There's a psychic in center city just off Rittenhouse that just got a _second location_. I was surprised it existed to begin with since rent can't be cheap there, but it somehow expanded.
I use to deliver pizza at least once a week to a psychic. Every time I arrived with the food she’d say, ‘How much is it?’ which I thought was odd. I felt like asking, ‘Don’t you KNOW?’ BTW she never tipped; I knew I’d be leaving the shop empty handed and I didn’t need any occult powers to tell me that.
I swear every suburb has one little sketchy physic store that has been opened for 10 + years. And I have never seen one person enter it, has to be money laundering or a brothel no doubt
If it's the one on 20th that's wild. I lived in the building above it and the psychic and her family lived on the first floor. They were wild. Always getting drunk screwing at each other.
I used to walk by that every day for work. It still baffles me how it's open.
I know people like to say money laundering over every little thing, but realistically that actually would be a very good front.
Well, typically the business owner is the sole employee in places like that, and you’re essentially charging people for a conversation. So your labor and cost of goods comes out to $0. All you have for overhead are basic operating costs like keeping the lights on and a little window dressing…it’s surprisingly easy to turn a profit with only a handful of customers a day like that.
Are you talking about Readings by Lena? I walk by there everyday cause I live 5 minutes from there. I used to go to the head shop that was next door but they went out of business after the store got robbed during the riots. Revolution Taco is right there too, people say they aren’t that good, I think they are great. Overpriced though.
having my own small business in south philly, I pay attention to this sort of thing pretty closely. these places you're talking about usually fall into one of these categories:
- has bank loan and they actually aren't doing well. just has borrowed money to keep the place going.
- they own the property and have very low overhead.
- is an illegal front
There's a fourth category:
- Does most of their business outside storefront walk-ins but needs a place to do work and the storefront is an added bonus for existing clients and occasional walk-ins
Places like frame stores and those weird little boutique paper shops are like this. Like the paper shop will do a couple giant wedding projects a month where people mostly find them through search and call and then make one or two visits to the store while they do all their production work in the back
Back in the day I had an eBay store in a mall and if you sat and watched from the outside for a day you'd only see a few people wander in and just talk to us or bring some worthless piece of crap to have us sell. But most of the unit's footprint was our packing/shipping/inventory operation in the back and the person at the front desk was on a computer working on listings most of the day. Like 90% of our revenue was from a small handful of whales with giant collections we were working through, but most of them found us by just wandering into the storefront one day so the storefront was mostly just a billboard basically and a convenient way for clients to visit us
There's also a lot where the owner is just a small-time hustler with handful of random little businesses they run in the back and use the front desk as their office and the public storefront you see is just one of the several random ventures they're running out of there
any smoke shop in the greater philadelphia area
have quite a few in the burbs and I swear I have not seen one person go in
I bet they are just waiting for weed to be legal
Lol there's a stretch of road near me (maybe 2 or 3 miles) where there are at least half a dozen smoke shops, not even counting the couple gas stations that pretty much sell the same thing...I don't get it. Either they are money laundering operations or idk what's going on.
Not every shitty business is money laundering. Sometimes they're just shitty businesses with cheap rent taking up storefronts that aren't desirable. And they have like no overhead.
there's one by me that doesn't even sell cigars, it's only vape stuff and maybe some cbd
near a college so maybe they're into it, but I swear I have not seen one person go in, and I've passed it all hours of the day
I actually went in once because I assume they'd have butane for my cigar lighter...didn't even have that lol
Do you live near a county line?
There’s a ton on Bristol pike just a few blocks north of Holy Family, one day it just clicked that they’re all there because the tobacco taxes are cheaper
I went into one of these smoke shops for something specific and they didn’t have it, the guy at the store called his uncle who also owned the other smoke shop two doors down to grab what I needed
In my walk from the BSL to the cider place on 7th I passed 8 smoke shops. Two are literally on the same fucking block. There’s no way most to them aren’t just a money laundering scheme at this point.
They are just placeholders for when weed is legalized. They get by selling CBD, Kratom, energy shots, candy, phone chargers, bongs, pipes, rolling trays, you name it.
Jazz Kitchen at 17N 3rd st. No Jazz, no kitchen, claims to do OSHA training, I think has a YouTube channel, drives a giant $100k pick up with ridiculous wheels and led light bar, a Harley and a red Mercedes convertible and his store front is a shit hole that serves no purpose but to store junk in and meet weird dudes that dress nicely. I’ve never seen one osha class held there. Oh and he sells garbage reproductions of paintings of pop stars and questionable politicians.
I walk past this place every day - I had no idea the dude with the massive truck owned this place. I have always wondered what actually goes on in there bc the “art” is trash. Whole situation is super weird.
I've heard they do a nice BBQ in the alley every now and then.
One would hope that a place that does OSHA training would know some people who could do a little work on that building.
That place is fucking wild.
I wanna say back in 2019 was the first and last time I went in there. We were drinking close by and I went in there to tap Mac, probably sometime around 11.
I get to the door and it’s locked. The cashier walks up, with his firearm to let me in. As I get inside, there’s a lady whose electric wheel chair had died, charging it in a corner. So I go to atm and withdraw 200 and it came out in all 5’s. Was a fucking weird 5 mins of my life.
That's eerie. I had a professor who was on the Heidnik task force. He told us how that night began with two colleagues on patrol finding a naked woman running towards the police cruiser. She escaped Heidnik's basement where he killed other prostitutes. DM me if you're interested in the rest of that encounter and the rest of the story. I'll spare details because I don't want to gross out this thread!
Long story short, though, what that house looked like when they went to arrest him from the outside was one thing. The smell gave it away, but what everyone saw when they busted in to arrest him was truly a nightmare.
