I wonder if lots of stores often sparsely populated with expensive goods where we almost never see anyone are part of some money laundering scheme. These stores should be able to claim lots of cash-only transactions to launder money while having to keep almost no significant levels of products.
Good idea, but I think a boutique store claiming lots of cash based transactions would send alarm bells ringing. Buying an $8k chanel handbag in cash would be very unusual.