has had its liquor license revoked multiple times by the OLCC.
And no tp or paper towels in the bathroom! Each time I went last summer my friends and I were the only people in there.
And the hotel behind it...
Sounds like my kind of club. I’ll have to check it out.
Holler when you go, I'll stay home.
i last heard they lost their liquor license which is why it’s empty
Their yelp page is a wild ride if you’re bored.
nice try FBI
The FBI is deffinatly a front.
The FBI is also an affront.
Inflatable boat shop on Powell
Came here to say this - has anyone ever seen it open?
I also came to say this, I saw the lights on in there once.
Oh fuck that place had some good crafts, especially the zodiac boats. I think most of their business is online and a lot of special order.
Nah I buy all my inflatable boats and inflatable boat accessories there it’s totally super legit
There used to be this fancy store downtown that never had a soul in it - idk if it’s still there but they used to display all these sculptures in the window - my mom went in one time because her wheelchair battery died and needed an outlet to make it onto the bus to get home. She said those people were very nice but seemed extremely surprised to have anyone enter. She said it absolutely felt like a front. Like a “pizza shop” in NY where it’s just a bunch of fancy businessmen but no pizza. She says they let her charge her chair and locked the door behind her when she left.
Is it the Persian Art store beneath the Standard Tower
I worked in that building years ago and never saw anyone in there or the jewelry store across from it.
It’s a hobby store. Rich guys fund stores run by their wives or kids. The stores sell upscale things but the proprietors spend most of their time shopping, lunching, and networking. The stores don’t make any money but they serve to keep their proprietors busy and as a tax shelter.
There are a bunch of these on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. They sell $300 candles, $500 coffee table books, and other assorted bullshit. The storefronts are some of the most expensive retail space in the Bay Area.
Half the dealerships down 82nd. Ain’t seen a soul in any of those lots, or even seen the cars change position that much.
And it’s sad how much of the real estate on 82nd they take up. Even in the “Jade District” section, there’s a bunch of used car dealerships.
bought my first car for $700 there 😎
There used to be a private dance house on barbour a few years ago that I thought was a front for something more than a dance.
Open 24 hours! I thought wow, how boring that little hut must get in the middle of the night. ;-)
G spot? Still there. It falls into the “lingerie boutique” category which is code for a place that specializes in mutual masturbation - apparently fully legal. There are lots of massage parlors on Barbur which are fronts for full service prostitution.
When I lived in Sw Burlingame, we used to call that strip of land between Barbur and I-5 the Vice Slice, because it was just one miles-long line of pot shops and strip clubs. And one very good breakfast joint (the original Original Pancake House, first of its name).
It’s still there! And people go in and out. I don’t even think it’s a front really, just a building for grey area legal sex work.
This is true. No frontin goin on.
They all are.
All the random convenience stores with like 10 products on the shelf that are all expired.
That Russian furniture store on Foster
Euro Classic Furniture. Never seen any customers in there
We wish. That place is owned by the Schleifer Family. They brand that spot to attract the business of Portland's many Slavic and Eastern European immigrants and refugees. Looks to be a lot of catalog orders/delivery.
Well, that is just fucking illuminating.
Was looking for this one. I don’t think I’ve seen the displayed furniture change in the 5 years I’ve been here. Though they did take down the butthurt signs in their window about bike lanes.
Absolutely, I’ve been saying that for years.
Yep. I posted here recently. Our 12-year-old kid and her gang are convinced that it is an evil entity, and ready to investigate.
The Cocaine and Cocaine Accessories Emporium. I'm pretty sure they sell cocaine.
Oh in the Cocaine District?
Yeah at the intersection of cocaine ave and cocaine blvd
Nope, it’s just a clever name.
Technically if that was the name and they sold what they are advertising then it wouldn’t be a front.