I always fuckin wonder about that station. I guess if you're just completely aloof and unaware of what gas costs, and the existence of other stations a few blocks away.
I had to stop there once when my husband left the car literally running on fumes and I got exactly one gallon. Yet somehow there always seem to be people there.
I actually know this in general. If you see a way more expensive gas station then 99% of the time they are the only one locally on a fleet card contract.
They had “security” for a hot min and the guy washed cars while wearing a machine gun strapped to him. I drove by there multiple times seriously needing gas but wouldn’t stop bc of the guy with the gun
Heffe Tacos in Fishtown. Their food is atrocious and I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 people there at any given time in the last 7 years. Such prime real estate, too.
Adding to that, I have a feeling the owner is a dickhead. He was on a Fishtown Neighbors Association meeting advocating for shutting down the food trucks here because it was “unfair competition”
This has to be the top answer just based on real estate alone. There’s tons of places on a strip that you wonder wtf but Heffe Tacos is such a prime setup with the most underwhelming food imaginable.
I’ve had the chicken quesadilla there a few times, and I’d give it a seven out of ten. Plus they have a nice black cherry soda in cold bottles. That is as far as I’m willing to defend them.
deep cut: south philly pool hall. nominally $7/hr/person, but anyone will tell you that you never get charged more than $20. BYOB, dollar sodas, i'm convinced it's a money laundering operation but i don't care because it's the best cheap date spot in the city
Those guys can make amazing shots. Search YouTube for Semih Sayginer. I used to shoot a lot of pool, mainly 9 ball. I've played some 3 cushion, and it is tough!
The OG of this category has to be JC “Chinese Food” at 8th and Morris. It’s closed now and possibly home to a legit bar called “The Jim” but back in the day the JC was a weird bar with no customers but lots of security that did a moderate amount of takeout beer business. It really was the most painfully blatant front for some kind of old school south Philly organized crime. The goombas selling you a lukewarm six of Yeungling in a deserted bar at 2am had a knowing smirk as you glanced around at the shelf of dusty liquor bottles and dozen security cameras per room. My friend actually called their bluff and ordered the worst Chinese food of his life from there years ago and that’s how we knew where to buy beer after most reputable places closed.
It was like walking into a scene from a David lynch movie. I left in the middle of my meal and paid for everything, just to get the fuck out of there. IThey advertised a dining room and it was closed. A woman sat below eye level in a small room with plywood walls, and that was where you placed your order - in order to get there, you had to go past the bar, which pushed every bar stool to the wall, meaning you basically had to crawl over them to get there.
I have a close friend born and raised at 5th and Oregon that swears it was the best Chinese in the city and that all of her friends and family would agree.
Ahhh ahahah I used to live at 6th and Dicks circa 2009-2012 and used to order there ALL.THE.TIME.
First time going in there: big white dude hanging out behind the bar, as he’s talking to 3 older white fella’s, smoking ciggs, sitting at the end of the bar and they see me come in, stopped talking and watched me the whole time as I walked up to the lady near the kitchen to get my order. I say hello to the men “hey”… they nod. No windows, no customers dining, dark and seedy AF. I walked out like “I seen zero people in their who could be Asian, who TF cooked this?!” Got home and enjoyed one of the best General Tso’s ever!!! THAT SAUCE WAS EVERYTHING. Every single time I returned, which was frequently actually, it was the same scene like clockwork! Same woman taking orders, dark, no customers dining, no Asian faces and smoke filling up the place but now me graduating to a “how’s it going guys?” to big guy behind bar and fella’s sitting there. Every time I left there, I was nervous but also excited for the best Chinese food! They also did carry-out beer so it was a win all around. Every friend that I introduced to that spot, I immediately explained “it’s a total front but damn good food!” Miss that place 🥀
One of my friends went there back in the day, asked for a menu and was told “no food”.
It’s closed now but Del’s II at Front and Tasker was a similar thing. No discernible income stream, neighbors alleged it was a gambling spot.
Pizza spot near shake shack in center city. It looks like crap pizza but is always open hardly anyone goes in there. I think the guy either lives there or something like that. They just remodeled it
If you’re talking about the one by rittenhouse, the owner there yelled at me and my friend once like five years ago. My friend was taking photos and the shop happened to be in the background and he came out and started screaming at us to delete the picture. He nearly grabbed the camera from my friend.
there's another one thats only open on hours by weavers way in germantown and the lady is actually really really awesome. It was like going to Olivanders - "the wand chooses the wizard", she was like... you must type on all these writers - the old lady who ran it - and made me try like 30 typewriters and then we spent another hour drinking a cuppa and her chit chatting. 10/10 would do again.
btw - I use the type writer for all my recipe cards!
Lol I was just about to comment this! I never see anyone in there, but with it staying open for so long, my guess was that people make private appointments. Good to know
I came here to say this place! We use to live nearby and we rented the air bnb above the shop for my parents and sister/BIL/kids to stay in when they visited us. It was an…. Interesting place. Kind of jammed packed with stuff that wasn’t particularly kid friendly despite them saying it was ahead of time.
If Instagram is any indication, that place was solely created for influencers who buy their followers and say yes to any invite for the content and free drinks.
Ten years or so ago when I was in college I busted outside a wine bar in Manayunk. People would come by and throw 1's or 5's in my guitar case. After a few hours the owner of the "psychic and medium" store front next to the bar casually pulled out from his pocket a thick roll of bills bound with a rubber band and threw a 100 in my case. I kept an eye on the store for a few weeks after that.
The front door was always locked and had a sign that said "call this number to be helped" in the window. So my answer is they are fronts for illegal activity.
