For storefronts specifically, and depending on the country you're talking about, there's more likely than not an attempt to evade or avoid tax. For example, this is exactly why tourist attractions like Oxford Street in London are full of American Candy stores now. They'll be there for a few months and then be gone: the landlord saves on business rates because they'd found a tenant, and the actual company vanishes without having paid the rates they were responsible for.

In that case, it's beneficial to the landlord to have some scam shop in because even if they're not being paid rent, the money they're saving from an occupied storefront easily outweighs every other alternative.