“Excuse me, sir or madam. Are you satisfied with your current internet provider? Allow me to introduce you to another one that you’ll be sick of within a year, if you don’t shut the door in my face first!”
The world of business is a brutal one. If you don’t have an excellent idea and a way to execute it without running out of funds, your brand is toast. Yet somehow, despite all odds, there are companies out there who continue to roam the earth like cockroaches, seemingly impossible to destroy.
Reddit users have recently been discussing these confusingly successful companies and business models, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts below. Enjoy reading through, and be sure to upvote the businesses you’re shocked are still around too!
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The Kardashians
Never watched an episode, not even clips. Yet through the "magic" of just general media I know their names, their relationships, etc., and it's nothing I ever wanted to know. How do we cancel this c**p?
Nestle - with all the negative press about the terrible things they've done, surprised anyone still buys their products.
We reached out to the person who started this conversation in the first place, Reddit user Square-Floor8879, and they were kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
As far as what inspired them to pose the question, "What company has you shocked that they have not yet gone out of business?" the OP says it was just one of those questions they're always curious about. "I pass by so many businesses that I have seen since I was a child, and I wonder between the changes throughout my lifetime and COVID how these places survived and why," they shared.
Wells Fargo, why anyone would still trust them with their money baffles me.
There are a few companies that Square-Floor8879 is surprised are still around as well. "Amazon and online shopping have completely taken over society, so any department store that doesn't differentiate itself from online shopping has me surprised it is still around," the OP told Bored Panda. "Macys or JC Penney type [stores]."
That furniture store that has had the "going out of business" sale going on for the last 4 years.
There was a place like this in my hometown that had a clearance sale because it was going out of business (opheffingsuitverkoop in Dutch) for over 25 years. I was shocked to find out it finally closed for good about six months ago.
On a Wednesday at around 2 pm, I received a tap at my door from an elderly woman who wanted to show me a Kirby hoover.
Additionally, it appears that door-to-door salespeople will still exist in 2023.
We were also curious what the OP believes is keeping these companies afloat. "It has to be a combination of loyal customers, reinventing themselves and maybe a financial strategy or aid that was provided either during COVID or otherwise," they noted.
Every Psychic shop I’ve ever driven by.
They already know who's gonna arrive and when so they plan accordingly
All those awful kiosks in malls that sell stuff no one honestly needs
I'm starting to think that malls themselves are just fronts for money laundering. Who the hell needs Lenscrafters, knockoff "Oriental" furniture, Persion rugs, a phone case that says "It's Wine O'clock," and a churro? And if you do, I know just the place...lol
Square-Floor9979 also said they loved reading through the responses to their post. "It was exactly what I wanted," they noted. But some replies were unexpected. "I'm not sure why people are surprised by chain restaurants. In this economy especially, cheap and quick options will always appeal to people."
Finally, the OP added that they loved how involved their post became. "Every time I checked, there was so much to read and try to keep up with. A cool experience for sure!"
I hope they don't but Arizona Ice Tea has cost the same my whole life. Good on them.
There are three reasons that Arizona Iced Tea has remained at 99c. 1). Production. They use about 1/2 the aluminum of regular cans, and their production facilities run at twice the rate of other companies. 2). They ship their product late at night, to avoid traffic jams, and slow downs, and their trucks are also lighter, equaling less fuel consumption. 3). No advertising campaigns, or celebrities endorsement. They rely on word of mouth, and product placement in gas stations, and other stores.
Burlington. Place is basically Goodwill with clothes people haven't worn yet.
Burlington... along with other stores like Ross or Marshalls are called off price market. What that means is any product that couldn't be sold to any traditional retailers from Wal-Mart on up get off loaded to these stores. It's kinda a last stop for clothing. I only know this because I work in clothing manufacturing and Burlington is one of our customers!
The Chinese buffet across the parking lot from the coffee shop where I work. My boss saw them defrosting fish fillets on the roof of a car once. Directly on the car. I don’t know how many times we’ve had to call the health department on them.
They leave the dumpsters looking like a war crime, too
Edible Arrangements. I'm convinced this company survives on one time orders that are for the hell of it, not actual repeat customers.
AOL
AOL's 2022 revenue was $7.4 billion. AOL has 10,350 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $714,975 per.
🤯
I still use my aol email from a quarter century ago. I'm adjusted to it and I'd have to change so many things at this point.
Kohls. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kohl's. But everytime I go in there it feels like 90% of the shoppers there are just there to return their Amazon package. Kohls does have some pretty good stuff so I do hope they stay in business (mostly because they are just so convenient for returns.
