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Off-topic question but I'm curious about this: In my five years in NYC I've seen many stores closing, some that were great but just couldn't afford rent. This a

Off-topic question but I'm curious about this: In my five years in NYC I've seen many stores closing, some that were great but just couldn't afford rent. This article shows a lot of storefronts that closed and haven't been rented. Why then, are there so many bad, generic souvenir shops and massage parlors? I used to work in midtown and Chelsea, and there were at least two or three of these in every block. In Chinatown, there's a block that is just souvenir shops. Never been to a massage parlor, but all the souvenir shops looked the same and sold the same (overpriced) stuff. What's weirder is that most of them (the souvenir shops) are pretty empty most of the time. I understand the relationship between massage places and fronts for prostitution and that money laundering exists but I just can't believe all of these are able to exist for years and years without either being busted or going out of business, yet many other businesses come and go.

cylinder 10y ago
With Chinese businesses like that usually the owner of the building is Chinese and often they operate the business or know the operator. They don't sell their properties much and rent to people they know. That's why Chinatown is still pretty much the same amidst all the surrounding gentrification.
- sotojuan 10y ago
  As someone who lives in Sunset Park (Brooklyn Chinatown) I am well aware and sorta happy gentrification will never happen here—realtors in the area willing to rent to non-Chinese still keep prices low :-)
  - splintercell 10y ago
    I never understood this, why do people hate gentrification?
    - sotojuan 10y ago
      I don't dislike it. I like cleaner streets, more cafés, more stores that take cards, amenities, etc. I do dislike my rent doubling in price. In NYC, both go hand in hand. For now since I just finished college, I'll take my super low rent. There's nothing "wrong" with where I live anyway. For a non-selfish response, Sunset Park is one of the few neighborhoods where most people people are working class. Indeed, most of the cooks, dishwashers, etc in Manhattan live here, sometimes many in one apartment (to be able to afford it). I can't imagine where they'd go if the area gentrified.
avn2109 10y ago
The Chinatown souvenir shops are presumably fronts for counterfeit luxury goods markets in the basement/back room, e.g. fake Louis Vuitton bags etc. And as you say, the massage places are fronts for cat houses. The reason both exist is the same as all grey market businesses, always and everywhere: Either the NYPD has better things to do or the precinct chief is getting paid off well enough to look the other way most of the time, except for a few theatrical raids here and there.

cylinder 10y ago

With Chinese businesses like that usually the owner of the building is Chinese and often they operate the business or know the operator. They don't sell their properties much and rent to people they know. That's why Chinatown is still pretty much the same amidst all the surrounding gentrification.

sotojuan 10y ago
As someone who lives in Sunset Park (Brooklyn Chinatown) I am well aware and sorta happy gentrification will never happen here—realtors in the area willing to rent to non-Chinese still keep prices low :-)
- splintercell 10y ago
  I never understood this, why do people hate gentrification?
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    I don't dislike it. I like cleaner streets, more cafés, more stores that take cards, amenities, etc. I do dislike my rent doubling in price. In NYC, both go hand in hand. For now since I just finished college, I'll take my super low rent. There's nothing "wrong" with where I live anyway. For a non-selfish response, Sunset Park is one of the few neighborhoods where most people people are working class. Indeed, most of the cooks, dishwashers, etc in Manhattan live here, sometimes many in one apartment (to be able to afford it). I can't imagine where they'd go if the area gentrified.

avn2109 10y ago

The Chinatown souvenir shops are presumably fronts for counterfeit luxury goods markets in the basement/back room, e.g. fake Louis Vuitton bags etc. And as you say, the massage places are fronts for cat houses. The reason both exist is the same as all grey market businesses, always and everywhere: Either the NYPD has better things to do or the precinct chief is getting paid off well enough to look the other way most of the time, except for a few theatrical raids here and there.