Barbers, Nail Salons and Vape Shops

[Pretty Boy]

What is the deal with these?

I always dismissed some of the accusations as the usual right wing propaganda but they are everywhere, particularly barbers and there is no way they can all be making money legitimately.

There was a barber near my parents for years. I got my hair cut there as a teenager and my dad used him as well. He closed up for good a while back saying he couldn't make it pay anymore. The shop is now occupied by another barber, the shop next door is a barber, go up 5 steps and 20 yards round the corner and there is.......a barber. About a quarter of a mile down the road a vacant unit has not long opened as a barber and another 200 yards along the street there is a barber.

Near me on Niddrie Mains Road there are 3 barbers about 50 yards apart. One also specialises in the totally related fields of phone repairs and vape sales. There is another barber on Milton Road that I have literally never seen a customer in. Every time I pass there is one guy is sitting on his phone. Portobello High street has at least 5 barbers on a half mile drag.

There are all kinds of explanations on social media that verge from the racist to the believable. They can't all be legit though can they? It must be money laundering of some description surely? A business that could easily be handling a lot of cash seems as good a front as any I suppose.

[babahibs]

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What is the deal with these?

I always dismissed some of the accusations as the usual right wing propaganda but they are everywhere, particularly barbers and there is no way they can all be making money legitimately.

There was a barber near my parents for years. I got my hair cut there as a teenager and my dad used him as well. He closed up for good a while back saying he couldn't make it pay anymore. The shop is now occupied by another barber, the shop next door is a barber, go up 5 steps and 20 yards round the corner and there is.......a barber. About a quarter of a mile down the road a vacant unit has not long opened as a barber and another 200 yards along the street there is a barber.

Near me on Niddrie Mains Road there are 3 barbers about 50 yards apart. One also specialises in the totally related fields of phone repairs and vape sales. There is another barber on Milton Road that I have literally never seen a customer in. Every time I pass there is one guy is sitting on his phone. Portobello High street has at least 5 barbers on a half mile drag.

There are all kinds of explanations on social media that verge from the racist to the believable. They can't all be legit though can they? It must be money laundering of some description surely? A business that could easily be handling a lot of cash seems as good a front as any I suppose.

Money laundering, simple.

Ignore the racist pish though.

[Keith_M]

I've wondered about this myself.

Some streets in Glasgow have so many nail bars, barbers, ice cream shops, tanning salons and other businesses that surely have a limited customer base, considering how many there are in close proximity.

[Hibrandenburg]

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What is the deal with these?

I always dismissed some of the accusations as the usual right wing propaganda but they are everywhere, particularly barbers and there is no way they can all be making money legitimately.

There was a barber near my parents for years. I got my hair cut there as a teenager and my dad used him as well. He closed up for good a while back saying he couldn't make it pay anymore. The shop is now occupied by another barber, the shop next door is a barber, go up 5 steps and 20 yards round the corner and there is.......a barber. About a quarter of a mile down the road a vacant unit has not long opened as a barber and another 200 yards along the street there is a barber.

Near me on Niddrie Mains Road there are 3 barbers about 50 yards apart. One also specialises in the totally related fields of phone repairs and vape sales. There is another barber on Milton Road that I have literally never seen a customer in. Every time I pass there is one guy is sitting on his phone. Portobello High street has at least 5 barbers on a half mile drag.

There are all kinds of explanations on social media that verge from the racist to the believable. They can't all be legit though can they? It must be money laundering of some description surely? A business that could easily be handling a lot of cash seems as good a front as any I suppose.

Same over here. Before I moved out of Berlin 10 years back, I lived in the area that had most restaurants per inhabitants. About 15 years ago the restaurants started closing and one by one were replaced with tattoo parlours, betting shops and barbershops. Only the barbershops ever had any customers but no where near enough to turn a profit. IMO the only explanation can be money laundering.

[Pretty Boy]

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I've wondered about this myself.

Some streets in Glasgow have so many nail bars, barbers, ice cream shops, tanning salons and other businesses that surely have a limited customer base, considering how many there are in close proximity.

Ice cream and dessert shops is another one. Everywhere.

[Bostonhibby]

Post brexit, these, charity shops & coffee shops are Britain's growth industries. Right behind food banks.

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[Smartie]

I have my own business - in a sector that the untrained eye would think it’s easy to be successful in - and it’s become much more challenging to make a profit over the past few years, so I often look at other businesses and wonder how on Earth they manage to survive.

Labour costs will presumably be cheap for a lot of them, that’s often the killer. But heating premises, heating water, rates, loan repayments then cost of credit servicing loans, insurance etc etc - most businesses just look like money pits.

