Today I was in a part of town I never have before.

I saw a store JUST for badminton.

  • stickly@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    2 hours ago

    I have seen lots of niche stores, but what usually gets me is that they’re in very premium locations. How is that empty Custom Umbrella Emporium still open while the packed coffee shop next door can’t afford their lease?

    Tap for spoiler

    Money laundering, probably

  • Professorozone@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 hours ago

    Mixed tape store. This was like 12 years ago, long after streaming was a thing. A buddy of mine went in and asked if they sold CDs and the guy legit said, “No. Just mixed tapes.” Pretty sure it was a front for something.

  • JonnyW@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    4 hours ago

    There’s a small town I drive through frequently that, for many years, had a Christmas shop. It was always open, usually empty. It closed down last year.

    • Doublenut@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 hours ago

      Oh that reminds me of a spot in Connecticut I think. It was a headshop down stairs and discgolf shop upstairs. With a sometimes skate shop in a room next to the discgolf stuff.

  • Truffle@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    4 hours ago

    I had to go to a store that only sells custom made stirrups as my kid needed some for their horse. I was absolutely overwhelmed about how many differences there are about them. Kid was happy.

  • Octavio@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    6 hours ago

    Probably Pop Mart. A three-story shop filled with nothing but these odd little collectible toys of cartoon characters. It was absolutely mobbed.

  • 4grams@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    7 hours ago

    It’s not super specific, and makes sense for where I saw it, but I’ll never forget the Wisconsin tourist trap I drove past as a kid that has a big sign out front advertising “Cameras, Cheese and Guns”.

  • tal@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    9 hours ago

    I have not, myself, been there, but San Francisco has the Pirate Supply Store.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/826_Valencia

    826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

    826 Valencia runs San Francisco’s “only independent pirate supply store”. The store is the front entrance of the tutoring center and has the look and feel of an authentic pirate shop.[5] It sells pirate clothing, eyepatches, compasses, spyglasses, pirate dice, skull flags, and secret treasures. It features handmade signs, scattered around the store, offering tongue-in-cheek wisdom, such as “Uses for Lard” (#5: “Lard Fights”) and “Guidelines for New Shipmates” (#4: “No forgetting to swab”). Unsuspecting visitors are sometimes treated to surprise “moppings.”

    Shoppers can also find back issues of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, books published by McSweeney’s, and literary compilations written by 826 Valencia students. The books of student writing published by 826 Valencia include forewords, illustrations and interviews from public figures such as Former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and actor Robin Williams.

    The Pirate Supply Store was originally created through necessity. After being turned down for regular use of church basements and school facilities, the founders discovered an empty store on Valencia Street. City ordinances required businesses in that area of the city to be either retail or catering, so the Pirate Supply Store was opened in 2002 as the “legitimate” business front for the writing center. It also helps fund the tutoring program.[6]

  • slothrop @lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    9 hours ago

    There was a store in Vegas that was magnets. Fridge, city, anything magnets.
    And sardine stores in Portugal, airports and elsewhere.