One of my friend's son works at Kohls. He says this is one of the reasons he likes it. It's an easy retail job, barely any interaction with customers, and most of those are usually there to return Amazon purchases. The only drawback being he is almost 100% certain that one day he's going to show up for work & the store will be shuttered and abandoned.
Macy’s
One of my favorite stores but it gets pretty depressing to shop there. You see maybe like 2 employees on the entire floor. Products are often never organized and the fitting rooms are even worse. Clothes just dropped on the floor and no one ever checks how many clothes you go in with or what you truly do inside… some macys are better but many are really bad. Feels like a complete ghost town
Most of them have closed down in my area, but yeah, I remember going in one right before it closed for good, and I swear when I walked through the doors I heard a coyote howl. It was that depressing.
I'm honestly surprised every "Check cashing" and "payday loan" and "title loan" place hasn't been shut down due to violence against their staff, yet. Every single one of those places is a detriment to their community and the fact that nobody is throwing molotovs in to them on a regular basis astounds me.
Long before "payday loans" there were "friendly loan companies" on every corner that served as financial institutions for people who could not get a loan from a bank. My economics teacher explained that the loan companies got their operating capital from the same banks that refused to work with the people who wound up borrowing from loan companies. It was a simple way for banks to reduce their risks and still get a piece of the high risk loan business. I suspect these payday companies are linked to big banks the same way, which would explain why they are immune to regulation.
All the mattress stores that are somehow across the street from each other and never have any customers but open new locations down the street all the time.
Chuck E. Cheese’s, lost its hay day years ago, business sucks, shows aren’t that good, animatronics mostly gone at this point. And debt. Lots of it. Surprised they’re still around even though they just filed for bankruptcy three years ago.
Tv guide still exists In print, not just the channel.
I noticed it's more 'magazine' sized and had content other than TV listings, I guess it's geared now to readers who use it more than for just TV listings. I rememeber the TV commercials for it .....and I think last one I was was probably 20 years ago.
Uber. After 14 years and $32bn of cumulative losses, they have only just this year started to turn a profit.
Their CEO recently did an interview with a major national news organization. The reporter took a basic Uber from his hotel to the Uber office (5 miles). The reporter asked the CEO to estimate his Uber trip cost. The damn CEO guessed ~$25 for a non surge time. The reporter told him he was wrong. The trip cost ~$75 (without a tip). The CEO responded with "wow, really?"
Yahoo. They've been through a lot and are still staying alive.
Honestly? F****n Netflix
They upped the price, cracked down on password sharing, and there’s talk about them adding ads.
They don’t have any big or popular franchises anymore, there’s like 5 things worth watching, and don’t bother with any of the original content they spend literal millions of dollars on every year because no matter how good or well received the show is it will be canceled in the first or second season.
The only thing people consistently tune in to Netflix for is Stranger Things, so they’ll probably have a spike in 5 years when the next season comes out.
Five things worth watching? There are many series and documentary films worth watching on there.
Guitar Center, I worked for them for 13 years, they were on the brink of death the whole time.
No sure why. The one close to me is always busy. A guitar, bass, drums, etc, are things you want to play before buying. They aren't internet things
MyPillow
Yes! How on earth did the shittiest pillow ever made make so much money? His secret is his patented filler? Uh...you mean cut up pieces of foam in a sack Mike?
applebees
why are people going there
why are people working there
I've found that it depends on the manager whether or not the place is okay. The one in my town is always busy.
KFC. They lowered their quality so much I can’t eat there. I actually have a Colonel Sanders tattoo. So, you can say I'm a fan. I'm really a fan of the man himself. He failed over and over and died a household name. Look him up. It's a cool story.
KFC is not so bad and is keeping standard, at least here in Poland - in KFC meat look like meat. McDonalds on the other hand is just a crappy shadow of what it used to be... And the prices are so pumped up it is in fact cheaper to eat a decent meal in a regular restaurant than at McDonalds.
Papa Johns. Horrible food that somehow gets worse every year. In the 90's they rocked.
This always makes me laugh. Papa Johns quality is exactly the same today as it was in the 90's. Nothing has changed there, it's just that there are better options more widely accessible today....they're comparatively worse, but functionally identical.
Chipotle.
They had a severe ecoli outbreak that spread to at least 13 states.
If you must get food poisoning get it from here tho.... Awesome food! 🤣
It feels like they have been saying Claire's is on the edge of bankruptcy for 20 years.
Wow, blast from the past. I remember them and Spencer's Gifts in the mall back in the 80's. I also loved the smell of Swiss Colony.
