Hacker News

points by bradleybuda 3 days ago | 0 comments

What makes vape and nail shops uniquely able to afford these rents?

Vape shops sell addictive products and they have minimal overhead. I think the markup on a lot of what they sell, especially the more grey market stuff like nitrous oxide "whip cream chargers" and poppers, is quite high.

A lot that I see have extremely cheap-looking fixtures and little to no decor, and unlike virtually any other store, they stock what they stock, which is generally the same as every other vape shop, and don't even bother to fill out the entire space if it would hold more merchandise.

I assume some are able to negotiate lower rents in exchange for short term leases while the store is technically still on the market for a long-term lease, similar to a pop up store. A lot that I've seen could be shut down, with all the merchandise and equipment loaded into a UHaul, within a few hours if necessary.

Nail salons are similar. They really should have custom ventilation systems since they're working with paints and solvents and glues and nail drills/lathes, but this seems to not be enforced since they're seen as girly little spas rather than industrial workshops and are often staffed by poor immigrants.

[–] Tsiklon 3 days ago

Outgoings are different - cheap/dodgy imports, and modern slavery (nail salons are infamous for this) mean that their outgoings can be much lower than other shops. There’s also the tax avoidance many of these businesses partake in, both in the traditional cash-in-hand-business fashion, and the more modern(?) “American Candy store” way (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61777445)

[–] linksnapzz 3 days ago

Hold On Right There.

There are people go out of their way to buy...American candy in the UK?

Utterly perverted.

[–] harvey9 3 days ago

Numerous reports over many years that they don't have many real customers and exist mainly to enable a tax scam / money laundering.

[–] hdgvhicv 3 days ago

Links for the disbelieving

2022 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61777445

2025 https://www.cityam.com/how-money-laundering-took-over-our-hi...

[–] Symbiote 3 days ago

(Yes, at the M&Ms shop in Leicester Square. Probably never visited by anyone from London, just tourists.)

But the "American Candy Shop" places were/are doing money laundering and/or tax fraud. They can say they sold individual candies for £0.50 (cost: 5p each), the profit goes to a shell company in the Virgin Islands etc, and before the business taxes are due the company "goes bust" and disappears. Then a new one takes its place.

4 years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/04/us-swe...

This year: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/18/dodgy-shops-ha...

[–] nprateem 3 days ago

They're some kind of tax/ business rates scam judging by how many there are.

[–] shermantanktop 3 days ago

I have seen more distinct candy brands/types in those shops than I ever have in the US. Plus jars of marshmallow goo called “Fluf” for some reason?

[–] cucumber3732842 3 days ago

> Plus jars of marshmallow goo called “Fluf” for some reason?

The fudge recipe on the back is actually really good FYI

Also the containers are a nice pliable rubbery plastic so they're good to repurpose for garage use.

[–] linksnapzz 3 days ago

Marshmallow Fluff is used, amongst other things, to make the traditional questionably-nutritious New England delicacy, the Fluff & Peanut-Butter Sandwich, or fluffernutter. Around the Boston area, it was used more or less like euros use nutella.

[–] williamdclt 3 days ago

No, which is why it's so transparent that these are money laundering operations

[–] sodastar 3 days ago

i mean just talking for me: american pop culture is just so omnipresent, that even from europe i know what pop tarts, gushers, mountain dew and a wendys is.

All these stores dont exist in my country, you can buy watered down mountain dew, pop tarts for 10€ per box and the local fast food chains are mcdonalds, burger king and subway with an occasional kfc and a metropol city may have a pizza hut.

Sure its all marketing, but if im paying 10€ for a delivery pizza i at least want the box to look like a domino piece.

Most of US sweets ive tried were okayish, my favorite being reeses small cups. Was disappointed by how bad cheeze-its are, they were given away in stores as the sales were so poor and started with a money back promotion and still didnt get sold. Takis seem to have found their way, also taco bell (i know its tex-mex, but still a variety from burgers) opened stores in germany and the netherlands hoping it reaches a broader audience and can get more people attracted as i actually like the food given the price point and being somewhat more healthy than a quarter pounder with cheese.

Softdrinks on the other hand really do taste better. European Gatorade is cat piss compared to US Gatorade. Mountain Dew like i said is only the base version and even this tastes watered down. Hoping for a baja blast rollout in EU with taco bell making a push here. Dr Pepper is really awful in europe compared to american dr pepper but at the end its all about personal preference. Ive seen a lot of americans loving Moser Roth Chocolate from the european Aldi which is their expensive version of good chocolate but still at a discounter price. People that love this would probably die for godiva or leonidas chocolate.

[–] linksnapzz 3 days ago

>that even from europe i know what pop tarts, gushers, mountain dew and a wendys is.

I mean, I know they exist too, but that's orthogonal to wanting to eat any of it...

>Was disappointed by how bad cheeze-its are,

My experience is that Cheez-Its are more often than other chips or crackers, likely to go stale on the shelf-might have something to do with the recipe.

