Stay on top of the global Pawnbroking
industry with Stephen Krupnik

Pawn Shop Celebrates 120th Anniversary

September 2nd, 2010

Frow WSET Dot Com

Reporter: Shelley Basinger

Lynchburg, VA - A downtown Lynchburg business is celebrating an incredible milestone. This month marks the 120th anniversary of L. Oppleman. It’s the oldest pawn shop still in existence in the country.

“It seems like I just did the 100th anniversary, but I guess time just flies,” owner David Somers said.

While you’ll still find David Somers behind the counter, he has handed over most of the shop to his son Ryan.

“I love coming to work everyday. And after being here about six years, I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” said Ryan Somers.

That makes three generations running the same business. David took over for his dad in the 70s. Aaron Somers bought it from Ike Oppleman in the 30s.

“The company was started in 1890 with Jacob Oppleman, named after his wife Lena. That’s why you have the ‘L’,” said David.

For 120 years - the L. Oppleman name stayed the same. But the Somers family knew they had to change with the times.

“Ebay has been a new aspect, selling online, which has really grown. We have a tax service now where we do instant refunds,” David said.

New deals like “Oppleman Bucks” allow pawn customers to get a refund of their interest to use in the store. And Ryan uses his computer skills to reach out on Facebook and Twitter.

“It’s good advertisement, a lot of the kids are doing that these days,” Ryan said.

But the best advertisement is being able to claim a nationwide title.

“We’ve held up as the oldest pawn shop in existence, I mean, I’d be happy if we were the 6th oldest… so that’s pretty exciting for me,” David said.

Owners at L. Oppleman say they are considering expanding, by offering a second location in the city.

They’re offering special anniversary deals this month. One-hundred-twenty select items in each department are being marked down to $120.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Cash-Strapped Brits Turn To Pawnbrokers

August 28th, 2010

From News Dot Sky Dot Com

2:32am UK, Saturday August 28, 2010

Darren Little, Midlands correspondent

Pawnbrokers are experiencing a resurgence in business with the number of shops in the UK more than doubling since 2003.

The National Association of Pawnbrokers is predicting that the trend will carry on as banks continue to deny people easy credit.

It is a huge turnaround for an industry which was thought to be dying out 20 years ago but now seems to have attracted a new generation of customers.

Paul Cockell, who set up Regency Jewellers and Pawnbrokers in Leamington Spa 10 years ago, says he has seen a 10 fold increase in business.

“The kind of things that are coming in are more expensive items, the Rolex watches, Breitlings, diamond rings as opposed to smaller bits of gold and jewellery,” he said.

Major chains of pawnbrokers are now commonplace on high streets and they are making a lot of money from their easy cash business.

H&T for example reported profits up more than 70% in the last six months.

Unsurprisingly 60% of those using pawnbrokers are unemployed, mainly pawning jewellery and watches, taking advantage of what is a straightforward service.

However, Nathan Finch, of the National Pawnbrokers Association, said there had been a gradual shift in the type of clientele now using the service as bank loans dry up.

“We haven’t seen a ridiculous rise in business but we seen a steady increase in a new type of customer looking to pawnbrokers to raise cash,” Mr Finch said.

“I think certainly as mainstream credit is harder to come by people are looking to alternatives and pawnbrokers are seen as a fast and speedy alternative.

“People historically assumed it was just working class people who came to pawnbrokers but that’s changed and it its changing more.

“It’s just really everyday day people who have bank accounts and they prefer the speed and convenience of coming to a pawnbroker.”

He added: “I think the main difference between us and mainstream finance at the moment is that we look for reasons to lend while they look for reasons not to lend.”

It is likely pawnbroking will continue to be a booming industry for the immediate future.

Many of the major brokers are already planning to open more stores.

The test of the industry will be whether its success continues when the economy picks up.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Risky Business

August 26th, 2010

From WPM Observer Dot Com

By Sarah Wilson
Guest Reporter

There is always a certain amount of risk involved with any business; will it be profitable? Can the product sell? Can it survive the economy?

For pawnshops, this level of risk goes up tenfold. They, in essence, make their money by giving money: you bring in your old television; they give you $100. You pay them back; you get your TV back.

