store, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

store n.

[note US carnival use store, any form of carnival concession]

1. (US Und.) anywhere that provides the site for a confidence trick.

1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 59: The fourth step is to get the prospect to the gambling club, known as a joint or store.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 309: store. 1. See big store. 2. Any establishment against which short-con games like the mitt or monte are played.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Store — Another name for a joint, especially one that features a ‘prize every time’ and is essentially selling cheap prizes for expensive play.

2. (US) used generically for any kind of business enterprise.

1976

Jenkins & Shrake Limo 25: [of a TV network] ‘[I]t’s no secret to you that I didn’t have a damn thing to do with bringing you over to our store’.

frame a store (v.)

(US Und.) to ready a place for the carrying out of a confidence trick.

1940

C. Rawson Headless Lady (1987) 34: The fix has to be paid off anyway. So why not frame a store or two?

give up the store (v.) (also give away the store)

to surrender, to give in; to accept a poor bargain.

1990		T. Pluto Loose Balls 357: When I signed Lucas to that contract, I was widely criticized for giving away the store.
2000		South Coast Today 7 Jan. 🌐 The source said Patriots owner Robert Kraft is ‘not willing to give up the store’ for Belichick and had no intention of calling the Jets to open talks.
2003		‘Cold War Special’ Postscript in Video CNN.com 🌐 Carving up Europe: Did the U.S. give up the store? [...] CNN World Affairs Correspondent Ralph Begleiter, Russian historian Vladislav Zubok and American scholars Tom Blanton and Hope Harrison consider a once-popular proposition in the West—that the United States ‘gave away the store’ to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, allowing him to establish Soviet control over Eastern Europe for decades.