how can we tell from a single street view picture that a house is just a “private residence” if it advertises itself as a store-front?

This will be specific to my area, sorry for that. My town is filled with planned communities that all have HOAs. These HOAs specify that residents are not permitted to run home-based businesses due to cited concerns about increased traffic and outside visitors. I recall one post on this sub where a woman was in hot water with her HOA over an insane amount of deliveries from Lularoe, as an example.

Because I am familiar with my area, I know that these consultants are in violation of their HOA agreement. There are no storefront homes in my town, it simply doesn’t exist here.

If I walked up to the door of one of these residences and said “I wanna buy some Herbalife”, would I be expected and would they be able to provide me a professional (if odd) retail experience?

In my experience? No. Every MLM seller that I have encountered in my area has relied on parties and internet sales rather than foot traffic. In fact, I believe there are several MLMs which expressly prohibit their sellers from opening brick-and-mortar stores, including Lularoe iirc. The exception would be Herbalife, funnily enough, because they are encouraged to open “nutrition clubs” which absolutely operate as storefronts in areas dedicated for business.

To use your example of a neighborhood bar: Do you need to PM the bartender before you can show up to drink? No. You will notice that the MLM consultants do not post the address of their “stores” in any of their advertising, nor do they encourage people to visit their homes.

In summary: 1. These MLMs may be operating in violation of their HOA agreement. 2. The “storefront” term does not apply, since the sellers do not behave like they are operating a storefront. 3. They could also be risking contract termination with their MLM if they were indeed running a store to sell their products.

Hope this helps to explain somewhat!