What happens when the economy tanks and everybody decides they’d rather keep the money than get their old TVs back?

Well, as Disco Pawn in Orlando owner Greg Hastings put it, “You’re going to be loaning money out like a drunken sailor!”

In order to make it through the failing economy, pawnshop owners such as Hastings have had to come up with creative ways to survive. They’re doing this by changing not only the way they do business, but by working to break the age-old stigma of what a pawnshop is.

Economic effect
On the surface, a bad economy may seem like a pawn owner’s paradise.

“People are pawning their grandmothers if they could make a 100 bucks on it,” Hastings said. “People are so hurting for cash you’d be surprised the kinds of stuff people try to bring in to pawn.”

Though that side of business is booming, the number of people coming back to pick up their property and pay off their loans is at an all-time low.

This means the pawnshops are out the cash that was loaned, and must now take that old TV and try to sell it in their shop. This is where the pawn industry takes the biggest hit — much like every other business finds out in tough economic times — the stuff isn’t selling.

“Before, everyone picked everything up — they’d come in and put a loan on it and pick it up,” said Ryan Stumpf, the owner of Instant Replay pawn in Orlando. “We used to run like a 64 to 65 percent reclaim average so the majority of the stuff would get picked up.

Nowadays your running like a 35 to 45 percent average … it puts us at a disadvantage too — now we have to sell it.”

As Hastings put it, pawnshops like his end up merchandise rich and cash poor.

“The general public thinks you’re making so much money, and yeah it’s a high rate of interest, but it’s a tremendously high rate of risk,” he said.

Breaking the bad reputation
Stumpf said the majority of Americans have never been inside a pawnshop and so they can only relate their experiences to what they’ve seen in the movies.

“In the movie, you see a really dingy little joint,” he said, “with bars and armed people and big fat slobby guys.”

“They’ve always had a bad reputation. Before I moved to Florida, my image of a pawnshop is some big, old, fat, crusty dude with a stinky cigar hanging out of his mouth, and a couple of guys in the back playing poker … generally speaking, those days are gone,” Hastings said with a chuckle, as Taylor Swift’s innocent voice played over the loud speakers in his shop.

There is a certain stigma that comes with the idea of a pawnshop being dirty and crawling with criminals, which Hastings and Stumpf willingly poke fun at, but each say are grossly misconstrued.

Hastings compares the look of most pawnshops today to what someone would expect to find in a Winn-Dixie. By going for more of a retail setting, pawnshops can draw in “mainstream” business, such as the La Familia Pawn Shops stores that are going into old Blockbuster locations.

But that doesn’t mean all pawnshops have cleaned up their acts, Stumpf said. “There’s always a few bad apples, but I think a lot of people don’t understand what kind of regulations pawnshops go through these days.”

In order to sell to a pawnshop, the shop must get the serial number for the item being pawned and the fingerprint of the person coming in to pawn it. This, Stumpf said, often deters criminals from trying to sell stolen items. “Usually criminals are pretty smart cause they know we’re so heavily regulated,” he said.

Getting a pawn license to begin with, he said, is equivalent to signing your civil rights away.

“Cops can come in my store at any time; they can go through my inventory; they don’t need search warrants; they can just come in and say ‘Look, I’m gonna go through your store and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ If you don’t have proper documentation and proper paperwork, they fine you, and they have the ability to take you to jail very easily,” Stumpf said.

Hastings said his own gut instinct is the most vital business tool he uses as a pawn owner to keep his business afloat.

“If a guy comes in here with beady eyes and he’s shaking and his nose is running, and he can’t even talk straight and he’s gritting his teeth and he’s got a $3,000 Fender guitar and he wants to sell it to you for $100, you know damn well the thing’s gotta be stolen,” Hastings said. “You know, you gotta use your judgment, just like a bartender. If you know a guy’s drunk, you don’t sell him another vodka and tonic, right?”

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Pawn Stars Parody: Presidential Poo

August 23rd, 2010

Funny but not for everyone …

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

‘Pawn’ Spawn

August 16th, 2010

From NY Post Dot Com

‘Pawn’ spawn
By LINDA STASI

Now that “Pawn Stars” and the Harrison family have become the hottest things to hit the strip since strip joints, everybody wants to cash in.

