Archive for the ‘Pawn Shop Stories’ Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
From WAAY TV Dot Com
Married at the Pawn Shop
Posted: March 1, 2010 11:46 PM EST
If you’re thinking of taking a trip down the aisle, a local pawn shop is offering a sweetheart of a deal.
The Wholesale Jewelry Pawn Shop in Huntsville has expanded its building and its services.
Now more than ever, business is booming with the owner’s innovative offer to help folks save money on one of life’s most precious moments.
At first glance it’s what you expect from a pawn shop; jewelry, guitars and tires for sale.
But if you look a little harder, like downstairs… the Wholesale Jewelry Pawn Shop’s services go above and beyond.
If you buy an engagement ring at Wholesale Jewelry you get to use their wedding chapel for free.
The chapel opened around Valentine’s Day and has been just about booked ever since.
Charles Markham recently bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend from Wholesale Jewelry now his wedding will be there in just a few weeks!
“It’s as good as anywhere else. Just recently I went to a friend of mine’s wedding at another chapel and this one is just as good or better and I thought it was wonderful,” said Markham.
With weddings costing thousands of dollars nowadays, owner Jerriel Stephens wanted to help his customers… so he redecorated the basement of his pawn shop turning it into the Always and Forever Wedding Chapel. It’s the first one of its kind in the country.
“Some of them were having a hard time getting married in churches because some of the churches charged a lot of money and some of the churches wouldn’t marry them because they weren’t members of the church,” said Jerriel Stephens.
“That’s really a special touch because there’s a lot of people that can’t afford with this economy. They can barely afford a nice ring then they end up going to the courthouse to get married so this is a very, very nice touch,” said Charles Markham.
The chapel holds 60 people. It’s decorated. There are also bathrooms, a dressing room, a sound system and a reception area.
Ministers are available for free and photographers are on staff.
The photographers offer a $50 fee for the basic picture package and CD.
It’s a deal many of Jerriel’s customers have a hard time turning down.
“They are very excited. We’ve had lots of people come look at it while it’s being built and the reception is beyond our wildest imagination. We expect to do a lot of weddings here!” said owner Jerriel Stephens.
Jerriel Stephens says if you buy any wedding or engagement ring at his shop the chapel is available for you to use.
The price of the engagement or wedding ring does not matter.
Tags: consumer credit, Huntsville AL, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Wedding Chapel
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
From Trans World News Dot Com
Pawn Stars Is a Smash Success
Pawn Stars Show On History Channel
Denville NJ 01/26/2010 1/26/2010 08:26 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)
Hailed by viewers as a really “cool Antiques Roadshow,” Pawn Stars is one of the most popular TV shows on the History Channel, which is part of the American Cable TV network. The show is produced by Leftfield Pictures and shot in and around the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Pawn Stars chronicles the activities that take place inside a Gold and Silver Pawn Shop. The first episode was aired back in July 26, 2009. Today, Pawn Stars is telecasted every Monday at 10 pm (Eastern Time). Each one-hour block features two episodes. This show has a loyal viewership that tunes in every week to see the latest events happening in the pawn shop.
Until the 1950s, pawning was actually one of the most popular form of consumer credit in the USA. Even today, you can still find pawn shops that have an extremely large customer base. You will find them all over the United States. Over the years with so many objects changing hands, it’s not unusual to find that several artifacts of historical importance have found their way to the many pawn shops in America today. Tracing the history behind such artifacts is undoubtedly be a wonderful walk down memory lane. It is precisely this feeling that each episode of Pawn Stars manages to bring into the home to the average viewer.
The show revolves around a Pawn Shop owned by the Harrison family. The shop was opened by Richard Harrison (“The Old Man”) and his son Rick Harrison (“The Appraiser”) back in 1988. The youngest Harrison, Corey (“Big Hoss”), is being trained by his father and grandfather to one day run the entire operation of the Pawn Shop.
Customers enter the shop with artifacts for pawning and interact with the staff is inevitable. Discussions and a lot of talk ensue; there is always much haggling over the prices as well as good old fashioned talk amongst all. These are punctured by knowledgeable narrations usually led by Rick and Corey on the historical value of the objects in question.