My sense of optimism left the building some time ago, which is a problem when you’re the leader trying to be the ray of light.

But yeah, I look at all of that and think wtf too. Is that what there is demand for in Brexit Britain or is it something else?

[Jack]

Add American sweet shops to the list. Private Eye did a thing on them, in London, a while back before we got the same in Edinburgh.

I'm not sure about some of the Indian street food places either.

[CropleyWasGod]

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Add American sweet shops to the list. Private Eye did a thing on them, in London, a while back before we got the same in Edinburgh.

I'm not sure about some of the Indian street food places either.

Possibly this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rd-Street.html

[Bostonhibby]

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Possibly this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rd-Street.html

It's almost as bad as luring vulnerable pensioners into buying hard copies of the Daily Mail



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[CropleyWasGod]

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It's almost as bad as luring vulnerable pensioners into buying hard copies of the Daily Mail



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tbf, that story is on many sites. The Mail version seemed to be the easiest to understand.

[Bostonhibby]

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tbf, that story is on many sites. The Mail version seemed to be the easiest to understand.

Consistent with its target audience.

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[Jack]

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Possibly this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rd-Street.html

I prefer the Private Eye articles but appreciate they're not available online 😆

That's the gist of it though. If only councils in Scotland followed Westminster's (council) lead.

[Ozyhibby]

With the barbers, is it not just supply and demand? All the ones in Corstorphine are always flat out busy. Maybe blokes are going more than every 6 weeks these days, especially with all the beard trimming?
I would suspect money laundering if they were all empty but that doesn’t appear to be the case?


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[Pagan Hibernia]

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With the barbers, is it not just supply and demand? All the ones in Corstorphine are always flat out busy. Maybe blokes are going more than every 6 weeks these days, especially with all the beard trimming?
I would suspect money laundering if they were all empty but that doesn’t appear to be the case?


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Considering the amount of bald jambos I know and see, this surprises me.

[Smartie]

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With the barbers, is it not just supply and demand? All the ones in Corstorphine are always flat out busy. Maybe blokes are going more than every 6 weeks these days, especially with all the beard trimming?
I would suspect money laundering if they were all empty but that doesn’t appear to be the case?


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I wonder if there will be peak and off peak times with barbers too - like pubs etc (who may make the lion’s share of their profits on a Friday and Saturday night), might they have the place rammed at weekends and the place near empty through the week?

[Stairway 2 7]

I read a thread from an actuary, the numbers are a guess but roughly he said. He lived in a town of less than 10k people within 5 miles and had 5 Turkish barbers. He worked out every male would have to have a haircut once a month just to cover rents and rates. That doesnt take in staff, electricity, people who cut their own hair or are bald.

The one beside me has two 100k Range Rovers outside regularly and is pretty dead most of the time.

The government probably knows they are fronts but it's fills up empty dying high streets and gets them some tax from the drug money, plus from landlords, electricity and the council gets money from council tax.

I'll copy and paste
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-profit.html

There are now 17,702 nationwide, a 50 per cent increase since 2018, with 918 new establishments opening in the last year alone, the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) said.

[blackpoolhibs]

There are 5 barbers about 500 yards from me, i use one and he's nearly always busy. £12.50 a cut, it's not hard to see where he can make money.

I go in and normally there's 4 or 5 waiting, 15 minutes to cut each person, the money can mount up over a day/week.

[Paul1642]

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Near me on Niddrie Mains Road there are 3 barbers about 50 yards apart. One also specialises in the totally related fields of phone repairs and vape sales.

How about the Sushi place at the crossroads? Never seems to be open and when it is it always looks mostly empty. The concept of a sushi restaurant in Niddrie seemed a bit off from the start.

[RyeSloan]

Obviously not all barber shops are born the same but the ones you are alluding to are money laundering fronts for drug money, simple as that.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Said the same about a couple of pubs near me.

I speak to the landlord when I’m out with the dog. Alright guy, bit of a gob*****, but he’s forever away to Dubai, eating in the finest restaurants, wandering around with his numerous Canada Goose jackets and out on the lash in all the other pubs and bars around the area. And there’s absolutely no chance in hell he’s turning a profit from the 2 (now 1 after he gave 1 up) pubs he’s got, infact he simply has to be making huge losses.

[Jones28]

How does a business with no customers launder money? Do they simply book themselves out to make them look a lot busier than they are on paper?