>also taco bell (i know its tex-mex, but still a variety from burgers) opened stores in germany and the netherlands hoping it reaches a broader audience and can get more people attracted as i actually like the food given the price point and being somewhat more healthy than a quarter pounder with cheese.

For many years in RI, Taco Bell was the only mexican place we had. Finding authentic Tex-Mex was worth a trip (as far as North Carolina) when I was in 7th grade. As for it being healthier than a QP...ymmv depending on the menu....

As for drinks...how do you screw up Gatorade & Dr Pepper? The syrup/powder just needs to be reconstituted...is it something in the water?

Also, yes, Moser Roth chocolate at Aldi is a steal, quality-wise.

[–] bobthepanda 3 days ago

They sell fairly space-efficient, expensive products or services. Generally speaking, the higher you push rent per square foot, the fewer types of businesses you can operate, because people and products take up space and have throughput limits. Nail and beauty services can get spendy fast.

The US has something similar going on with medical and dental offices for the same reasons.

[–] estearum 2 days ago

The other US phenomenon is mega-chains which can operate at much narrower margins (or even negative margins in some marquee locations).

[–] bobthepanda 2 days ago

To be fair, that specifically is not a US phenomena. Flagship stores that operate as a loss purely for the prestige of a location have existed basically since the dawn of modern retail. Operating in Manhattan or on the Champs Elysees is a sign you are a serious grownup store.

[–] estearum 2 days ago

The flagship stores yes, but that was the special case (which is universal) of the more US-specific case of e.g. "why the fuck are there Chipotles everywhere"

[–] bobthepanda 20 hours ago

Oh i see. Yeah, the corporate structure of “landowners with a business attached” is somewhat uniquely dominant in America. Though not totally unheard of, Japanese rail companies are property developers for example with attached department store chains, etc. so that trains and property drive foot traffic to each other.

[–] nprateem 3 days ago

They're great for money laundering.

Who's to say how many clients a nail bar had? A box of fake nails is easily dumped in the bin.

[–] jimnotgym 3 days ago

Yes, one of the accounting bodies started warning a few years ago about the proliferation of barber shops being a front for money laundering.

The only way I can think to police it, would be for tax inspectors to stand outside and count the customers!

[–] gambiting 3 days ago

In fact that's exactly what large enforcement operations against these do, the problem is that they just close down, the person who they were registered to disappears(if they ever existed at all) and another shop opens in the same place registered to someone else. It's a game of whack a mole.

It's just stupid that councils have no problem arguing that say, Clarkson(sorry, stupid example) can't open a pub in a town with no other pub or other employment opportunities, but 17th vape shop on the same street is fair game and free market.

[–] addandsubtract 3 days ago

Pubs are regulated by a limited amount of alcohol licenses, which goes back centuries. Do you really want there to be licenses for other industries as well?

[–] pidgeon_lover 3 days ago

> Do you really want there to be licenses for other industries as well?

Yes. I'm surprised that business licenses aren't already a thing.

I expect a competent government to issue licenses to barbers based off them proving hygiene standards, trained staff with college diplomas in hair-dressing, number of employees, and an extremely limited number of these to be issued based off local need calculated from population by census.

I expect local government to issue similar licenses for all other industries, who should prove their competency, adherence to standards, jobs created, and cater to local needs.

[–] gambiting 3 days ago

That's not what I said nor implied.

It's not about licences - councils can absolutely decide if a business can or can not operate in any area already, regardless of licence requirements.

[–] jpardoe 2 days ago

I think the real problem is that if we got rid of money laundering the budget would be even more screwed.

[–] asdff 3 days ago

They can’t. They tend to turn over like the rest. But as others noted, their low upstart costs makes them the more likely tenant out of other busines models on the sidelines seeking rent.

We all want little cutsey shops and such but how much money for that is actually sitting on the sidelines at any given time ready to pounce? Hardly any at all, if any. Nail shops and other bullshit on the other hand? There’s private equity specialized in selling shares of these schemes.

[–] specproc 3 days ago

They sell something that doesn't work so well online or at a supermarket. Ditto barbers, phone repair, or whatever racially-coded tabloid bugbear de jour. They work in a town centre, everything else can't beat the prices set by larger (often American-owned) businesses.

You can buy a vape online, but as a smoker, you don't want to wait a day when you've run out. Also as a smoker, I don't get why they're not regulated like tobacco. They shouldn't be sold alongside sweets, and should otherwise be treated like cigs (e.g. on packaging, licensing, advertising etc.). Seems very low-hanging legislative fruit.

[–] lelanthran 3 days ago

> and should otherwise be treated like cigs (e.g. on packaging, licensing, advertising etc.).

I think you don't know why cigarettes are treated the way they are.

Hint: it's not because they are addictive. After all, caffeine is addictive and both tea and coffee is effectively unregulated.

[–] prmoustache 3 days ago

Surface area needed is much smaller than most other shops.