Are corner shops and convenience stores the new Turkish Barbers?

[tighterthanaducksarse]

I've noticed over the past say 15 tears that corner shops are no longer the community hubs they once were. Often run by people of South Asian descent and were usually well stocked with food items and incidentals like fuses and sewing needles etc, you get my drift.
About 90% of the local convenience stores closed,citing ridiculous rises in rents, like more than doubled so we're no longer financially viable.
But...they've been replaced with new tenants,fitted out with high end interiors, neon lighting 24/7,open all hours. They only seem to stock pop and crisps plus fancy air fresheners. They don't stock alcohol, tobacco( only under the counter stuff) I seldom see anyone in them.
I'm in the West Midlands. Anyone else in the uk noticed this trend?

Yes, West Midlands here too.

See also petrol stations.

Not noticed any dodgy petrol stations . I only buy quality fuel as supermarket stuff is crap and buggers up your engine.

What do your petrol stations do that is dodgy?

Yes rookery road is crazy 12 barber shops 11 normal 24 hour shops

Not been down Rookery Road in years. It's hard to imagine how they get away with it. Dudley Road has a massive double shopfront filled almost entirely with bottled water. The have a similar size unit on the other side of tge road as a storage unit.

We’re still in the Turkish Barber, fried chicken, kebab and fish and chip shop territory, all run by the same person. He’s dodgy as fuck. Was done for running a brothel just up the road.

And they say Cornwall is boring!! 🤣

We don't have them, our is tanning shops.

You mean Bob shops, boss man shops and Kyber express shops?

just google the news about them and you will know what they are a front for 😂 it’s the worst kept secret.

We have vape shops, mobile phone repair shops, nail bars and bubble tea as our money laundering fronts.

We had 2 phone repair shop next door to each other in our high street, both closed within weeks of each other. Lots of cash only pizza joints and el cheapo clothing stores that have been around for decades.
The corner shops concerns me the most as I see " staff" come and go do often and I wonder what happens to them.

We’re still in the American candy shops phase here in London.

Where I live we still have the classic corner shops run by South Asian guys, they are such nice people and I'm always blown away by how they have EVERYTHING you need, its uncanny. There are three near me with the same vibe, in my favourite I found a pair of tights there once, also the guy behind the counter lent me a screwdriver.
Last Christmas I gave him a Christmas card and he was really chuffed because he had never received one before!

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A quiet shop selling just water with big people turnover - I would report to both.

We don't have those fronts at the moment, but I'm suspicious of the new sparkly sweets-only shops. Have not had an opportunity to go in to check them out though and it is a busy high street.

I am failing to google this successfully... any hints?

I'm in the south west, definitely still mainly barber shops here!

Why do they all have all that bottled water outside though?!

Traditional small shops where I live, plus a few of those like the OP describes.

A simple form of licensing and named individual as with pubs should be introduced, with the right to object and your case be heard.

Yup, some are so obvious that they’re not legitimate due to what they sell, or don’t sell, I.e. entire stands of ultra cheap unbranded crisps, unbranded soft drinks etc, and ultra cheap novelties like plastic crap. Just flood the place with cheap crap from the wholesaler which they won’t mind ditching in the skip when the use by date expires!

They don’t actually want the hassle of dealing with genuine customers so don’t offer what most genuine customers would actually want! They’re the places you’d go in once and not bother again, which suits the owner!

Also dodgy takeaways are on the rise too - ones that are seldom open or deliberately made to look cheap and nasty, neon flashing signs etc, to put off genuine customers, that don’t have websites etc.

The police, councils, etc need to get a grip as it’s all got out of hand and is ruining shopping streets and causing genuine shops to close as customers avoid the money laundering shop areas due to the dodgy clientele, and dodgy enforcers/bouncers always hanging around.

You mean Bob shops, boss man shops and Kyber express shops?

Yes boss 😆

Cheap to buy and fills the space. Biggest volume for lowest price. Same as why they have lots of big stuff like kitchen rolls, boxes of crisps and pasta etc.

Our local local shops were mainly run by people of South Asian descent and had been for decades. When the landlords upped the rent they were forced to leave. The new tenants are mostly Kurdish but I'm not sure if they are the actual owners of the businesses as they seem to change hands a lot.

A few months ago myself and a group of friends who regularly meet every few weeks for a takeaway and a few drinks chose to order middle Eastern food as our takeaway of choice. We ordered for collection,humous, swarrma, dolmades,esme, baba gounash and a few other bits and bobs. Others remarked they hadn't spotted this place before. I placed the order and drove to said destination, an area I know very well. Got there and it didn't exist! Got a notification on my phone my order was cancelled. Asked at a local shop if they knew whereabouts restaurant was and they told me they were not aware of any middle Eastern restaurants in the said area

Yes, also West Mids. I noticed the one on the going down the Hagley Rd a while ago and wondered how it gets trade when it's literally round the corner from Bearwood highstreet. And why it displays so many bottles of water and bouncy balls like you use at a beach outside. They are nothing but a front. Is Bob Shop the cheapest sign that can be made, is that why they all use it!

Ice cream and dessert places round here.

The drug dealers higher up the chain pay eachother by over paying for big things like artworks, cars, yachts, shops etc. Something with a real “worth” of say £500k is sold for a million, to transfer the half million difference to buy a consignment of drugs. Then the person who’s bought it sells it to someone else at a false price and so it goes on. That explains why some shops are constantly changing owners. Another similar one is shops forever being refitted and refurbished - pay over the odds for a cheap refurb again covers up what appears to be a genuine transfer of funds between people or families as the authorities aren’t looking to check if the £100k paid for a refurb is of that quality or is only worth £10k.

Turkish barbers on the fall but still plenty of mobile phone accessory shops that have things like cheap suitcases in them and more vape shops than can feasibly every be needed , our corner shops are still proper corner shops and some also do fresh fruit and veg outside, most are also parcel collection points for evri etc