There's similar in Lanark, numerous barbers with no customers and big motors parked up out front. The only busy one is the one I use which is part of a chain in South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

[Frazerbob]

As a stated above, the barbers I see are always busy. Younger men these days go to the barbers FAR more frequently than my generation. I'm 51, have a short back & sides hair cut and have gone for a hair cut once a month religiously since I were a lad. My 18 year old step son goes at least once a fortnight. I have a family member who's a hipster barber in Stirling. He has many clients who pay by monthly direct debit and go every week, without fail, for their (to the bone) skin fades.

Vape shops and tanning joints on the other hand.......I remember a few years ago reading a report that if the numbers declared by Glasgow tanning studios were accurate, the average Glaswegian would be black!

[Pretty Boy]

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As a stated above, the barbers I see are always busy. Younger men these days go to the barbers FAR more frequently than my generation. I'm 51, have a short back & sides hair cut and have gone for a hair cut once a month religiously since I were a lad. My 18 year old step son goes at least once a fortnight. I have a family member who's a hipster barber in Stirling. He has many clients who pay by monthly direct debit and go every week, without fail, for their (to the bone) skin fades.

Vape shops and tanning joints on the other hand.......I remember a few years ago reading a report that if the numbers declared by Glasgow tanning studios were accurate, the average Glaswegian would be black!

There are definitely barbers that are busy. A guy I was at school with is part owner of Rag & Bone which is very successful and busy and he previously worked for Boombarbers which is likewise.

The barbers I use is generally busy. There are others though, including one right next door to where I go that are never busy. There is one guy who sits in the shop day in, day out and I have never, ever seen him cut anyone's hair. Across the course of an hour or so a couple of fancy cars will pull up, nip inside for a minute or 2 then leave again. If it's legit then I'm a Hearts fan.

[Frazerbob]

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There are definitely barbers that are busy. A guy I was at school with is part owner of Rag & Bone which is very successful and busy and he previously worked for Boombarbers which is likewise.

The barbers I use is generally busy. There are others though, including one right next door to where I go that are never busy. There is one guy who sits in the shop day in, day out and I have never, ever seen him cut anyone's hair. Across the course of an hour or so a couple of fancy cars will pull up, nip inside for a minute or 2 then leave again. If it's legit then I'm a Hearts fan.

Haha. I don't doubt that, like every type of business, there are barbers that are up to nonsense.

[Ozyhibby]

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How does a business with no customers launder money? Do they simply book themselves out to make them look a lot busier than they are on paper?

There's similar in Lanark, numerous barbers with no customers and big motors parked up out front. The only busy one is the one I use which is part of a chain in South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

They just walk into the bank each morning with a large amount of money they claim were takings.


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[CropleyWasGod]

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How does a business with no customers launder money? Do they simply book themselves out to make them look a lot busier than they are on paper?

There's similar in Lanark, numerous barbers with no customers and big motors parked up out front. The only busy one is the one I use which is part of a chain in South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

They declare excessive amounts to HMRC, backed up by records and bank accounts showing cash going in, pay the tax, and the net amount is theirs.

These days, with anti money-laundering legislation in place, it can be quite difficult to do. Lawyers, accountants and banks are legally bound to report any suspicion of ML, and HMRC play their part too.

My suspicion is that the police are well aware of the ML side of things (they will get enough reports not to be), but the source of the cash is more important to them. They will chase that source as a priority, and any ML charges will come as an add-on.

[Pretty Boy]

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They declare excessive amounts to HMRC, backed up by records and bank accounts showing cash going in, pay the tax, and the net amount is theirs.

These days, with anti money-laundering legislation in place, it can be quite difficult to do. Lawyers, accountants and banks are legally bound to report any suspicion of ML, and HMRC play their part too.

My suspicion is that the police are well aware of the ML side of things (they will get enough reports not to be), but the source of the cash is more important to them. They will chase that source as a priority, and any ML charges will come as an add-on.

A few years back there were 2 guys who used to come into the bookies I used at Eyre Place (now closed). They would each load a couple of hundred quid into the FOBTs, play a single spin at £2, stand about for a bit then cash it out. They would take the slip to the counter, claim their 'winnings' and ask for a receipt for the pay out amount.

Story was they would do this in bookies all over Edinburgh and beyond so that if the police caught them with large amounts of cash on their person they could show the receipts as proof it was gambling winnings.

Not really money laundering as such and pretty unsophisticated and I always wondered if the police would buy it. They would have had to have been the luckiest punters in Scotland.

[Billy Whizz]

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They just walk into the bank each morning with a large amount of money they claim were takings.


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But surely they need receipts for purchases and sales, for their account s

[Frazerbob]

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But surely they need receipts for purchases and sales, for their account s

They will process fake appointments and claim to be busy.