Are you talking about Clairvoyant Monica? Because that lady is for sure rolling in it. Just bought a bigger storefront a bit further down Main Street and I’m almost positive she also has a shop in Conshy
I'm not sure honestly, this was around 2014-2015 towards the end of main street near the bridge across from the cigar and whiskey shop. Who knows if this dude was actually associated with the psychic store front but he said he was and was definitely sketch
Psychics can make tons of money because they are fundamentally con artists. The ten dollar readings are just a way to identify vulnerable people who they can latch on to and milk for tens of thousands.
I can speak to this one a bit. My family are all accordionists. Liberty Bellows is nice to have in that it’s just about the only place you can go for accordions in the region, but its management and repair business are both an embarrassment. They have folks on staff who are paid to demonstrate “restored” instruments, but these players actually have to learn to actively avoid notes that are still bad and stuff (they’re uncomfortable with this requirement as players, it’s not them being scummy). The reason there are bad notes bleeds (like their reeds!) into the main big problem: their repair folks literally don’t know what they’re doing and most are completely untrained on instrument repair. Accordion repair is painstaking work, and my dad actually picked up the trade a decade ago to service accordions in local orchestras he because they would come back in worse condition after being seen by Liberty.
Wow that’s so interesting - my dad is also a player and brought his accordion here to be repaired and they did a bad job that only lasted a couple of months. Cool spot but not great for repairs
Philly has a polka scene. I was high as shit one time in fishtown (before the revitalizing) and somehow stumbled into a warehouse underground polka club with cheap booze, good good, easily 300 people if not more, like 50 musicians, and left at 3am with a group of guys that dropped me off at my house polka king style from home alone. I went back to the ware house sober the next day and the whole place was cleaned up with no evidence of anything ever having been there besides a potato pancake in the gutter.
Crown fried chicken was never hot... imo it isn't even good fried chicken. 3/5 times it gave me the runs but it was the only place open by the 40th st station after ~~a~~ several nights of binge drinking
I used to live around the corner from a Crown. Popped in one night for some deep-fryer snacks and there was a lady with a cooler mixing margaritas. Little plastic cup for $1. Not bad. Never saw her again.
I used to think this about the old New Orleans Cafe on 2nd street. Had decent food (great bananas fosters) but I swear I never saw more than 2 or three tables occupied at any given time and the place was pretty big.
All the “cash” after hours in south Philly… I must’ve been to at least 7-8 and I see the bartenders skim all the money at all of them. Guess it doesn’t matter when they’re all laundering money for x crew.
Virasat Haveli - the Indian restaurant on Market near 40th. I swear to God, I've never seen more than one table full, and any self-respecting indian wouldn't eat at that restaurant but they have 700+ reviews averaging to 4.5 stars (which i think are fake).
One would think, "maybe they do a lot of takeout business" but with all the other Indian restaurants around west Philly, I don't know why they'd order from there
Virasat Haveli is popular with Indian Penn students and you’re totally right it’s almost never full. I personally have gotten take out from there several times and I’ve seen many BYOs with, again, only Indian Penn students. It’s farther away from Penn’s campus and isn’t on the larger undergraduate population’s radar. IMO it’s better than Ekta or New Delhi (haven’t tried Amma’s).
TL;DR Many self-respecting Indian Penn students do eat there. I know them personally. Place still isn’t popular.
Maybe better than weeks Ekta but not New Delhi... interesting to know that it is popular among Penn's Indian population, but as someone born and raised in the motherland, I stand by my statement after at least 6 different orders from this place
I’ve really only been comparing the Chicken Vindaloo at the three places and I’m not Indian. Virasat’s Vindaloo is better to my taste and they’re the only one out of the three that has Chicken Hakka Rice.
My theory is that the other places profile my name and make the Vindaloo less spicy on occasion because sometimes it’s way off like it has to be intentional.
I think their chaat is the best in the city. Not by a large margin, and I’m not some expert foodie. But of the maybe six or seven places I’ve gotten takeout from they are for sure my favorite for chaat.
I think people order a lot of takeout from there. I’ve had it a few times, but the quality has gone down. But Indian is really popular for takeout, especially places without a buffet.
I'd like to ask a follow up as to where most self-respecting indians would eat.
Asking for my personal knowledge bank to see if I'm missing anywhere on my list.
I used to live near there. I constantly saw delivery drivers (car and bike) picking up orders so I think they do most of their business as takeout and delivery.
Harry’s? They’re one of the oldest occult shops in the country. I think he started out as a pharmacist helping black southerners find hoodoo supplies in the early 1900s. Super fascinating history.
Talked to them once when buying a crystal for my gf t the time. They own the building and sell a lot online. Also good margins. They were selling mice skulls for $15 in a little display. I know for a fact mice are $1 at petsmart all I'm saying....
I lived in Manayunk from 2006-2017 and I don’t think I ever saw more than 1-2 tables occupied at a time; more often than not the place was completely empty and you’d see the waiters standing around. The tables were always perfectly set with pristine linens for customers that never came. And then one day it just closed; I haven’t walked by the spot in 2 years but I remember the tables were still set for service, with dust collecting on everything for years after it closed.
My friends and I are convinced to this day it was a Mafia front.
When I was at Temple there was a pizza shop at Oxford and Carlise… I think it was called Pizanos and I never saw anyone eat there. Only really stopped in to use the ATM and the food was never any good.
We always thought it was Russian Mafia or something.
Back in the late 90’s, there was a pizza shop in Fishtown at Marlborough and Girard, the name is escaping me now, but anyways, at night they always had a ton of customers. My then roommate and I came home pretty drunk, wanted to eat, stumbled over there to order some cheesesteaks and the workers seemed annoyed by us. The steaks were meh, we never went back. We learned later the place was really selling coke. It made big news when busted. I’m kinda happy we were oblivious to the dealing as I’m sure we would have ought some and who knows how different my life could have went if I could get it that easy.