Enter TruTV’s new show, “Hardcore Pawn,” a reality show about a suburban Detroit pawn shop that’s roughly the size of Costco — with almost as much stuff. Like a good pawn shop, TruTV wants to trade in on somebody else’s gold mine. Trouble is they’re dealing with stolen goods. The show is a ripoff of “Pawn Stars,” without the charm but with much of the ugly.

The place, American Jewelry and Loan — run by a family called, I swear, the Golds — is 50,000 square feet filled with 45,000 items. Like “Pawn Stars,” the Golds’ emporium is headed by a patriarch, the misnamed Les Gold. With his gold medallion and rings, he should be named More Gold.

Unlike Old Man Harrison, Les is not so quirky as he is unappealing. He’s got greasy, slicked back hair, a black leather sports jacket and skin that’s been tanned to the color of a new penny. Since pawning is a family affair, his grown kids, Seth and Ashley, work in the store with him.

Les describes his son as “the future owner of American Jewelry and Loan,” and his daughter as “the bitch of American Jewelry and Loan.” Enough said.

The show has its share of interesting items that come in. The most popular item in the premiere is a stripper pole complete with shag carpet platform — bring in the disinfectant and bed bug spray! — but the people who try it out aren’t really the kind you want to have over for a beer.

There’s also an obscenity-spewing lady with a bad braid job who goes berserkers because, she says, the Golds lost her earrings. Meantime, she has no paperwork. A big portion of the show is devoted to her yelling, “You no good mother-f- - - - - -,” and Les sagely replying, “f- - -, f- - -, f- - -” back. She threatens that he won’t make it home that night. Like I said, unpleasant.

There’s nothing fun about depressed Detroit or desperate people who have to sell their stuff to feed their kids. We don’t see any of these sad stories, but when you get a look at the parking lot, you know the place is not filled with happy people.

Besides that, a lot of it is clearly set up. For example, a woman comes into the shop with two horses and one donkey to pawn. Talk about a pile of horse manure! That stunt alone was enough to make me feel as used as that stripper pole.

Not a terrible show but, like a used toaster, it’s nothing new.

Copyright 2010 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

‘Hardcore Pawn’ Follows in Wake of ‘Pawn Stars’

August 12th, 2010

From ABCNEWS Dot GO Dot Com

‘Hardcore Pawn’ Follows in Wake of ‘Pawn Stars’
Imitation or coincidence? ‘Hardcore Pawn’ follows ‘Pawn Stars’
By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
NEW YORK

Even in television, where good ideas are routinely imitated, the debut of “Hardcore Pawn” on TruTV next week is enough to make you marvel.

Just like one of the year’s breakout hits, History’s “Pawn Stars,” it’s a reality series about a family run pawn shop. Both are effectively comedies, drawing on the everyday absurdities of the workplace. Both play on the similarity of “pawn” to “porn” for their titles.

And both are in the same time slot: Monday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Coincidence?

Well, yes, according to Marc Juris, executive vice president and general manager of TruTV.

“Quite honestly, we did absolutely nothing different than we would have done whether or not the other show was on the air,” Juris said. “We look for shows that really hit our sweet spot and when they’re right for our audience is when we put them on the air.”

“Hardcore Pawn” was in development for more than a year and two test episodes were aired in December, he said. “Pawn Stars,” in its third season this year, has seen its viewership jump by 38 percent over the second season. The July 5 episode was seen by 6.3 million viewers, the biggest audience ever for the cable network, the Nielsen Co. said.

The TruTV series stars the patriarch of Detroit’s sprawling American Jewelry and Loan, the nearly too-good-to-be-true named Les Gold, along with his son Seth and daughter Ashley.

As suggested by the title, “Hardcore Pawn” is rougher around the edges than the History series. A customer bringing in a cannon to the “pawn stars” would trigger an examination of its history. TruTV has a customer with a homemade cannon that Gold just wants to see blow up in his parking lot.