I'm convinced that when the nuclear apocalypse finally happens there will only be two things left on this earth: cockroaches and Frontier Communications
Best Buy. I thought they would have gone the way of Fry’s, The Good Guys or RadioShack
Fry's was nerd heaven. A combination of Radioshack and a physical manifestation of newegg. I don't understand how Fry's could shutter it's doors while Microcenter is doing the same exact thing and expanding at a frenzied pace.
Buffalo Wild Wings.
Hear me out:
Music so loud you can't hear yourself think, wings that taste meh at best, and an insane price tag to boot.
The CEO of that company needs to go to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, where Buffalo Wings originated. Then compare those wings with what they make at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Crumbl Cookies strike me as a business that is absolutely going to collapse within a couple years. Comes across as a fad; far too aggressive with their outreach (almost 1000 locations have opened since they were founded in 2017 and the vast majority of them popped up within the past 3 years alone); they’ve gotten in trouble with the *federal government* due to child labor law violations. They’re also a run by a bunch of Mormons and former employees flat out say that you can’t get promoted if you aren’t one. Comes across as a terrible investment
Kmart and Sears. They're on their last leg, and I'm going to be sad for them to go, but how there's still two Kmarts left and a couple dozen Sears left is shocking
Sears makes me sad. They've been around since 1893, they sold over 70,000 pre-fab houses between 1908 and 1942, most of which are still standing to this day. They were an american institution. K-mart, while it's been around nearly as long (and cratered due to a botched sears merger) has been viewed, at least for all my 40 years, as a cheap and trashy store. Really think about that. Think of how many "people of wal-mart" listicles exist today, and realize that k-mart still has a worse customer reputation.
Burger King. I never see anyone inside them, the parking lot and drive thru are always empty. When was the last you or anyone you know ate there? How are they still around?
I like Burger King. I hate that I have to pay an additional .60 cents for a piece of cheese and I don't know that I've ever gotten hot onion rings but the taste of their burgers and quality of toppings is far superior to McDonalds. OP is correct though, I have no idea how the one in our town is still open because if there are 2 cars in the parking lot that's busy for them. During the same time frame the McDonalds next door is slammed.
Quiznos. All Quiznos where I live have gone out of business get some still exist in my state. Gods I miss the place...
I'm amazed they ever existed. Toasted sandwich bread? I'm on board. But when you try to hand me a sandwich with hot, or even warm lettuce and deli meats? Repulsive. When i was in high school, there was a blimpies, and a quizno's with a clothing store in between. I had friends that worked in each after school. I would go into quizno's and get just toasted bread, and then take it over to blimpies to assemble the sandwich. Excellent end result that ended up being cheaper then just buying something off the menu.
Boston Market
They've shut them all down here in the NY/NJ area for not paying their employees enough.
DoorDash somehow loses money on every transaction. Not clear how that’s sustainable for any kind of growth
They certainly make money per transaction. If you go to an actual restaurant's menu online and then compare the prices on doordash, you'd be surprised to see that they don't match! Doordash prices are $1-$3 more! Found this out when hubby and I were looking at menus online. Me on doordash, him on google since he doesn't have the app. Stopped ordering from doordash after that!
Yes....but you're failing to recognize that they still have to pay delivery drivers. The minimal markup isn't enough to cover their costs, and paying delivery drivers is just ONE of the costs that they have to cover. If you bought a house to fix up for $50,000....and spent $100,000 on renovation costs...only to end up selling the place for $140,000....you didn't make a $90,000 profit, you lost $10,000.
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FitBit. I had one years ago, but I am really surprised they are still around considering you can get more full featured smart watches for the price.
I've had 2 and neither preformed nearly as well as the cheap Amazfit that I bought before them.
Tim Hortons. It used to sell decent fare but they expanded their selection of food in 2006, got bought out and took an absolute nosedive in food quality. The only people who seem to like it are younger Canadians with no memory of the "before" times and newcomers to the country.
Aww man. I remember after I got my license, I would stop for Timbits and a cuppa before class almost every day. Now, meh. They have them in the states now too and I had to stop once when we were driving through a town and spotted one just for the nostalgia. I think people assume that because I'm Canadian I have some ingrained loyalty to the brand, but like most of us, when I hear the name I just shake my fist angrily at the sky.
British chain Frankie and Benny's.
Shockingly bad food, cooked by people unfamiliar with the concept of taste, in the kind of atmosphere you expect from a motorway services. All for the bargin price of a lot of money.
So many casual dining chains have gone under over the last few years. How the f**k was Frankie and Benny's not one of them?
Equifax -- they could hardly be doing less to take data security seriously, yet they continue to exist as a for-profit entity with tremendous influence and no effective federal oversight.