Dude, I moved to Portland over 20 yrs ago. All those tall buildings downtown are still mostly empty. I’ve moved away, but visit a lot. Every time I stay at a downtown Portland hotel, I look out the window, 15 stories up, at a TONNNNNNNN of empty floors in the adjacent buildings. How in the HELL are these places existing without income? 20yrs, same story, totally empty. And I don’t mean a few. So many of those old buildings down town are empty.
Because they can pay their bills at a 50% occupancy rate. One of the housing ideas being floated is having an unused occupancy tax.
Next do an unused occupancy tax but for surface parking lots.
Portland has one of the lowest surface parking lot rates in the country at 11%. Only lower is NYC.
I wasn't raised to settle for #2.
Welcome to r/Landvaluetax!
Seriously, this needs to be implemented so that we stop landed gentry from squatting on valuable space that we need to make a vibrant city.
This! Think about all the unused parking held by churches and shopping centers who have declining “customers”. Plus the increase in temperature because of the lack of green space.
The lights are on all night in a lot of these buildings downtown where I never see anyone, like Jackson Tower. I always wonder if they are left on purposely so the downtown doesn't look so deserted.
Granted, I was in Beaverton in 2008 , got laid off, and moved out of the PDX metro area for a few years, but it seems to me that downtown Portland post-2008 is just a shell of what it used to be...
Am I wrong about that?
Killing fairless square killed downtown.
I agree, ending fairless square fucked us up
Mattress stores. Why do many?
In Chicago they had to put restrictions on how many mattress stores there could be in a certain area. There was a neighborhood that had almost exclusively mattress stores.
It's not too late to sleep like a baby
OMG, maybe this is why I used to casually sing "it's not too late to sleep with the fishes"
The mattress cartel. We don't talk much about that.
You have a warehouse full of mattresses that are stuffed with cash, who’s gunna know?
I lived in Phoenix for a bit in the 2010s and there was a weird amount of water bed stores. Like, any amount above 0 is weird, but there were 2-3 within like 30 minutes of each other in a suburb I lived in. Nothing can convince me that they made enough money honestly to survive.
Yes.
The prices are reasonably high, and are very flexible with high margins. It's a good product for laundering money.
I was certain Dixie Mattresses was a front for years.
On Belmont?
Yes - that one. I remember at some point when I lived on salmon, someone tagged their signs and replaced the confederate flags with a portrait of MLK and one of Malcolm X.
That place on Killingsworth Catalina’s/El Mercado
Went there once and it was massive inside and we were the only ones there, and they seemed genuinely uncomfortable that we were there.
Are you saying that El Mercado is a front or that a place near El Mercado is a front?
That sketchy Trump loving furniture store on Southeast Foster somewhere around 76th.
Any time I've referred to it, I just call it "that furniture store on Foster" and anybody that knows the place says "You mean the front?"
The Russian furniture store? I’ve seen people in there shopping.
We bought something there before! Was actually surprised about the type of stuff they had there.
I bought a couch there too lol
I bought coke there, too
My husband and I always joke that’s where the brothers from Night at the Roxbury buy their furniture.
The storefront next to the fortune cookie bakery on Foster that has had the same eight sinks on display in the window for 15 years.
Wait.. there’s a fortune cookie factory on foster? Do they have a store front?
Yeah, it’s great! They’re do custom fortunes for really cheap. http://kbbakery.com/mobile/m-index.html
Sami's Deli. It's in SW Portland on Powell. I went in once and they straight up told me they don't sell meat. I apologized and said I thought they were a deli, and this guy from the back told me I could either play one of their lottery machines or leave.
The lamp shade store in North Portland
it’s closed now i believe . my mom would always excitedly visit it when in town. she found exactly the shades she wanted multiple times.
That place was for real and provided a needed service. Lamps are a big business here and there’s always a shortage of nice ones when it starts to get dark too early.
Sunlan? Because that lady loves lightbulbs. No front.
No, there was a lampshade store on Lombard for a long time, kind of around the Denver/Greeley area.
Where's this lampshade store? I wanna peep game.
