In bright orange letters, the sign in the window says “Yes We’re Open.”

But take a look at the black gate and lock that stretches across the front of Shoes N More at 2903 W. Western Ave., and you’ll see a different story.

The scene is a lot quieter here than it was almost two weeks ago, when county officers and private investigators hired by Nike raided this business, along with the Howard Street Food Mart, 416 E. Howard St.

The investigators confiscated more than 3,000 pairs of counterfeit sneakers.

Police said the shoes — knock-off Air Jordans and Air Force 1s — were made in China and sold by an importer in New York City.

Now as Shoes N More stands idle — and the still-open Howard Street Food Mart is rid of the counterfeit shoes — they’re sparking some concerns from those who saw the recent raids as a wake-up call.

At a time when it may be harder to distinguish between what’s authentic and what’s fake, many consumers are wondering exactly how prevalent counterfeit merchandise has become.

But even more importantly, many wonder how to tell whether something they buy is the real deal.

Common occurrence?

The type of raids that hit Shoes N More and the Howard Street Food Mart doesn’t necessarily happen here every day.

“Honestly, we don’t come across this a whole lot,” said Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County police spokesman. “It’s not a weekly thing or anything like that.”

But when it does happen, it certainly gets people talking.

Investigators from the Chicago-based agency Edward R. Kirby and Associates said the number of shoes confiscated in the recent cases ranks as one of their top 10 raids ever.

And the local raids point to an issue that has become prevalent across the nation.

“We have a pretty active enforcement program across the country that looks out for counterfeit goods,” said Vada Manager, director of global issues management for Nike.

As the economy becomes more global, both the manufacturing and the importing of goods have become more prevalent — moreso than 15 years ago, Manager said. That means legitimate and illegitimate goods alike are moving back and forth across the borders.

And shoes aren’t the only items that tend to be counterfeited.

Besides shoes, several items of sports apparel also were confiscated during the recent South Bend raids. Officers removing shoe boxes from the scene were able to fill the cargo area of a 20-foot U-Haul trailer to capacity.

On the local scene in general, it’s common to see DVDs and CDs counterfeited as well, said South Bend police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent. Next on the list would be computer software, he said. Then there are clothing items and merchandise such as watches and sunglasses, he added.

Name-brand merchandise, such as Nike, have become such targets simply because they have established a strong credibility in popular culture, said Nike’s Manager.

“No one’s going to buy a brand,” he said, “that’s not popular, or not hot.”

And it’s no surprise that counterfeiters tend to strike during the popular shopping seasons — the holidays, the back-to-school rushes, Manager said.

Some consumers know

Of course, even though some consumers might buy counterfeit goods without realizing it, there are some who will cash in the bogus goods on purpose.

“There are a lot of people that are buying things that they know aren’t real,” said Trent of the South Bend police. “It’s a good enough knock-off for them to impress someone.”

But while it might not be a big deal to them, it’s a big deal to law enforcement.

Since the city was working on its own counterfeit cases involving large-scale sales of counterfeit CDs and DVDs, the county was able to step up to help when tips arose regarding the counterfeit shoes, said South Bend police Sgt. Dominic Zultanski.

“We work together on a lot of stuff,” he said.

On the Tuesday morning of the raids, the 35-year-old owner of the Howard Street Food Mart — where 1,950 pairs of shoes were confiscated — was arrested on charges of possessing stolen and counterfeit property. At Shoes N More, an additional 1,100 pairs of shoes were found.

And the situation could be pursued by the FBI or state officials in the future, said Redman of the St. Joseph County police.

Terrorism links?

What many consumers don’t realize, he said, is the danger associated with counterfeit goods. Many counterfeit goods can help fund drug dealers, organized crime and even terrorism.

“Hezbollah has definitely been linked to a lot of counterfeit activities,” said Zultanski of the South Bend police.

Almost five years ago, law enforcement officials testifying on Capitol Hill told a House panel that the booming international trade in phony consumer goods was indeed funding terrorism.

Officials said international property crime, which related to the counterfeiting and pirating of goods, had reached an estimated $500 billion in black market trade globally. The FBI also estimated that counterfeiting had caused businesses in the United States to lose $200 billion to $250 billion per year.

If people today would realize the scope of the issue, Redman said, it might make them think twice.

“I think people would consider it a little more seriously,” he said.

Real or fake?

For consumers who are serious about making sure the goods they buy are authentic, the feat can be a little challenging.

“We can all tell if they’re fake or not,” said Craig Huff, assistant manager at Foot Locker on Grape Road in Mishawaka, who’s heard a lot of talk about the area’s recent raids. “But some of the counterfeits are pretty good.”

As the counterfeiting process becomes more sophisticated than it was in years past, consumers simply have to look a little harder to discern the difference between what’s real and what’s not.

“(But) some of the same signs still do exist,” said Nike’s Manager.

For example, it always helps to look at the item’s price point.

“If the deal seems too good to be true, there’s a good possibility the product could be fake merchandise — or stolen,” said Redman.

The shoes found in the area’s recent raids, which local retailers bought wholesale for about $30, were resold for between $60 and $75. At local sporting good stores, new Air Jordan shoes retail for more than $100.

Similarly, many counterfeiters will charge $20 for knock-off sunglasses, while the high-end authentic versions will cost as much as $150 to $250. In other cases, counterfeiters might charge $20 for a “Prada” purse.

Of course, it’s important to look at more than just an item’s price. Pay careful attention to its color.

“If … you see a product in a color that was never produced by Nike, then it probably is a counterfeit,” Manager said.

Some fake products also will have features such as smeared colors, bad stitching, a crooked swoosh, materials of inferior quality or poor logos. Some fake Air Force 1s, for example, will have Xs instead of the authentic stars, said Huff of Foot Locker.

Many times, fake items will additionally have misspellings on their labels, some of which is done on purpose so that sellers can claim they have made their own version of a popular product, said Redman. It’s always wise, he added, to collect receipts for such purchases and to inquire about warranties and what kind of guarantees come with the product.

Reputable retailers

Of course, a consumer’s best bet, Manager said, is to simply buy goods at an authorized, reputable retailer.

“Everything’s coming directly to us from our distribution center, from the manufacturer,” said Ryan Chupp, store manager at Dunham’s Sports on Miracle Lane in Mishawaka.

Chances are, you just won’t see a small corner store selling genuine Coach purses, Rolex watches or Nike shoes. For many of these stores, it just wouldn’t make sense to carry hundreds of dollars in Nike shoes, said Trent.

“That’s a lot of overhead to carry,” he said.

Consumers just need to be savvy when it comes to shopping for anything, he said.

And so do vendors.

“Just like the consumer, the vendor or store owner needs to be really skeptical that what they are buying is legitimate” — especially when it comes to software, he said.

Now granted, if a store had been ordering legitimate products from a company for years or decades, only to find out later that the goods were counterfeit, it would be hard to blame that retailer, Trent said. But in many cases, counterfeit transactions take place in less conventional ways.

“It’s showing up in the back of a van at 2 in the morning,” Trent said.

If a consumer is aware of a store that is selling counterfeit items, they shouldn’t hesitate to contact the brand name’s company as well as law enforcement, said Nike’s Manager. Some of the best tips come from customers or authorized retailers whose profits are being undercut by the counterfeiters, he said.

And just because a consumer has unknowingly bought a counterfeit item already, that shouldn’t keep them from letting authorities know what’s going on.

“It’s not an issue of going after the purchaser,” Manager said. “Moreso, the manufacturer of that product, as well as the retailer.”