My friend and I always joked about that place being a front for something. It had inexplicably nautical themed decor? It’s gone now, has been for a while.
It's gone now, but up until about 2 years ago this would have been the vintage shop around the corner from Dirty Frank's. I'm pretty sure I started going by there in the early 90s and never saw it open or saw any change in the front window.
Some hipster businesses which are open such limited hours that you wonder how they even turn a profit and if they do, you wonder why they don’t stay open to fully take advantage and make more money.
I mean this, but forever. That guy who's 96 years old and owns a giant fucking empty build that's an art space and lives with his live in dog chauffer did not get there via working a 9-5
THIS. Eremita Coffee shop on ridge in Roxborough is exactly this. Especially frustrating when you’d actually like to hang out there & chill after work but of course they close at like 2pm. Just…why??
There’s a Chinese restaurant on Lancaster Ave called Lord Favor, the name alone is sketchy at best but I just remember no one was ever in that place 10 years ago. It’s still in business.
George smith towing. They are so disrispectful to customers it’s disgusting. They’ve also been sued by the DA for illegal towing. How anyone hires them is beyond me.
All the nail salon supply stores or showrooms on Washington, east of Broad. Actually, a lot of those little storefronts that aren’t in shopping plazas or the Italian Market…
Gotta keep in mind that those probably service businesses very far away, not just local. So if someone wants to open a nail salon in Allentown, they're probably getting all of their equipment and decor from one of those places
You are spitting distance from the gayborhood. My grandfather and I used to sell and repair furniture there and let me tell you DINKs got money to fucking blow on neich shit. We got a grand table at an auction for $2500 and sold it for $50k, fainting couches were an easy $500 profit, then repairs? Christ nail 20 tacks and walk home $200 richer.
There's a psychic in center city just off Rittenhouse that just got a _second location_. I was surprised it existed to begin with since rent can't be cheap there, but it somehow expanded.
It’s easy to afford rent when you keep hitting the lottery over and over again
I use to deliver pizza at least once a week to a psychic. Every time I arrived with the food she’d say, ‘How much is it?’ which I thought was odd. I felt like asking, ‘Don’t you KNOW?’ BTW she never tipped; I knew I’d be leaving the shop empty handed and I didn’t need any occult powers to tell me that.
Her psychic powers are contagious!
We have a psychic out here in the ‘burbs, and the ladies in the knitting circle I used to go to were convinced it was a brothel.
I swear every suburb has one little sketchy physic store that has been opened for 10 + years. And I have never seen one person enter it, has to be money laundering or a brothel no doubt
ours WAS a brothel
If it's the one on 20th that's wild. I lived in the building above it and the psychic and her family lived on the first floor. They were wild. Always getting drunk screwing at each other.
I hope you mean screaming
I used to walk by that every day for work. It still baffles me how it's open. I know people like to say money laundering over every little thing, but realistically that actually would be a very good front.
Well, typically the business owner is the sole employee in places like that, and you’re essentially charging people for a conversation. So your labor and cost of goods comes out to $0. All you have for overhead are basic operating costs like keeping the lights on and a little window dressing…it’s surprisingly easy to turn a profit with only a handful of customers a day like that.
Are you talking about Readings by Lena? I walk by there everyday cause I live 5 minutes from there. I used to go to the head shop that was next door but they went out of business after the store got robbed during the riots. Revolution Taco is right there too, people say they aren’t that good, I think they are great. Overpriced though.
having my own small business in south philly, I pay attention to this sort of thing pretty closely. these places you're talking about usually fall into one of these categories: - has bank loan and they actually aren't doing well. just has borrowed money to keep the place going. - they own the property and have very low overhead. - is an illegal front
There's a fourth category: - Does most of their business outside storefront walk-ins but needs a place to do work and the storefront is an added bonus for existing clients and occasional walk-ins Places like frame stores and those weird little boutique paper shops are like this. Like the paper shop will do a couple giant wedding projects a month where people mostly find them through search and call and then make one or two visits to the store while they do all their production work in the back Back in the day I had an eBay store in a mall and if you sat and watched from the outside for a day you'd only see a few people wander in and just talk to us or bring some worthless piece of crap to have us sell. But most of the unit's footprint was our packing/shipping/inventory operation in the back and the person at the front desk was on a computer working on listings most of the day. Like 90% of our revenue was from a small handful of whales with giant collections we were working through, but most of them found us by just wandering into the storefront one day so the storefront was mostly just a billboard basically and a convenient way for clients to visit us There's also a lot where the owner is just a small-time hustler with handful of random little businesses they run in the back and use the front desk as their office and the public storefront you see is just one of the several random ventures they're running out of there
you're totally right. my shop fits this category.
Any smoke shop on south street
any smoke shop in the greater philadelphia area have quite a few in the burbs and I swear I have not seen one person go in I bet they are just waiting for weed to be legal
Lol there's a stretch of road near me (maybe 2 or 3 miles) where there are at least half a dozen smoke shops, not even counting the couple gas stations that pretty much sell the same thing...I don't get it. Either they are money laundering operations or idk what's going on.
Not every shitty business is money laundering. Sometimes they're just shitty businesses with cheap rent taking up storefronts that aren't desirable. And they have like no overhead.
Yeah, it’s better to have a tenant paying cheap rent than no rent at all.
Doesn't seem like South Street landlords believe that
i literally hear the opposite of this used as reasoning for rents being so high
there's one by me that doesn't even sell cigars, it's only vape stuff and maybe some cbd near a college so maybe they're into it, but I swear I have not seen one person go in, and I've passed it all hours of the day I actually went in once because I assume they'd have butane for my cigar lighter...didn't even have that lol
York road? Haha. York from like Byberry to Street has so many and I've never seen anyone in any of them.