It’s long gone
That Future Pops popsicle shop on Killingsworth
I noticed that place the other day...looks like it was a whole ice cream company that supplied ice cream trucks..looks closed now and there are still trucks in the back lot
That being said I’ve actually had a pistachio pop from there and it was absolutely phenomenal. They have an ice cream “truck” that’s actually just a police meter maid interceptor converted ice cream truck. I was at mocks crest like three summers ago on a summer day and they came around selling popsicles
Any of the mattress stores that are always having blowout sales, no one inside
Budget motel on Interstate.
Sometimes only 1/2 of the sign is lit up on both sides making it say “get bud” or “bud get”.
I lived across the street from this place and once saw a bunch of guys cutting coke out of four very full suitcases from my window so yeah wouldn’t surprise me
When I did rideshare, I dropped off a sex worker at the motel looking to set up shop there. Picked her up a few minutes later when they wouldn't give her a room. I don't know the details, but she didn't seem too miffed about it. So who knows?
Do you remember Yam-Yams. That place ended up being a drug front. " From the rooter to the tooter" - Yam-Yams
Any church
Every hooka joint that survived the pandemic.
I don't know about now, but there used to be an excellent bbq place called Yam Yam's up in N PDX, and it was my favorite bbq place, but one day I went there with a friend that I'd been telling how great it was, and it was a Thai place. I looked it up online, found out the owners got convicted of money laundering and maybe some heavier stuff iirc, and that was the end of Yam Yam's.
I used to work at a place in about 2002 called Zeba, a restaurant on the edge of downtown, and I probably shouldn't go into it but the owner was an Iranian guy who owned a limousine service, there were a lot of really well-dressed and tough-looking guys showing up in immaculate black Ford Broncos all the time, and I felt kind of like I was in the background of another version of 'Goodfellas'. When I got hired, the guy who interviewed me said "I think this place is basically like a mafia front". My weed connection at the time was a fairly 'connected' person herself who very likely knew some of the people I was running into, and she said the owner had fired the entire previous staff because he was freaking out on opium withdrawal. I was there about two months, and it went under a few months after that.
Home Renonation on Sandy. No, that's not a typo.
Banana Stand 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌
Mr. Manager
We just say manager.
Aura Nightclub definitely seems like a front
I don't think it's there anymore but I used to live near "Husky Maltese Whatever" on Powell and 36th, it was a cafe that was never open and a couple times I just saw a bunch of Asian teens hanging out in there, but still never open. Always thought that place was some kind of front. And what a weird name..
Omg I forgot about that place
Yam-Yams on MLK was a total cocaine money laundering front.
Honestly used to get that vibe with the Stark’s Vacuum on Grand (RIP). Loved the vacuum museum there, though. Felt compelled to buy a pack of vacuum bags when I visited, so maybe it’s that kind of impulse spending that kept it afloat.
Nah, they've been around a long time, and they've built quite a reputation over the decades. You've got to remember, a significant portion of their business isn't sales, it's service and repair. If you're used to using $50 or $100 vacuum cleaners, that might not make sense, but the experience difference between a cheap vacuum and a nice vacuum is a lot, and if you've invested many hundreds or even a few thousand dollars in to the vacuum you want, bringing it in to have it serviced once every year or two for $75 to $100 is really a no brainer.
The same goes for sewing machines. Which they also sell and service.
It’s still owned by the Stark family. Several of the grandkids work at both that and the Beaverton location.
they have had a spot out in gresham ever since I can remeber too, at least 35+ years
Lol I actually bought my vacuum there and the salespeople are very knowledgeable/helpful! The vacuum they sold me is an absolute unit
And if you ask for a new dust filter for a Hoover MaxExtract PressurePro model 60, they'll help you disappear.
But you better be ready to go…and if you’re not by yourself or if you’re late then you’ll never get picked up again.
I've bought two vacuums from Stark's on Grand, as recently as a few months ago. It's legit. Did it close?
Herb Stomp
Cody sells a shit ton of different plants and growing supplies. Like 1/3-2/3 is online buisness.
