Not sure if there’s a thread in this but this has surprised me:
When I first moved to King’s Lynn I started going to this one barber’s - primarily because it was open from 6am and I could go and get my hair cut, go home, shower it off and then go to work after. Always a good haircut and a decent level of chat.
Anyway, the sons (who used to cut my hair) set up their own independent barber’s about a decade ago, and set up another couple of shops locally. Fast forward to tonight, I’m browsing to spend some unused Clubcard vouchers and they’re mentioned. They’ve now got 34 chains nationally 
The thread would be “businesses you knew before they were famous” I guess