City of Westminster (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A tourist charged $1,200 for candy in Westminster sparked a police raid, uncovering a trove of illicit goods and prompting an investigation into shop practices.
As reported by The Washington Post, authorities have stepped up their crackdown on American confectionery shops on Oxford Street in London, claiming that some of them also evade taxes and offer unsafe or counterfeit items.
While shopping on Oxford Street, the famous retail avenue in the British capital, a tourist was charged 899.99 pounds ($1,200) for two packs of candies at a store selling American candy.
This prompted a police raid that resulted in the discovery of 80,000 pounds ($107,000) worth of suspected unsafe and fake goods, which the local authorities referred to as their “biggest ever haul.”
According to Westminster City Council, the local government in the area, two sales assistants fled when police arrived at the business after the tourist reported the overcharge. They vanished through a concealed panel in the basement wall.
As a result, officers found an escape door going to the street and a hidden room filled with the alleged illicit products.
The event happened last month at one of the dozens of candy stores that line Oxford Street, offering eye-popping prices for American treats like Goldfish and Sour Patch Kids, vapes, and souvenirs like Union Jack mugs and tiny Towers of London.
Locals claim that the shops frequently sell inferior products, and Westminster City Council has referred to them as a “scourge.”
According to police and local officials, these outlets grew in number during the epidemic, and in recent years, they have recorded searches and seizures of tens of thousands of pounds worth of suspected illegal goods.
Additionally, authorities think that the shop owners conceal their ownership structures in order to evade paying business taxes.
“The rash of U.S. candy stores which sprang up during the pandemic rapidly became a blight on Oxford Street with some unscrupulous owners peddling unsafe and illegal goods,” Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, told The Washington Post.
“We have real concerns about what they do to the look and feel of the High Street, but we also have concerns about what they’re selling … that are actually harmful for people, where they’re ripping off customers.”
In the last two years, Westminster City Council’s Trading Standards consumer protection unit has reportedly confiscated over $1.3 million worth of counterfeit and dangerous goods from these types of establishments.
In recent years, illicit items discovered in these stores have included vapes with higher nicotine content than claimed, over $13,000 worth of fake Paddington Bear merchandise, and American cereal and sodas with food dyes and additives that are prohibited in the UK, such as Swedish Fish and Lucky Charms.
Nearly 3,000 “American food items,” over 30,000 cigarettes, and over 3,000 vapes and other nicotine and tobacco products were seized by police and council authorities during an April 25 raid of the store where visitors had reported the overcharge.
The council claimed that all of these items were “fake and unsafe.” Despite claiming to have “zero nicotine,” some of the confiscated vapes had nicotine listed as an ingredient, according to the report.
According to the council, customers have also reportedly been overcharged without their knowledge.
According to the council, a consumer of one of the stores that was raided in March 2023 said they believed they had paid $33 for a vape but were actually paying four times that amount.
According to council spokesman Fergus Sheppard, Westminster City Council has received “multiple reports” of items in the candy and souvenir stores “not being priced at all” and salespeople “more or less inventing inflated prices” at the cash register.
According to him, the incident that occurred last month was “probably the most extreme example yet of what goes on.”
The number of combined sweets and souvenir shops on Oxford Street has decreased from 40 during the pandemic to 18 in March, thanks to a combination of raids and lawsuits, the council said.
Enforcement is challenging, however, as a result of landlords wanting to avoid paying property taxes on vacant commercial buildings “having been prepared to allow low-quality tenants like candy stores, vape shops, and souvenir shops to occupy their shops at usually less than market rents” after the pandemic forced many businesses to close their physical stores, according to Sheppard.
Sheppard said that in order for these stores to turn a profit, “the majority must avoid paying central government taxes” like property taxes and VAT.
During the epidemic, businesses like these owing Westminster City Council $10.7 million in unpaid property taxes; however, the council claims that after it began suing more store owners, this amount has decreased to about $1.9 million.
However, this also presents challenges, according to Hug, as many of the businesses that own these establishments are liquidated shell corporations that hinder the council’s ability to collect overdue taxes.
The owners of the store could not be reached by The Post for comment. Several firms associated with Oxford Street candy shop addresses have been dissolved or do not have contact information, and a number of them have recently been liquidated or ordered to close by courts, according to a search on firms House, which registers corporations in the United Kingdom.
Staff running away when council or police officers arrive is “unusual but has been seen several times before,” he said.
“Charging 900 pounds for two packets of sweets is a new low, even for the unscrupulous people who run these rackets,” Hug said.
What actions are being taken against the owners of the candy store in Westminster?
Large quantities of counterfeit goods, dangerous vapes with illegal nicotine levels, and other prohibited things have been seized by authorities during raids on stores they believe to be selling illegal goods.
During one raid, a covert tunnel that led to a concealed room with £80,000 worth of illegal products was found.
Many people believe that these confectionery stores are money laundering fronts, disguising illicit revenue through cash-only transactions and exaggerated prices. Enforcement is challenging since many stores have ambiguous ownership arrangements, frequently registered offshore or with false directors.
Westminster Council is seeking approximately £9.2 million owing by these stores combined and has recently recovered over £250,000 in outstanding business rates. Enforcement measures include closing noncompliant stores and requesting payment.