I have been buying Kratom from herb stomp for like 10 years so I highly doubt it
Finally. I have been trying to find out who actually buys Kratom for years
I started using it way way way before it was known. I'm talking like there were a couple of sellers in the United States and you had to buy it in bulk online. I have a neurological disease that I used to have to take opiates for which made my life miserable. Kratom changed my whole life honestly
All the sketchy strip clubs and lingerie modeling places.
Add on all of the rub and tug massage parlors to this list
Where are these located so I can avoid them?
Drive down 82nd.
SE. Anywhere in SE.
https://www.xmag.com/ebook/index.html has a map of most of the adult businesses in PDX.
a front in the sense that they make their bread off the tugs instead of the rubs?
That’s part of it but also they are in nearly every strip mall on 82nd and all around town and your never see anyone go in or out. Money laundering operates in grey areas like this. Service businesses that mainly operate in under the table cash can easily cook the books. A lot of these places can operate with no one going in because their rent is being paid by shady owners.
You know it's a slow night at the lingerie lounge when the ladies are out on 82nd.
It’s not PDX specific, but Arby’s.
SE King and 82nd sus
That’s exactly the one I was thinking of! You get it.
When I lived in that area I have seen people block the intersection trying to get into the drive thru. It’s definitely got customers, unfortunately 😂
I’ve seen those lines before and I’m always very confused. Who are you?! Why are you HERE?!
the lamp stores everywhere
The bakery on se 72nd just south of harold, owned by the weed store on the corner, its never open
I was just telling a friend this has to be a front. It's owned by Cannabis Corner?? The "Now Open" sign is gone, revealing an off-center "Genuine Miller" neon light. No sign of the current name (former name, New Arleta Cafe says it is permanently closed on Google). I saw someone sitting in the window being served and eating. Now they have a "new menu" in their window for only fried foods and beers. I wish we could get something healthy and not run down in this neighborhood. It's bad enough Green Lion took over the former Fat Cupcake location and painted everything so awful. They haven't even opened but their green lights shine so bright into nearby homes at night.
~90% of the Asian massage parlors are fronts for prostitution.
There are plenty of tarot and astrology spots throughout the Beaverton area. I never see anyone there! But they owners seem to be balling!
Round Table Pizza on Foster
Hope there's some OG North Portlanders here that remember Yam Yams. Always commented to people it was a front. Turns out it was.
There’s a hat store on Hawthorne that I have idea how they pay the rent
I’m sure all the massage parlors on SE 82nd are sex trafficking
There is a car stereo company that sells you care stereos at a very good price, then steals it back. Does that count
I know exactly which one youre talking about. That rumor has been going around for 30 years, never actually met someone who had it happen to them.
Its the "Old.Man Marley murdered his wife with the very shovel he has in his hands." of east portland/gresham
I feel like Joe Brown's Caramel Corn is sus. I got nothing to back it up 'cept my inability to fathom how a business predicated on caramel popcorn can stay afloat.
Idk man, have you ever HAD caramel corn? It's delectable! Joe Brown's is amazing.
Carmel Corn, for reasons unknown
Is this off MLK? If so, I think I saw it and thought the exact same? Who’s all buying? Lol
Northside Restaurant and Lounge on Lombard. I have no proof but it feels exactly like this place I used to go to that was actually a human trafficking front sooooo lol
Los prados on Lombard
The place I always thought was a front was Mummy’s. I got too far down the stairs one time just to see what was up and I wound up getting a drink from a bottle that was dusty and grease grimey.
Tom Peterson was a West Coast Mafia Don.
And Gloria, too.
When I first moved to Portland in the late 2000's I was told Ah Fong Kitchen was a front for the Seattle-based Triads.
It goes by Sushi Yummy & Chinese (tho the original lighted Ah Fong Kitchen sign is still there).
Their food is not bad for Chinese-American fare.
The hubcap store on powell
Restoration Hardware in NW 23rd
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15d
I bought so many fabric masks there during that first year of COVID!
Bald men beg to differ.
I love that place!