The first “Hardcore Pawn” also features a profanity-spewing woman who threatens Gold when he doesn’t hand over jewelry, and the store’s purchase of a stripper’s pole. Yes, several potential buyers try it out.

The show earned the same time slot as “Pawn Stars” because it’s a nice fit with “Operation Repo,” a series about auto repossession that airs at 9 p.m. on Mondays, Juris said.

“We’re certainly not going to change our schedule or our strategy because of one show on another network,” Juris said. “That really isn’t servicing our audience well  that comes to us on Mondays expecting a certain kind of show.”

Nancy DuBuc, president and general manager of History, said she couldn’t speak to whether TruTV’s choice is truly a coincidence.

“I haven’t seen the show,” she said. “There’s no mistaking the power of the show that we’ve launched.”

In the world of cable TV reality, successful ideas rarely stand alone: Hence the outbreak of shows about abnormally large families and high-end pastry decorators. History has been on the other side, too. Discovery accused the network of playing off its own successful “Deadliest Catch” series with History’s “Ice Road Truckers” when that debuted a few years back. Both are shows about tough jobs in forbidding climates.

DuBuc said she’s not concerned that “Hardcore Pawn” would dilute the success of “Pawn Stars” or cause it to burn out more quickly. She noted that shows inspired by the success of similar ideas rarely match the originals.

“I feel very confident that our series and our family has a strong foothold on this genre,” she said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Pawn Shops Recapture Lost Ground

August 9th, 2010

From NNBW Dot Com

Pawn shops recapture lost ground

Rob Sabo, 8/9/2010

Strapped Nevadans once again are turning to their local pawnshop rather than a payday lender for an infusion of ready cash.

As payday-lending institutions cropped up throughout the state over the past decade, they siphoned off a great deal of business from northern Nevada pawnbrokers, pawnshop owners say. But regional pawnshops once again are seeing an upturn in pawn transactions — mostly because unemployed borrowers lack the means to get loans at paycheck advance businesses.

Dion Draper, partner for the past three years at Premier Pawnbrokers in Fallon, says many Fallon-area residents have exhausted their options at the town’s paycheck advance stores and have come in to his establishment to pawn their hard goods. They like the idea of pawning, he says, because there is no threat of legal action if they default on a loan.

“If they walk away from a loan, they simply walk away,” Draper says. Though business has spiked at Premier Pawnbrokers, Draper says he’s also seen a higher default rate and retail sales have lagged.

Dan McCassie, owner of Main Street Pawn in Fernley, says the town’s three payday lenders once drew off some of his clientele, but residents returned to his store to pawn items as the recession deepened in recent years in Lyon County.

Many people, McCassie says, already had borrowed money at Fernley’s three payday lenders and found themselves buried under interest rates that sometimes are higher than 500 percent on an annualized basis.

“They can only afford to do that so long before it completely breaks the bank,” McCassie says. “It is easy for them to write a check and get money, but it is so hard for them to pay the loan off.

“Some people no longer can get a cash advance,” he adds. “They have gotten one at all three places, and they are left with no choice but to pawn their hard goods.”

But pawnbrokers are getting more selective on items for which they’ll loan money. McCassie says electronics more than one year old are out, and jewelry and guns are the most-pawned items among Fernley residents. “Guns and gold are always safe loans,” McCassie says.

Bill Burnbaugh, 62, owner of Capitol City Loans at 5951 Highway 50 East in Carson City, has seen a dramatic dip in clientele seeking auto pawn loans since payday lenders entered the cash advance market.

Burnbaugh says the number of auto loans written at Capitol City has declined by 80 percent in recent years as the cash-needy turned to loans at payday lenders since they don’t have to put up any collateral.

Burnbaugh has been in business in Carson City since 1977 and has moved four times for bigger operating space. He’s currently in a 20,000 square foot building on 1.5 acres.

Erminia Drobkin is the Nevada state representative for the National Pawnbrokers Association and owns Pioneer Loan and Jewelry in Las Vegas, the oldest pawnshop in Las Vegas — it was founded in 1931. She says the average pawn transaction in the state is about the same as what a payday lender would give, but payday lenders remain a popular alternative to pawn shops because customers don’t have to part with their valuables.