Equifax, alone of the big three, locked my credit account so no one could access it. Even they don't know why. When I called them and complained they told me that in order for my account to be unlocked, they want me to send them a photocopy of my DL, SS card, and one bill received at my address. By snail mail. I told them they were seriously deranged if they expected me to do that and they could just leave it locked.
BetterHelp. So many ethical issues😬
Hardees. The only time I ever see customers there is for their breakfast. I’ve never seen more than a car or two in the parking lot after 11 a.m.
Party City.
Huge stores with thousands of skus and I don't think I've ever seen more than 10 people inside one.
It depends on the location. I live in an affluent suburb and our Party City store is always busy. Not unusual for people here to spend hundreds on party supplies, especially their nice balloons. It's probably the same in most suburban areas. Imagine how many kids have bday parties on weekends and get their party supplies there. Not to mention other kinds of parties. Plus they deliver balloons! So convenient.
There’s a vacuum store in my town that’s been open for as long as I can remember. With the ease of new stick vacuums and just in general idk who would ever need to go in there
Golden Corral - everything there tastes old and bad.
HP. Specifically their printers but not just their printers. They are so shamelessly anti-consumer that I don't know why anyone would buy HP. They don't have brand appeal like an Apple or Tesla, and competitors offer better versions of everything they sell.
Want to use your combination printer scanner as a scanner only? Sorry, it's out of ink, can't do that.
Carvana.
They offered me $300 for a car I sold for $6k... they can get f****d.
That's just typical of used car places, anyway. When I purchased my first used car, they said they would purchase my car if I wanted, but I could make more money selling it independently. Because they, and pretty much anywhere else, will only pay a blanket set price for any car more than 5 years old.
Long John Silvers. Why do people eat that c**p?
Oh, man, I miss LJS. Maybe you didn't like them but I loved their fish. We don't have any stores now in our state.
Oracle. I have no idea what they are doing, they seem to have exactly one product, a database engine that is severely outdated, but somehow they are still raking in billions.
Oracle offers a collection of cloud technologies, applications, databases, storage and servers to empower modern business. That's how.
Spirit Airlines
Redbox
Dippin' dots. Disgusting tiny ice cream balls that I've never seen anyone eat (aside from myself one time because I thought I'd try it)
comicxposure. Bought some comics and never got them. Checked BBB and this is a common occurrence. They never reply to anybody on their main site or social media. They never answer the phone either. Absolutely no way of getting in contact with them.
That was years ago. Checked their site today, and they're somehow still up. It's mind-boggling. They can just take your money, never send out anything with no replies what so ever and still remain in business.
Google their name and you'll see countless people warning you to avoid them like the plague.
Rent A Center
Stitchfix, I have trouble believing that many people would rather pay to have an algo choose their outfit than pick it themselves.
Staples.
The mismanagement and insane pay of the incompetent is outrageous. They are incredibly top heavy with mid to upper level employees making $100k + bonuses who contribute maybe $15k worth of actual effort.
Panera bread.
Went to both Chik Fil a and Panera on the same weekend (busy weekend) and got, nearly the same thing at each....
Panera was twice as much, asked for a tip, waited forever to order and get my food, and I had to do all the "waitering" myself.
Chik Fil a was half as much, asked for no tip, and had extra employees Takiing orders, bringing you your food, etc.
National Post.
A major conservative Canadian Newspaper that failed to turn a profit for the first thirteen years of operation. It’s not propaganda though. Couldn’t be.
Most of these names meant nothing to me, I guess they were mostly US American.
Was thinking the same. You got downvoted for this, no idea why.
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Ford. I say this as a fan of their cars. Anytime they introduce a new model they flub the launch. They spend twice as much on development as anyone else with little effect on the quality and timing of their products. Every manager has their own fiefdom they jealously guard from any change, and they consistently choose terrible leadership. Mark Fields is completely out of his depth, but is the smartest guy in the room, just ask him.
Instead of letting them go bankrupt where I live, the prime minister (of Ontario Canada) gave them money to go back on track. Awful.
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Most of these names meant nothing to me, I guess they were mostly US American.
Was thinking the same. You got downvoted for this, no idea why.
Load More Replies... Ford. I say this as a fan of their cars. Anytime they introduce a new model they flub the launch. They spend twice as much on development as anyone else with little effect on the quality and timing of their products. Every manager has their own fiefdom they jealously guard from any change, and they consistently choose terrible leadership. Mark Fields is completely out of his depth, but is the smartest guy in the room, just ask him.
Instead of letting them go bankrupt where I live, the prime minister (of Ontario Canada) gave them money to go back on track. Awful.
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