The charm of the TV show lies mainly on these deeply historical, yet extremely interesting historical narrations. Doubts regarding the authenticity of the object in question are settled by the wide variety of experts (on armory, handwriting, automobile restoration, early American history and on pretty much anything you can think of) called in by the shop. No wonder the show has completed more than 25 episodes and there is no end in sight.
As a pleasant diversion from the deeply historical thread of Pawn Stars, there is also much focus on the interpersonal conflicts between the Harrisons. Differences of opinion arise regarding the overall operation of the shop. Corey, being the youngest, often finds his management decisions questioned by his father and grandfather. An employee of the shop Austin “Chumlee” Russel, a friend of Corey’s, is also a major topic of conflict between the Harrisons. The obvious sentiments harbored by Chumlee for Danielle “Peaches” Rainey (another employee of the shop) is yet another entertaining diversion.
Both reviews and ratings of the show are very encouraging. Christopher Long of DVD Town finds the show “addictive.” He praises the cast and considers the educational value of the examined artifacts above par. He even goes as far as to describe Pawn Stars the best show on History Channel. April McIntyre, who writes for Monsters and Critics, disapproves of pawning and pawn shops in general. But she was the one who described Pawn Stars as a “cool Antiques Roadshow.” The Pawn Stars was awarded an awesome 8.9 out of 10 by TV.com (ranked by the votes of 30 viewers). Further, Common Sense Media (who provides program reviews for parents) found it to be suitable for viewing by children above 13.
Tags: consumer credit, History Channel, Las Vegas, Pawn Stars, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
From The T and D Dot Com:
By RICHARD WALKER, T&D Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
A quick-thinking Orangeburg businessman took an artillery shell off the streets that he says had enough explosives to destroy a house.
David Marshall, manager of Broughton Pawn Shop, notified police after a patron brought an artillery shell into the shop for identification.
“He said he had an artillery shell he’d found,” Marshall said. “He said he was at a construction site about two years ago and found it.”
The projectile was collected Friday by the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety and State Law Enforcement Division. It was taken to a police practice ground in the county and detonated.
“A friend in Elloree called and said he heard it,” Marshall said. “He said it was something.”
Marshall, a former Marine artillerist, said when the patron called him about the shell, he told the man to bring it in for identification.
“I wanted to get it off the streets,” he said. “I’m glad we got it in here.”
Marshall said the shell — which arrived in a five-gallon plastic bucket — turned out to be a 105 mm howitzer projectile bearing a proximity fuse, a device that detonates a projectile when built-in sensors have determined the intended target is near.
Described as about 1.5 feet tall and as big around as a grapefruit, the shell had the ability to destroy a house, Marshall said.
Considering the destructive potential of the round, a Ft. Jackson explosive ordnance disposal unit was asked to come to Orangeburg. However, it would have taken several hours before a team could be dispatched.
The device was then taken out by city and state officials and set off.
Marshall didn’t get a chance to ask where his patron found the shell. When it was identified, the man ran out of the store.
Marshall said some pretty unique things have been brought into the shop but none as unique as what arrived Friday.
“Never an artillery shell. Never,” he said. “Thank God it’s gone.”
T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.
Tags: Artillery Shell, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Times and Democrat
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
From Flash News Dot Com:
People Pawn The Weirdest Things
LONDON (Wireless Flash - FlashNews) – These days, people try to pawn the strangest things for quick cash.
Emma Pankhurst of UK-based online pawnbroker, borro.com, says a farmer recently tried to pawn his livestock in exchange for cash.
Borro had to turn down the offer since live sheep and cows can’t be easily kept in their storage facilities.
Bizarre items people have successfully pawned include a set of gold teeth, a platinum belly piercing bar, and a rowing singlet worn by Olympic athletes.
The most commonly pawned items are fancy watches. Pankhurst once heard of a man pawning his in order to fund a wild night out.
One lady pawned her jewelry to buy herself a plane ticket to meet her father for the first time in 40 years.
Pankhurst says many customers use pawn loans to pay for plastic surgery, divorce lawyers, or medical bills. Their services have come in especially handy amidst the economic crisis.
Tags: borro.com, consumer credit, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Here’s a fun and quick story from a Pawnbroker Hero in Canada
This was a first for me
——————————————————————————–
A lady came in with a bag full of dvds and in obvious pain.
She needed $30.00 for cab fair to the hospital. She was in labour.