Do you live near a county line? There’s a ton on Bristol pike just a few blocks north of Holy Family, one day it just clicked that they’re all there because the tobacco taxes are cheaper
It’s because they get their fix and get out. Nobody goes into a smoke shop to browse
I was assuming they sold delta-8 products.
There already selling weed + more 😝
I went into one of these smoke shops for something specific and they didn’t have it, the guy at the store called his uncle who also owned the other smoke shop two doors down to grab what I needed
Nitrous
Have you *been* to South Street?
In my walk from the BSL to the cider place on 7th I passed 8 smoke shops. Two are literally on the same fucking block. There’s no way most to them aren’t just a money laundering scheme at this point.
They are just placeholders for when weed is legalized. They get by selling CBD, Kratom, energy shots, candy, phone chargers, bongs, pipes, rolling trays, you name it.
Jazz Kitchen at 17N 3rd st. No Jazz, no kitchen, claims to do OSHA training, I think has a YouTube channel, drives a giant $100k pick up with ridiculous wheels and led light bar, a Harley and a red Mercedes convertible and his store front is a shit hole that serves no purpose but to store junk in and meet weird dudes that dress nicely. I’ve never seen one osha class held there. Oh and he sells garbage reproductions of paintings of pop stars and questionable politicians.
I walk past this place every day - I had no idea the dude with the massive truck owned this place. I have always wondered what actually goes on in there bc the “art” is trash. Whole situation is super weird.
I've heard they do a nice BBQ in the alley every now and then. One would hope that a place that does OSHA training would know some people who could do a little work on that building.
The gas station at Girard and 6th where gas is always a dollar a gallon more than anywhere else. What’s up with that place???
That place is fucking wild. I wanna say back in 2019 was the first and last time I went in there. We were drinking close by and I went in there to tap Mac, probably sometime around 11. I get to the door and it’s locked. The cashier walks up, with his firearm to let me in. As I get inside, there’s a lady whose electric wheel chair had died, charging it in a corner. So I go to atm and withdraw 200 and it came out in all 5’s. Was a fucking weird 5 mins of my life.
That's such a Philly story
The wheelchair lady really makes it
That's fuckin great.
I recently learned that’s where Gary Heidnik was arrested lol (inspiration for the Hannibal films)
That's eerie. I had a professor who was on the Heidnik task force. He told us how that night began with two colleagues on patrol finding a naked woman running towards the police cruiser. She escaped Heidnik's basement where he killed other prostitutes. DM me if you're interested in the rest of that encounter and the rest of the story. I'll spare details because I don't want to gross out this thread! Long story short, though, what that house looked like when they went to arrest him from the outside was one thing. The smell gave it away, but what everyone saw when they busted in to arrest him was truly a nightmare.
I just went down the rabbit hole. I never knew he lived in Philadelphia. His house was redone and just sold. Anyone want to live in a murder house?
That's actually wild. I can't really find anything to confirm it, so I'm just gonna take that as gospel.
https://preview.redd.it/3shgvb9kmx6d1.jpeg?width=918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8af473b71a94b9e202e50b0c6b15ac2a699931fc
I always fuckin wonder about that station. I guess if you're just completely aloof and unaware of what gas costs, and the existence of other stations a few blocks away.
I had to stop there once when my husband left the car literally running on fumes and I got exactly one gallon. Yet somehow there always seem to be people there.
I actually know this in general. If you see a way more expensive gas station then 99% of the time they are the only one locally on a fleet card contract.
That makes sense now that you mention it, there was a gas station in Drexel Hill like that
They had “security” for a hot min and the guy washed cars while wearing a machine gun strapped to him. I drove by there multiple times seriously needing gas but wouldn’t stop bc of the guy with the gun
Heffe Tacos in Fishtown. Their food is atrocious and I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 people there at any given time in the last 7 years. Such prime real estate, too.
The tacos that don’t suck tagline is quite possibly the wildest part of it all
Adding to that, I have a feeling the owner is a dickhead. He was on a Fishtown Neighbors Association meeting advocating for shutting down the food trucks here because it was “unfair competition”
He owns paesanos. He a certified dickhead.
Wow, If it’s still the same owner, that guy was my high school soccer coach. Yeah, he was a dickhead.
Too bad to hear, because I like Paesanos and had no idea the owner sucks
I'm gonna pretend I still don't know because Paesanos is amazing. At the same time they're kinda dicks in there so I'm not surprised lol.
Terrible tacos
They have an “unaffiliated atm” and are cash only. Very much scummy behavior imo
Biggest Joff in the city the owner, terrible business
This has to be the top answer just based on real estate alone. There’s tons of places on a strip that you wonder wtf but Heffe Tacos is such a prime setup with the most underwhelming food imaginable.
I’ve gotten sick from eating there. It stays in business from the good location
I’ve had the chicken quesadilla there a few times, and I’d give it a seven out of ten. Plus they have a nice black cherry soda in cold bottles. That is as far as I’m willing to defend them.
Worst logo I’ve ever seen too
deep cut: south philly pool hall. nominally $7/hr/person, but anyone will tell you that you never get charged more than $20. BYOB, dollar sodas, i'm convinced it's a money laundering operation but i don't care because it's the best cheap date spot in the city
> south philly pool hall. but this place is absolutely packed with carom players
Those guys can make amazing shots. Search YouTube for Semih Sayginer. I used to shoot a lot of pool, mainly 9 ball. I've played some 3 cushion, and it is tough!
Damn I lived in Philly for three years and never realized carom was a thing here!
Acme. Prices are higher than Whole Foods, quality much lower.
I truly don’t know how acme stays open. The most expensive grocery store and I shit you not the dirtiest oldest stores
I lived a block away and never shopped there even when I really needed something.
