"Ever wondered how some of these joints are able to pay rent and employees with so little customers?" I have always wondered about this. In Manhattan, for exam

"Ever wondered how some of these joints are able to pay rent and employees with so little customers?" I have always wondered about this. In Manhattan, for example, you fairly frequently hear about restaurants that seem to be popular and busy all the time closing because they couldn't keep up with rent increases. And yet it's also somehow full of corner stores, gift shops, laundromats, pizza places, Chinese restaurants, lunch buffets, etc. etc. that no one ever seems to go into and have 2 stars on Yelp, but are still there year after year. I figured that in some cases it could be a family that owns the building or a sweetheart lease deal or whatever, but there are just so many that it doesn't seem to add up.