I gave it to her … quickly.
__________________
Ralph Schweitzer
Grade A Computers and Pawns
Enderby, B.C., Canada
Tags: B.C., Canada, consumer credit, Enderby, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
From the Lafayette Journal Courior Online:
By AMANDA HAMON
ahamon@jconline.com
Walk into RamZ’s on Farabee Drive in Lafayette and you could walk out with $100 trillion.
In Zimbabwean money, that is.
Store owner Randy Ramsey said he recently bought 60 Zimbabwean $100 trillion notes — complete with colorful artwork — to add to the store’s wide collection of foreign and out-of-circulation currency.
The notes were available for purchase Tuesday, at $10 a bill.
“We had bought this as a novelty piece, and to show what inflation does,” said floor manager Chad Ramsey. “A hundred trillion is a really hard number to comprehend.”
The notes have been out of circulation in their African home country since June, Chad Ramsey said.
Before then, they were worth about 33 cents American.
In Zimbabwe, $100 trillion is about enough to buy three eggs, said sales associate Zach Briggs, who researched the currency.
The outrageous inflation suggested in that scenario makes the notes a lesson in economics, store workers said. Zimbabwe is home to one of the worst hyperinflation crises in the world thanks to an economy flushed with printed currency.
“It’s just flabbergasting to think of $100 trillion, but it could happen to any country if they continue to print money without anything to back it with,” Randy Ramsey said.
This is the first time Zimbabwean currency has been available at the store, which carries everything from jewelry to consumer electronics and more, Chad Ramsey said. The business bills itself as Lafayette’s oldest licensed pawn broker.
The Ramseys said they acquired the Zimbabwean notes from a Hoosier gold and silver supplier. They said they don’t know how the wholesaler came across the money.
The $100 trillion notes are the third version of that Zimbabwean denomination, the Ramseys said.
The country’s current $100 trillion bill was reprinted in June to eliminate some of its dizzying zeroes.
Randy Ramsey declined to say how much he paid for the $100 trillion bills, but he said the store already has sold a couple of the notes to customers.
So why sell something that was worth 33 cents for $10?
It’s based on the item’s novelty, how much the store paid for the notes and the fact that an out-of-state currency shop is selling them for $12, Randy Ramsey said.
The bills are sold individually and come with a plastic protector.
“We just like to have some cool stuff around here,” Briggs said. “People kind of have this fascination with having such a big bill.”
Tags: consumer credit, LaFayette IN, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, RamZ Exchange
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
From Mlive.com:
New truTV show ‘Hardcore Pawn’ features Detroit pawn shop American Jewelry and Loan
By Jessica Nunez | MLive.com
December 16, 2009, 8:42AM
American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit is the star of a new truTV show called ‘Hardcore Pawn.’ It airs on Monday at 11 p.m.Pawnshops: they’re there for you when you need money fast, or when you need a great deal on a big screen TV. Now one Detroit pawnshop is trying to hone in on a completely different business — entertainment.
Or reality television, to be more specific.
On Monday, the first two episodes of a show called “Hardcore Pawn” (which is either the worst or best TV show name of the year — it’s hard to decide which) will air on truTV.
The show will feature Detroit pawnshop American Jewelry and Loan and the crazy things it encounters on a daily basis, including customers who try to exchange things like alligators and prosthetic limbs in exchange for cash.
“We’re actually hoping [viewers] do like what they see,” owner Les Gold says in a Metro Times article. “I hope a lot of them tune in, to be honest with you. If you tune in on Monday, you’ll see some strange things come in.”
Metro Times, Dec. 16: (Les’ Son) Seth explains, “The reason why we agreed to do this wasn’t to become famous. It was to shed some light on what we do. Pawn shops have a negative stigma attached to them, and we opened up the door to show what we do so as to kind of take that —” “—to a legitimate, understandable level,” Les concludes.
The Golds’ pawn shop isn’t the first to be featured on a reality show.
A new History Channel show called ‘Pawn Stars’ (again, the porn pun … are we missing something?) also airs on Mondays, at 10 p.m.
This one follows the owners of Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, but Les Gold says the shows aren’t that similar.
“…The pawnbrokers of “Pawn Stores” deal in higher-end items, “Hardcore Pawn” would feature a more down-to-earth look at the industry,” Les says in a recent Crain’s Detroit Business article.