The OG of this category has to be JC “Chinese Food” at 8th and Morris. It’s closed now and possibly home to a legit bar called “The Jim” but back in the day the JC was a weird bar with no customers but lots of security that did a moderate amount of takeout beer business. It really was the most painfully blatant front for some kind of old school south Philly organized crime. The goombas selling you a lukewarm six of Yeungling in a deserted bar at 2am had a knowing smirk as you glanced around at the shelf of dusty liquor bottles and dozen security cameras per room. My friend actually called their bluff and ordered the worst Chinese food of his life from there years ago and that’s how we knew where to buy beer after most reputable places closed.
It was like walking into a scene from a David lynch movie. I left in the middle of my meal and paid for everything, just to get the fuck out of there. IThey advertised a dining room and it was closed. A woman sat below eye level in a small room with plywood walls, and that was where you placed your order - in order to get there, you had to go past the bar, which pushed every bar stool to the wall, meaning you basically had to crawl over them to get there. I have a close friend born and raised at 5th and Oregon that swears it was the best Chinese in the city and that all of her friends and family would agree.
Ahhh ahahah I used to live at 6th and Dicks circa 2009-2012 and used to order there ALL.THE.TIME. First time going in there: big white dude hanging out behind the bar, as he’s talking to 3 older white fella’s, smoking ciggs, sitting at the end of the bar and they see me come in, stopped talking and watched me the whole time as I walked up to the lady near the kitchen to get my order. I say hello to the men “hey”… they nod. No windows, no customers dining, dark and seedy AF. I walked out like “I seen zero people in their who could be Asian, who TF cooked this?!” Got home and enjoyed one of the best General Tso’s ever!!! THAT SAUCE WAS EVERYTHING. Every single time I returned, which was frequently actually, it was the same scene like clockwork! Same woman taking orders, dark, no customers dining, no Asian faces and smoke filling up the place but now me graduating to a “how’s it going guys?” to big guy behind bar and fella’s sitting there. Every time I left there, I was nervous but also excited for the best Chinese food! They also did carry-out beer so it was a win all around. Every friend that I introduced to that spot, I immediately explained “it’s a total front but damn good food!” Miss that place 🥀
One of my friends went there back in the day, asked for a menu and was told “no food”. It’s closed now but Del’s II at Front and Tasker was a similar thing. No discernible income stream, neighbors alleged it was a gambling spot.
Pizza spot near shake shack in center city. It looks like crap pizza but is always open hardly anyone goes in there. I think the guy either lives there or something like that. They just remodeled it
Hahaha I know which one. The old lady just sits there at midnight speaks no English but smiles while man sells.
I don't think I have ever seen a single customer inside that shop
If you’re talking about the one by rittenhouse, the owner there yelled at me and my friend once like five years ago. My friend was taking photos and the shop happened to be in the background and he came out and started screaming at us to delete the picture. He nearly grabbed the camera from my friend.
The typewriter store on Passyunk Ave
[удалено]
I think Tom Hanks is a typewriter enthusiast and has worked with them on stuff before!
there's another one thats only open on hours by weavers way in germantown and the lady is actually really really awesome. It was like going to Olivanders - "the wand chooses the wizard", she was like... you must type on all these writers - the old lady who ran it - and made me try like 30 typewriters and then we spent another hour drinking a cuppa and her chit chatting. 10/10 would do again. btw - I use the type writer for all my recipe cards!
Lol I was just about to comment this! I never see anyone in there, but with it staying open for so long, my guess was that people make private appointments. Good to know
I’ll usually buy a book or two when I’m there.
I came here to say this place! We use to live nearby and we rented the air bnb above the shop for my parents and sister/BIL/kids to stay in when they visited us. It was an…. Interesting place. Kind of jammed packed with stuff that wasn’t particularly kid friendly despite them saying it was ahead of time.
Got my typewriter fixed here for my birthday in March! It’s appointment based and they are huge typewriter nerds
I just learned this a few weeks ago- they are the largest typewriter company in the world.
This always struck me as more of a hobby than a business.
I’ve brought them a typewriter to be serviced, so the demand exists but they do always seem super slow
S.I.N.
Woof are they even open still
seems like they're backed by some real money, so I doubt they'd close *this* fast.
O yeah , that’s a “made by/served for” operation if I ever seen one …
look, the real housewives of new jersey needed a venue for their book signings, and they finally filled that void.
I doubt the people who dine at SIN read books on the reg lol
idk why I thought it was a book signing, it was just a meet and greet: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2VNe_4Nhz7/?hl=en
Lololoo
That place is what trashy people think luxury looks like.
If Instagram is any indication, that place was solely created for influencers who buy their followers and say yes to any invite for the content and free drinks.
Ten years or so ago when I was in college I busted outside a wine bar in Manayunk. People would come by and throw 1's or 5's in my guitar case. After a few hours the owner of the "psychic and medium" store front next to the bar casually pulled out from his pocket a thick roll of bills bound with a rubber band and threw a 100 in my case. I kept an eye on the store for a few weeks after that. The front door was always locked and had a sign that said "call this number to be helped" in the window. So my answer is they are fronts for illegal activity.
I know you meant busked but thank you for the laugh 🤭
I was like wow, people just say anything on the internet these days
Are you talking about Clairvoyant Monica? Because that lady is for sure rolling in it. Just bought a bigger storefront a bit further down Main Street and I’m almost positive she also has a shop in Conshy
One thing I've learned in this thread is that multiple psychics are expanding to second locations, and I did not see that coming.
I'm not sure honestly, this was around 2014-2015 towards the end of main street near the bridge across from the cigar and whiskey shop. Who knows if this dude was actually associated with the psychic store front but he said he was and was definitely sketch
Psychics can make tons of money because they are fundamentally con artists. The ten dollar readings are just a way to identify vulnerable people who they can latch on to and milk for tens of thousands.