Shroom House
I don't think that was a front, I think that was an honest product for an honest price.
The real shroom house was the people we met in line for the shroom house who sold us better shrooms forever after.
Arts Tax
Tini’s on NW 23rd! Never a soul in there.
A certain car dealer in SW Portland has a reputation for not being just a car dealer…
The Cheerful Bullpen bar near Providence Park. I live a couple blocks away and pass by there multiple times a day. It is almost always empty, except on Timbers game days where they have an okay sized crowd. I legit can’t figure out how they stay in business when they’re always so empty.
Owner fucked it up with her stupid membership bullshit. It used to be a full on bar there and they kneecapped it by putting it in half and putting a convenience store in front of it, then telling everyone they needed to pay $100 to go into the bar, but then if it was empty you could go in without being a member of you argued with her. It was the stupidest shit, that and ownership is hard alt-right. Glad everyone bailed.
Funny you mention the ownership. I think one of the owners is running for Clackamas county commission. She parks her car in front of the bar and goes in. I looked up her campaign website and it’s full of far-right dog whistles and complaints about the old COVID regulations that are no longer in effect.
I don’t understand how they manage to break even, that bar is almost always empty. Even when they are promotion live music or drink specials, always empty
Also, another bar/restaurant is opening up the block called High Noon, and they are marketing a $1,000+/year “VIP Membership”.
There's a large Chinese place on the corner of like 6th and NW Everett. It looks like it could seat 200 people inside. I have never seen a single customer sit inside no matter the day or time.
It’s a real restaurant! A group of people from my downtown office just had lunch there.
I think a lot of businesses that look like fronts to outsiders just have low fixed expenses (no rent because the business owner also owns the building and paid it off years ago, has family staffing the shop, etc.) so they can get away with low sales volumes.
Husky Maltese or Whatever
Sadly, it's now an H&R Block.....so, no change there. 🤪
Why are there so many piano repair shops? Just saying…
The Thai place across the street from Grand Fir on SE 14th and Stark.
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15d
The food here used to be awesome about 10 years ago. The chef that used to work there has a new place that won Restaurant of the Year from the Oregonian last year off 82nd.
A lot of those places only exist to play lotto. They're not even trying to sell food. They probably make about $75k a year.
Nah, it's not a front. Angel Food and Fun used to be one of the best Mexican restaurants in Portland until they lost their chef to visa issues a few years back. Before then, they did a LOT of business. Enough business that I have no doubt they were able to pay off their building. The one they bought in 2006. For $65,000.
You don't need to bring in all that much revenue when you only need to pay upkeep on your building, operating expenses, and $3,300 per year in property taxes.
But yeah, at this point? The gambling revenue is probably a significant portion of their income.
lost their chef to visa issues
Passport Immigration Photos on Northwest Broadway
No way. That place is awesome.
It is but it sure has a vibe from the outside
When you need to get a foreign passport, some will require an address and signature of the photographer. This place is awesome for that
Near 65th and foster there used to be a shop that sold fortune cookies by appointment only. I never saw a soul go in or out, and the fortune cookies on the shelf were covered in dust in the window display. Pretty sure it was either smuggling or money laundering. This was over a decade ago, not sure if it still exists.
Not open anymore, but Tilt
Both locations are gone? Crazy! I loved it!
The burger joint that used to be on Swan Island? I loved that place!
Yep that’s the one, and they had one in the pearl.
Super Torta is definitely a front. Food is garbage and there's no one ever in there yet it stays open.
The last and only time I went about a year ago there there was 5 people in line in front of me, mostly construction workers and a few city employees taking lunch. Food is mid but it’s on Woodstock so I guess enough folk like it
The vegetarian Chinese place on SE 112th and Powell. It’s a huge building for just a restaurant and there are rarely cars parked outside.
Yuan Su? The inside is very dated and about half of it doesn’t seem utilized but they are always fairly busy with a few tables dining in and takeout orders. The food is great!
If I lived closer I would eat there more often. It’s soooo good.
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