Mysterious, peculiar, odd, strange, quirky shops and businesses.

[TheTecknician]

Do you know of any place or company like this? I can think of a couple:

• A company close to my old home with a front and office door on the main road. It claimed to be a seller/stockist of sewing machine spare parts. Very niche but not completely out of the ordinary. The oddity was that in over twenty years I never once saw anybody going in or coming out of the premises. The only sign of occupation was a new telephone on a desk every now and then and perhaps some mail on the doormat. Otherwise there was no change. The same frosted glass and hard wood door and window frames which were likely already decades old. I won't reveal the name of the company as I think they're still in business, albeit elsewhere now. I suspect it was all a front for MI5.

• Another which is definitely consigned to history was in Richmond, North Yorkshire. A large, double-fronted store simply called 'Mr Coles and Mr Morris' which has now been gone for at least a decade, probably much longer. I never set foot in the place as I really had no need. It looked very out of place in the market square with no obvious purpose or retail type. Perhaps I was missing something. All quite bizarre.

I know this shop! I used to live nearby (a couple of decades ago). I love books but never went in for some reason.

Suggitts ice creams are the best 😊

@JaelsTentpeg
The pest control seems to make sense as it’s probably just for storage of equipment. Presumably they advertise online/in local media and bookings are made via internet or phone. Probably one person self employed.

There are loads in London but they’re thriving businesses

We used to have a place selling phototropics? Don’t know if that’s a word but it was equipment for those who like to grow cannabis. Bizarre

It closed down a few years ago and the shop is now Hyve. Bit more modern and mainstream but still a small independent, Darlington is pretty good for independent shops actually, keeping the market town heritage alive.

I'm still sad that the Art Shop shut down last year though, the owners retired and couldn't find a buyer. Got to make do with Hobbycraft at Teesside Park which is not the same at all!

I knew it closed down but didn’t know something else was in its place. It was just amazing and like nothing else. I also, like a PP, loved it as a teen. I am from Darlington, and family still live there but I’ve now moved a bit further away so don’t always get to Darlington town centre.

The Art Shop was amazing too and I’d seen that had closed, which was so sad. Do you remember Dressers? If I could bring one shop back, it would be that one!

There used to be a shop in Islington called Get Stuffed, taxidermy, it once had a huge bear standing up in its window.

There was a shop on Gwydir Street in Cambridge called the Roll On Blank Tape Centre. It closed perhaps fifteen years ago when people really stopped needing to buy 15-minute cassettes and blank CD-Rs, but the frontage is still there, because the shop is so tiny and out of the way that it's hard to imagine what else you could use it for.

I have also long been fascinated by Dinostar in Hull but have never dared go in.

Mill Road in Cambridge has had a few odd shops over the years. There was a restaurant which was fully set out with tagines on the table and remained like that for years getting increasingle dusty. Then a menu appeared and we got excited, but nothing happened for a few more years. We used to make up stories about what was happening behind the scenes. Almost fell over when I saw it was actually open one day!

There was also a really tatty shop selling cables and cheap gadgets. I never saw anyone go in or out and we joked it was a front for something.

Loved Dressers!. The toy department up the stairs was so exciting. I can still walk around it in my head, very memorable. I remember they used to burn little scented candles in the back of the ground floor on the right. A proper ‘are you being served’ type of shop.