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

(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...

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.