Payday loans were legalized in Nevada in 1997, and Nevada is one of the few states in the country that doesn’t cap fees or interest rates. In 2007 Nevada lawmakers tried to curb some of the business practices of unscrupulous payday lenders, which charge interest rates as high as 300 to 500 percent a year. Loan limits now are capped at 25 percent of a borrower’s expected monthly income.

In 2007 there were more than 1,200 people directly employed at nearly 400 payday lending institutions in the state, a study by IHS Global Insight of Lexington, Mass. found. The industry generated nearly $42 million in tax revenues for Nevada.

Drobkin says most people in the state who pawn jewelry usually pay off their loans because of a sentimental attachment to the piece — and because they can re-pawn it later if necessary.

Pawnbrokers also say they have seen an increase in foot traffic at their stores due to the hit television show “Pawn Stars” on the History Channel. The reality show chronicles the daily ebb and flow of business at a busy Las Vegas pawnshop — and has gone a long way to remove the image of seediness and desperation that has plagued the industry.

“We have become more popular because of ‘Pawn Stars,’” McCassie admits. “At first I thought it was kind of goofy, but it really promoted and pushed the pawn industry.”

Adds Burnbaugh: “Some people turn their nose down at pawnbrokers, but pawnshops have changed dramatically.”

Drobkin says pawnbrokers throughout the U.S. are enjoying a rise in business from the exposure the show has brought the industry.

“It gives people an idea of what they can pawn or sell and where to go to borrow money,” she says.

ALL CONTENTS © 2010 Northern Nevada Business Weekly. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

LaGrange Faces Federal Lawsuit Over Pawn Shop Denial

July 30th, 2010

From Chicago Tribune Dot Com

La Grange faces federal lawsuit over pawnshop denial
July 29, 2010|By Art Barnum, Tribune Reporter

The village of La Grange and three community leaders have been sued in federal court by the bank and property management firm that worked unsuccessfully with a Berwyn businessman to open a pawn shop in downtown La Grange last year.

Oxford Bank and Trust, with corporate offices in Oak Brook, and Fifth Avenue Property Management, with corporate offices in California, filed the lawsuit earlier this month is U.S. District Court in Chicago.

They claim in the suit that their constitutional rights were violated when the village refused to issue Andrew Grayson a building permit and amended a zoning ordinance to exclude pawnshops following the public outcry that arose after the village had initially granted him a business license to operate All-Star Jewelry & Loan. The shop would have been in a building at 71 S. La Grange Road, next to the Village Hall.

The lawsuit contends that Village President Elizabeth Asperger; Village Manager Robert Pilipiszyn; and Michael LaPidus, former president of the La Grange Business Association, conspired against the proposed pawn shop operation and therefore cost the two business enterprises proceeds. The building remains unoccupied.

A lawsuit against the village last year in Cook County Circuit Court by Grayson was dismissed.

The federal lawsuit is seeking in excess of $75,000 for all monetary losses suffered by the two firms and punitive damages.

Attorneys for the village and the businesses could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

abarnum@tribune.com

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Giving New Life to an Old Profession

July 27th, 2010

From Triangle Dot Bizjournals Dot Com

Giving New Life to an Old Profession

Owner of eight pawnshops says perceptions are wrong, and he aims to change them

Triangle Business Journal - by Dale Gibson

Bob Moulton converted the old Don Murray’s Barbecue building into what he says is the prototype of the modern pawnshop.

DURHAM – If Bob Moulton hadn’t ended up in the family business, he might have been an actor: picture “Tick Tock” McLaughlin, the William H. Macy character in the movie “Seabiscuit.”

Reddish hair, thin build, a propensity for making funny. Moulton once used his impersonation of an Indian customer to rib one of his employees over the telephone. He was the class clown at Southern Durham High School, had designs on going to the North Carolina School of the Arts, but ended up as a radio DJ for meager pay at stations in Rock Hill, S.C., and Concord.

When he got married in 1983, he was making $80 a week.

He somehow made it. “I’ve been poor, but I’ve never been broke,” says Moulton. Still, 80 bucks a week wasn’t cutting it. He quit radio and moved back to his hometown of Durham to help his mom in her recently opened pawnshop.