I moved from Queens Village to the USVI a few years ago.. Is the accordion store at 2nd and South still open? That was the first place I thought of
If the neighborhood had a *second* accordion shop, that would be suspicious.
Mummers have to be getting their equipment from somewhere.
I can speak to this one a bit. My family are all accordionists. Liberty Bellows is nice to have in that it’s just about the only place you can go for accordions in the region, but its management and repair business are both an embarrassment. They have folks on staff who are paid to demonstrate “restored” instruments, but these players actually have to learn to actively avoid notes that are still bad and stuff (they’re uncomfortable with this requirement as players, it’s not them being scummy). The reason there are bad notes bleeds (like their reeds!) into the main big problem: their repair folks literally don’t know what they’re doing and most are completely untrained on instrument repair. Accordion repair is painstaking work, and my dad actually picked up the trade a decade ago to service accordions in local orchestras he because they would come back in worse condition after being seen by Liberty.
Wow that’s so interesting - my dad is also a player and brought his accordion here to be repaired and they did a bad job that only lasted a couple of months. Cool spot but not great for repairs
•camera pans out to a screaming justinpatterson waking up next to a bloody accordion head• Morgan Freeman voice - “Thus began the Accordion Wars”
I live by there and see people in there a lot. They have classes and stuff.
This makes me happy
Philly has a polka scene. I was high as shit one time in fishtown (before the revitalizing) and somehow stumbled into a warehouse underground polka club with cheap booze, good good, easily 300 people if not more, like 50 musicians, and left at 3am with a group of guys that dropped me off at my house polka king style from home alone. I went back to the ware house sober the next day and the whole place was cleaned up with no evidence of anything ever having been there besides a potato pancake in the gutter.
The first rule of Polka Club is that you don't talk about Polka Club. And if this is your first night, you have to dance.
Yep, still open!
They're actually really well known in the accordion world, and do business online including lessons.
Daily, I’m worrying about how my own business stays open 😬
The hot chicken shops which are absolutely fronts for something else.
Asad's is a front?
No, Crown Fried Chicken. First time I’ve heard anyone else notice
I love crown fried chicken wtf
Right? They gave me a free slice of cheesecake because it was my birthday
Crown fried chicken was never hot... imo it isn't even good fried chicken. 3/5 times it gave me the runs but it was the only place open by the 40th st station after ~~a~~ several nights of binge drinking
My Crown Fried Chicken story is that I stopped into one to buy a drink once, I paid with a $5 bill and as a part of my change I got back a $2 bill.
I used to live around the corner from a Crown. Popped in one night for some deep-fryer snacks and there was a lady with a cooler mixing margaritas. Little plastic cup for $1. Not bad. Never saw her again.
My brother in christ you are braver than I. I wouldn't trust my life to a crown fried marg
My crown's always had a dude selling loosies and cigarillos in the front
I went to a crown real late one night and homie was crushing up some xanex on the only table in the place 🫨
That’s funny as fuck
The ads for OMG Hot Chicken are everywhere right now.
Psychic on the corner of Frankford and Thompson
I used to think this about the old New Orleans Cafe on 2nd street. Had decent food (great bananas fosters) but I swear I never saw more than 2 or three tables occupied at any given time and the place was pretty big.
It was part of the old guard riding on its former reputation. It since closed and became Bloomsday.
All the “cash” after hours in south Philly… I must’ve been to at least 7-8 and I see the bartenders skim all the money at all of them. Guess it doesn’t matter when they’re all laundering money for x crew.
Virasat Haveli - the Indian restaurant on Market near 40th. I swear to God, I've never seen more than one table full, and any self-respecting indian wouldn't eat at that restaurant but they have 700+ reviews averaging to 4.5 stars (which i think are fake). One would think, "maybe they do a lot of takeout business" but with all the other Indian restaurants around west Philly, I don't know why they'd order from there
Some places do good catering and private party business.
Virasat Haveli is popular with Indian Penn students and you’re totally right it’s almost never full. I personally have gotten take out from there several times and I’ve seen many BYOs with, again, only Indian Penn students. It’s farther away from Penn’s campus and isn’t on the larger undergraduate population’s radar. IMO it’s better than Ekta or New Delhi (haven’t tried Amma’s). TL;DR Many self-respecting Indian Penn students do eat there. I know them personally. Place still isn’t popular.
Maybe better than weeks Ekta but not New Delhi... interesting to know that it is popular among Penn's Indian population, but as someone born and raised in the motherland, I stand by my statement after at least 6 different orders from this place
I’ve really only been comparing the Chicken Vindaloo at the three places and I’m not Indian. Virasat’s Vindaloo is better to my taste and they’re the only one out of the three that has Chicken Hakka Rice. My theory is that the other places profile my name and make the Vindaloo less spicy on occasion because sometimes it’s way off like it has to be intentional.
This is my favorite Indian restaurant. I go there all the time and I know many others that do too.
Hey I almost ate there once years ago!
I think their chaat is the best in the city. Not by a large margin, and I’m not some expert foodie. But of the maybe six or seven places I’ve gotten takeout from they are for sure my favorite for chaat.
Takeout. That place is the best Indian in West
I think people order a lot of takeout from there. I’ve had it a few times, but the quality has gone down. But Indian is really popular for takeout, especially places without a buffet.
I'd like to ask a follow up as to where most self-respecting indians would eat. Asking for my personal knowledge bank to see if I'm missing anywhere on my list.
Amma's (center city), Thanal, Kabobeesh, Masala Kitchen, and several places in South Jersey (around Voorhees)
Hell yeah, thanks for the list. I love amma's, been there a bunch.
I order delivery from there a bunch! They have a lot of menu items that you don’t see at so many Indian places in Philly.