Only two episodes of “Hardcore Pawn” have been taped so far, but if the ratings are high enough, the show could be picked up on a regular basis.
Both episodes air on Monday, Dec. 21 at 11 and 11:30 p.m.
© 2009 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
Tags: consumer credit, Detroit, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Reality TV
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
From The Cypress Times:
Pawn Shops Team Up for Musical Instrument Gift Day today
Pawn shops in 17 states across the country are joining forces this holiday season to provide underprivileged children with hundreds of musical instruments. The National Pawnbrokers Association, who is sponsoring the event, has christened the effort Musical Instrument Gift Day, and the program is designed to put musical instruments into the hands of children who need them the most.
This effort is part of a larger program held in honor of St. Nicholas Day – Patron Saint of Pawnbroking - and National Pawnbrokers Day, December 6. Pawn shops across the country are organizing donation drives to supply badly needed musical instruments to local charity organizations and schools who, due to drastic budget cuts in state education funds, can’t supply enough instruments to form a small band. For more information on this effort, visit www.GiftDay.org.
Pawn shops traditionally have a history of donating musical instruments and awarding scholarships to support the young members of their communities. On December 1, Georgia’s Governor Sonny Perdue met with pawnbrokers from around the state to take part in the National Pawnbrokers Association’s Musical Instrument Gift Day. At least 8 Georgia pawn shop owners pledged over 70 instruments to donate to the Charles R. Drew Charter School, located in a troubled suburb of Atlanta.
Studies show the importance of music education in the development of a child’s mind. According to the College Entrance Examination Board, students in music appreciation score 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math when they take the SAT. David Crume, President of the National Pawnbrokers Association, stresses the importance of reaching out to the community to support education. “It’s feels great to know that while state education boards are slashing budgets, we can still make a difference.”
The NPA is experiencing an enthusiastic reception from members in Enterprise and across the country. Pawn store owners from as far as Canada are stepping forward to support this cause. Says Crume, “This is going to change a lot of lives for the better.”
Tags: National Pawnbrokers Association, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Santa Claus
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
From: TheSun.co.uk
By LEE CAIN
THE mega-rich are feeling the credit crunch pinch — pawning designer watches, super cars and even an aeroplane to survive the recession.
Pawnbroker Paul Aitken, 37, revealed he has been offered the amazing haul of goodies by hard-up bankers, premiership footie stars and desperate property developers.
He has currently collected six Rolex watches, two Ferraris, a Porsche — and the aeroplane — after they were traded in for cash.
Both Ferraris — F430 F1 paddle-shift models worth a total of £270,000 — were pawned by bankers who lost their jobs.
Crisis
The £75,000 175mph Porsche 911 Carrera 4S was traded in by a property developer whose assets crashed, leaving him desperate for capital.
While Mr Aitken acquired the aeroplane, a French-built two-seater Cap 10 aerobatic stunt plane worth £100,000, four months ago when its owner fell on hard times.
The Rolex watches are among more than 1,000 designer timepieces, worth a total of £1million, which have been used as deposit for pawn loans.
Among them are a Breitling Crosswind diamond set worth £3,000, a £33,000 Lange & Sohne Flyback Datograph gents wristwatch in 18ct rose gold, and a £20,000 Patek Philippe 18ct gold gents wristwatch.
Mr Aitken, managing director of online pawnbrokers www.borro.com, said: “We’ve seen the biggest economic crisis hit this country for years, and everyone is feeling the disastrous effects.
“When someone rang us asking to pawn his Ferrari we thought he was joking.
“This really shows how hard the recession has hit people - even those who are well-off have had to adjust their standard of living.
“Last week a newly married man gave us his Rolex watch his wife bought him as a wedding present.
“But he isn’t alone, as many wealthy businessmen are having to take extreme measures once they’ve realised they aren’t able to maintain their lavish lifestyles.
“And that might mean giving up the keys of their Ferrari, Porsche or plane for some much-needed cash.”
Tags: borro.com, consumer credit, Credit Crunch, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Something new from the National Pawnbrokers Association of the US:
PAWN-TV
Tags: consumer credit, Pawn Loans, PAWN-TV, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Shop Stories | No Comments »
|
|
|