There, he learned the business from his mother and an uncle, who also operated a shop. In 1986, Moulton opened his own store and has been a pawnbroker ever since – now operating eight stores in Durham, Raleigh and Wilmington.

He figures he spent around $2.5 million turning the defunct Don Murray’s Barbecue restaurant on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh from a grease-stained and rundown building into what Moulton declares to be the prototype of the modern-day pawnshop – National Pawn – complete with a walk-in vault that would be the envy of any banker.

Wander into that store, and the stereotypes about the pawn business drift away. On one side is a jewelry showroom as fine in decor as a shopping mall jeweler. On the other side are attractively displayed pawned items for sale – computer games, guitars, hand drills, television sets, even one iPad has found its way to hock.

Moulton is about building a business – and he and his wife, Teresa, have one now that generates some $7.5 million in revenue and provides jobs for 55. But he’s also about changing the way the public perceives the pawn business. “My mission is to improve the image of the pawn business,” says Moulton, who is president of the N.C. Pawnbrokers Association and has been on the board of the national association for a decade. “I’ll put my business reputation up against anyone in town.”

He’s fully aware of the perception of the pawn business – dirty, dingy stores full of stolen property with brokers looking to buy way low and sell way high. So, rather than tucking his stores in unobtrusive corners in bad parts of town, Moulton looks for high-profile locations near good neighborhoods.

His stores are far from dirty. On the contrary, they are bright and inviting. The employees are dressed in uniform blue shirts. National Pawn has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina, with no complaints over the past 36 months. As for stolen goods, industry research says that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of pawned goods are stolen.

Pawnshops actually help track stolen items rather than hide them. Each day, every pawnshop in the state is required by law to submit a report to local police on every pawned item, including the serial number of the item and the full identity of the customer. If an item turns out to be stolen, the police confiscate it and the pawnshop loses the money it lent.

In fact, the pawn business in North Carolina is tightly regulated at both the state and local levels. The Pawnbroker Modernization Act of 1989 sets strict limits on monthly fees that can be charged on a pawned item – they can’t exceed 20 percent of the amount lent for the item.

Jim Sughrue, spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department, says the department has a “generally good relationship” with pawnshops. “They have an interest in taking in as little stolen property as possible,” he says.

As for margins, Moulton says his philosophy is to make a small profit on high volume.

He once made a $500 profit on a 5-carat diamond that had been pawned for $20,000. The lucky buyer had it appraised and found it to be worth $75,000, but Moulton had no remorse. “I’d rather have a fast nickle than a slow dime,” he says.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr

Thedford Starts New Pawn Shop Chain

July 26th, 2010

From Orlando Dot Bizjournals Dot Com

Friday, July 23, 2010
Thedford starts new pawn shop chain, plans 20 stores by year-end
Orlando Business Journal

- by Anjali Fluker

John Thedford is giving the pawn business another try — but this time he wants a different end ­result.

Thedford, who in 1994 established the Value Pawn & Jewelry chain in Central Florida, grew his business to 67 stores in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee with 700 employees and $120 million in 2007 revenue before selling the chain in 2008 to Austin, Texas-based publicly traded pawn giant EZCorp. for $115 million.

After the sale, Thedford was expected to become president of EZCorp, but opted out to create a new chain and write a book, Smart Moves Management. It will be published in October.

Last summer, Thedford’s new firm, Family Financial LLC, opened its first La Familia Casa de Empeno y Joyeria in Puerto Rico, expanding to two stores in February. This month, Thedford debuted his first Florida La Familia Pawn & Jewelry store in a 6,500-square-foot former Blockbuster Video shop on Curry Ford and Conway roads in ­Orlando.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Blogosphere News
  • De.lirio.us
  • Furl
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Netvibes
  • Print this article!
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
 

Home | About The Book | Table of Contents | About Stephen | In The Media | Audio | Contact

Copyright © 2009 - Stephen Krupnik - All Rights Reserved
Pawnonomics by Stephen Krupnik tells the infamous history of the pawn broking industry and shines a bright light into
its darkest corners, while also pointing out some pinnacles along the way.