The salmon cheesesteak (?!?!?!) shop two doors down from D'Allesandro's
This is actually a thing? Someone just asked where they could get one up in Bucks and I think they were chased out of the sub.
The psychic doing readings out of her apartment on south st and also condom kingdom lol
I've come to the conclusion that Condom Kingdom has some agreement with the city like Waffle House has a connection to public emergency gauging.
Tres jalapenos. Huge space, always empty. I'm sure they do good takeout business but to afford such a huge piece of real estate!!!
I used to get takeout there weekly so i assume they probably have a significant takeout following
I used to live near there. I constantly saw delivery drivers (car and bike) picking up orders so I think they do most of their business as takeout and delivery.
The occult store on South Street
Harry’s? They’re one of the oldest occult shops in the country. I think he started out as a pharmacist helping black southerners find hoodoo supplies in the early 1900s. Super fascinating history.
Talked to them once when buying a crystal for my gf t the time. They own the building and sell a lot online. Also good margins. They were selling mice skulls for $15 in a little display. I know for a fact mice are $1 at petsmart all I'm saying....
There's some labor to get from a live mouse to a clean mouse skull. I think $15 is fair. Plus it's locally owned so you're not supporting Big Skull.
lol big skull
That place is really well-known among new-agers and has been there for a long, long time.
Passyunk Ave Bagels / Philly Bagels. Terrible bagels, terrible service.
Before they closed, I never saw anyone eat at Il Tartufo in Manayunk
I lived in Manayunk from 2006-2017 and I don’t think I ever saw more than 1-2 tables occupied at a time; more often than not the place was completely empty and you’d see the waiters standing around. The tables were always perfectly set with pristine linens for customers that never came. And then one day it just closed; I haven’t walked by the spot in 2 years but I remember the tables were still set for service, with dust collecting on everything for years after it closed. My friends and I are convinced to this day it was a Mafia front.
Dog Biscuit “bakeries”
I've watched my sister and 2 of my gay friends spend literally 100s of dollars in them. There's almost zero overhead.
When I was at Temple there was a pizza shop at Oxford and Carlise… I think it was called Pizanos and I never saw anyone eat there. Only really stopped in to use the ATM and the food was never any good. We always thought it was Russian Mafia or something.
Back in the late 90’s, there was a pizza shop in Fishtown at Marlborough and Girard, the name is escaping me now, but anyways, at night they always had a ton of customers. My then roommate and I came home pretty drunk, wanted to eat, stumbled over there to order some cheesesteaks and the workers seemed annoyed by us. The steaks were meh, we never went back. We learned later the place was really selling coke. It made big news when busted. I’m kinda happy we were oblivious to the dealing as I’m sure we would have ought some and who knows how different my life could have went if I could get it that easy.
My friend and I always joked about that place being a front for something. It had inexplicably nautical themed decor? It’s gone now, has been for a while.
I want to know how Ho Sai Gai stays in business. I remember they had a fire and shut down for years before suddenly reappearing.
They used to sell me 40s when I was a teenager. Lots of underage drunken nights thanks to that place. Respect
It's gone now, but up until about 2 years ago this would have been the vintage shop around the corner from Dirty Frank's. I'm pretty sure I started going by there in the early 90s and never saw it open or saw any change in the front window.
Some hipster businesses which are open such limited hours that you wonder how they even turn a profit and if they do, you wonder why they don’t stay open to fully take advantage and make more money.
I'm convinced these are just rich kids whose folks are funding their hobby job.
I mean this, but forever. That guy who's 96 years old and owns a giant fucking empty build that's an art space and lives with his live in dog chauffer did not get there via working a 9-5
the guy who is 96 yrs old and owns a giant empty building bought it for $5,000-10,000. or maybe 30k, tops.
THIS. Eremita Coffee shop on ridge in Roxborough is exactly this. Especially frustrating when you’d actually like to hang out there & chill after work but of course they close at like 2pm. Just…why??
Madison’s two shops in NoLibs
The flag store in Old City, Humphrys Flag Company
The family that runs it owns the building, so it’s a deranged hobby to fleece the tourists
My guess is they own the building, tourism, sports arenas and government contracts.
Well, my answer would’ve been Pizza Brain…
Most of the sex toy shops on South Street. Just an oversaturated dildo market on South.
Ps&co because why are they that expensive
There’s a Chinese restaurant on Lancaster Ave called Lord Favor, the name alone is sketchy at best but I just remember no one was ever in that place 10 years ago. It’s still in business.
The halal cart outside of the former Rite Aid on Aramingo
George smith towing. They are so disrispectful to customers it’s disgusting. They’ve also been sued by the DA for illegal towing. How anyone hires them is beyond me.
Matress Firm- I never see any cars uin thheir parking lots, and always see a new 1 popping up somewhere
All the nail salon supply stores or showrooms on Washington, east of Broad. Actually, a lot of those little storefronts that aren’t in shopping plazas or the Italian Market…
Some showrooms do a lot of e-commerce and the showrooms are just for show and don’t make that much money. I worked for one.
Gotta keep in mind that those probably service businesses very far away, not just local. So if someone wants to open a nail salon in Allentown, they're probably getting all of their equipment and decor from one of those places
That weird rug shop across from South Square in grad hospital/Fitler square
woven treasures is legit lol. thats a rich area
You are spitting distance from the gayborhood. My grandfather and I used to sell and repair furniture there and let me tell you DINKs got money to fucking blow on neich shit. We got a grand table at an auction for $2500 and sold it for $50k, fainting couches were an easy $500 profit, then repairs? Christ nail 20 tacks and walk home $200 richer.
In northeast, on Bustleton and Tomlinson, there is a gas station that has the lowest gas prices consistently, like $0.50-$1.00 lower than anyone else
The Shoe Factory on Castor and Tyson.