Chinese Herbal Shops

Tallboy · March 2010

Has anybody been to that Chinese herbal shop at the top of SGR? I’m very suspicious of such outlets. There were/are a few at the top of Blackstock Road. I just don’t believe that there are enough people into the “ground rhinoceros testicle” business to sustain these outlets. I’ve never seen anybody going in or out of the one on SGR. This all leads me to think that they’re all a front. A dodgy tax scam, asylum house, brothel or porno/paedo ring. Can anybody assure me otherwise?

charlieboy · March 2010

be assured....they are kosher

frequently go there to be needled

staplejack · March 2010

Family-run, very friendly. Never tried their potions but had a massage quite a few times. Its quite rough-and-ready, but handy for the shops and reasonable value.

staplejack · March 2010

bennyfromtheblok · March 2010

I think they do a load of stuff via mail order too, I asked the guy in the one on Blackstock Road what his main business was and he told me that he sells loads of herbal viagra online. He was packaging up a parcel to the States with 200 tablets and told me the order was over $500. Easy money I guess.

Tallboy · March 2010

And they don't sell herbal viagra in America? It's a scam I tell you. Sometimes I've seen the one on Blackstock Road packed full of the local Muslim posse. They weren't there for medicinal tea infusions.

Philistine'sMonster · March 2010

Speaking of fronts for dodgy businesses, does anyone remember the Launderette on SGR that was a front for a porno studio?

Tallboy · March 2010

I was not aware of the porno Launderette. When was that?

My other nomination for a SGR shop that doesn't do what is says on the tin, is the taxi cab firm next to Chez Lilline. There are always dodgy looking blokes sitting at the entrance, blocking any further access. On the couple of occasions that i've walked past and asked if they can get me a cab they've just looked at me with a smile and shook their heads. And where are their cabs??

staplejack · March 2010

Where are their cabs? Same place as the ones working out of the new Harringay Station cab office, I suggest.

missisclack · March 2010

A further nomination for a shop that isn't, is the florist next to the cab place next to Chez Lilline.

Stock is sparse and rubbish. And have any of you ever seen anyone going in or coming out or in fact walking along SGR with a wrapped bouquet or bunch?

Rather oddly, Chaps & Dames have now branched (boom boom!) out into floristry.

Tallboy · March 2010

@ missisclack. Very good observational work. You're right. Lots of Turkishish blokes standing outside...but no customers. And as for their Christmas tree business!!

ActionVerb · March 2010

Pretty sure that flower shop was one of the featured SGR shops in that Times feature. I definitely remember it being much better stocked and an actual florist when I moved in three years back.

Unfortunately, I had to buy a bunch of flowers on mother's day (but for a different reason), and it was the only place I could find that was open on the sunday. They ripped me off, but the bunch of flowers wasn't too bad. Their christmas tree prices are ridiculous too.

Jenowl · March 2010

Christmas trees outside the florist's: £20 whatever the size. Even a tiny tree was £20. The price was not negotiable - they laughed in our faces. Two years earlier I bought a small tree from the same place for a tenner. I wonder what a fair price is for a Christmas tree? £20 sounds too much.

sophie · March 2010

i tried to haggle for the trees as well but was told they were "the best, hardest christmas trees anywhere in london". they wanted £25 for one about two feet high. their prices might depend on how close it is to christmas i suppose, but the fact that none of them had prices on made me cross because i'm sure they just didn't like the look of me & changed the price accordingly. in the end we got a six foot one from budgens for £12.99.

JaneDoe · March 2010

I foolishly bought my Christmas tree from them and all the needles fell off as soon as I took the net off. I think it was actually a mummified tree left over from the previous Christmas.

ActionVerb · March 2010

It was £25 for a skinny two foot bad boy, and £45 for something approaching 5foot. We haggled, failed and left. Got one from B&Q in the end which was alright. Not as good as the place opposite Costco in Watford that we use to get my parents trees. Any tree for £30, and that's any tree. You can get 9feet+ monsters from there if you can carry it away. We usually settle for a pair of very thick 6foot non-drop. It also helps that the blokes working there are always openly smoking weed.

Must stop wasting time at work. Eating into drinking time at the Tavern...

ShaunG · March 2010

@tallboy - taxi cab place beside chez liline certainly does operate, I use them and the "dodgy blokes" out front seem no different to me from the blokes you usually find in cab offices. The cars are other side of the road, by the barber's. I would happily believe anything of chinese herbal shops though. Dreadful load of tosh, and I hate the way they always plaster their windows with horrible pictures and lists of diseases. You'll notice they never actually claim that anything they sell can do anything for such diseases, because then they'd have to show evidence, which on the whole they don't have (massage and even acupuncture I except). I don't mind people using the stuff if they choose to, I just don't like the awful look of the places.

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