Archive for the ‘Pawn Shop Stories’ Category
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
From FW Daily News Dot Com
By Dennis Nartker
KENDALLVILLE — With the proliferation of reality TV shows like the History Channel’s “Pawn Stars,” pawn shops owners are seeing an increase in customer interest.
When there’s an economic downtown and people out of work, pawn shops are also busy.
“Our business has been steady, but tax time and Christmas are the busiest times of the year,” commented Kendallville Pawn Shop manager Ken Gohn. The shop at 211 N. Main St. has been open for about 10 years. “People need money to live on and they have items they want to pawn but not sell.”
Holly Boyd, owner of Money Source, Inc., a pawn shop at 635 N. Wayne St. in Angola, said she’s seen an increase in people coming into her shop to see what items are for sale as a result of the popularity of the TV show.
How it works
Pawn shops operate much like the Harrison family’s Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas featured on “Pawn Stars.” Pawnbrokers offer secured loans to customers with personal property used as collateral. Pawnbrokers make their money from the interest they charge for the loans every 30 days. If the customer doesn’t return to claim a pawned item within 90 days, then it becomes the pawnbroker’s to sell. “We much prefer people come back and pick up their stuff,” said Boyd. “We have to fix it, if it needs fixing, and market it and display it to sell it.”
Entering the Kendallville Pawn Shop is like entering any retail store with various items arranged on shelves and in display cabinets. Most of the items for sale are used and either pawned by customers who failed to return for them in the specified time period or sold them to the pawn shop.
“Our most popular items pawned are jewelry, electronics, video games, power tools, musical instruments, sports equipment,” said Gohn. Boyd said she doesn’t loan money on “junk,” but she will consider a pawn on just about anything.
Pawnbrokers will also purchase items. If it’s used, the Kendallville Pawn Shop takes 40 percent off the top because its used, said Gohn.
Boyd’s shop is located in a former McDonald’s Restaurant building that has big windows and a display area that was the restaurant’s play area for kids. “We have a lot of stuff for sale,” she said.
Pawnbrokers assess an item for its condition and saleability by testing the item and examining it for flaws, scratches or damage. An electrical item is more saleability if it works. A customer may offer an item to pawn that is difficult to sell, and the pawnbroker will probably turn it down or offer a very low price. A surfboard is not easy to sell in Kendallville, for example.
They must also consider supply and demand for an item’s saleability. He may have too many car stereos and the market is saturated so he will only accept higher quality stereos.
Gohn and Boyd must also factor in his overhead costs such as staff costs, insurance, utilities. They must take into account all the risk factors and costs. If the customer fails to return for a pawned item, the pawnbroker must sell it and make a profit. If a customer brings a 42-inch TV set he purchased new for $1,000 to a pawnbroker, he may only get a $100 or $200 loan.
Gohn admitted he must be knowledgeable about the markets for the items he accepts, and make use of catalogues, guidebooks and the Internet sometimes when assessing value. He must also be a “people person” so he can determine the likelihood a customer will pay the interest and return to reclaim the item. “I’ve got one lady who’s probably pawned hundreds of items. She’s always come back to collect her items,” he said.
By Indiana law pawnbrokers must keep records of their customers and transactions. Pawnbrokers must be licensed and must keep sales records for two years which include the bill of sale, description of item and the seller. “We’re audited by the state,” said Gohn.
The Kendallville Pawn Shop requires a signature, right thumb print and photo of its customers. This helps in cases of stolen items. Pawnbrokers assume the risk of accepting stolen items so records of customers and transactions are essential. This will allow police to track down stolen items and help identify suspects.
Gohn related the time an 18-year-old boy came into the shop with two fishing poles and reels worth $250 each. Gohn bought the items, and the next day the same boy came into the shop with four more high quality rods and reels. “I remembered reading in the paper about $2,000 worth of fishing equipment stolen in a burglary and I called the police,” said Gohn. Police used the shop’s records to locate the suspect. The fishing gear was returned to the owner, and the shop got its money back from the court-ordered restitution.
When asked about usual items people have pawned, Gohn said his shop has accepted motorcycles, four-wheelers, automobiles even a motorhome.“I had one guy come in with 20 pounds of dog food he wanted me to buy,” Gohn laughed.
Boyd has a license to buy and sell guns. Shotguns and rifles can be pawned but not handguns. “I can tell when it’s hunting season because customers with shotguns and rifles on pawn come in to get them,” she said. “I had 20 bows on pawn, and when bow hunting season came around, all the customers came and got them.”
Tags: Angola IN, consumer credit, Kendallville IN, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
From Triangle Dot Dbusinessnews Dot Com
Bob Moulton named 2011 National Pawnbroker of the Year by the National Pawnbrokers Association…
Bob Moulton, owner of National Pawn, was named the 2011 National Pawnbroker of the Year by the National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) on June 15, 2011 during the organization’s annual convention. Moulton’s clean, bright business model and his generous contributions to the community were cited in the presentation of the honor. Last year the title holder was Rick Harrison, of “Pawn Stars,” fame.
“I am proud to be a pawnbroker, and I am very proud to receive this recognition from the national association of my peers,” said Moulton. “I have made it a priority to improve the image of the pawn industry one customer at a time.”
“Bob Moulton is a fine example of a modern, professional businessman in an industry that suffers from an outdated image. Bob has built a fine reputation on providing service and values to his customers, and is a leading innovator in the nation for changing the face of the pawn business” said Dave Crume, President of the National Pawnbrokers Association. ”We are proud to have him as a member, and we are very pleased to award him the much deserved honor of the 2011 Pawnbroker of the Year.”
In addition to operating eight National Pawn stores in Raleigh, Durham and Wilmington, Moulton believes in giving back to the communities where he does business. He gives generously, and funds many philanthropic efforts from providing cash donations and electronic entertainment devices to Duke Children’s Hospital, to endowing annual scholarships for Triangle students and providing musical instruments to area middle school band programs.
About National Pawn
National Pawn (www.PawnDeals.com) has been serving customers since 1987. With eight stores throughout the Triangle and Wilmington, National Pawn is an industry leader. The company has grown thanks to the tens of thousands of satisfied customers. The professionals at National Pawn pride themselves on offering exemplary customer service.
Tags: Bob Moulton, National Pawn, National Pawnbrokers Association, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Monday, June 6th, 2011
From NY Times Dot Com
A Real Economic Meltdown
By ROBIN ROMM
Portland, Ore.
JOSH OLLER sits me down in the conference room of Silver Lining, a pawn shop in northeastern Portland. It’s a Monday and only 10 a.m., but already three lines are forming at the loan windows. At the front, a woman in a colorful windbreaker and hot pink pants leans on her elbows on the counter. A man in a long black trench coat waits patiently behind her with a guitar.
Mr. Oller runs Silver Lining with his father, Earl. While we talk, a painting of Earl, made to look like Elvis, watches us from its black velvet canvas. The son has a sedate manner, his calm blue eyes set off by a faded navy polo shirt.
He didn’t think he’d go into pawning. He aspired to a career in federal law enforcement. But after he graduated from college, a longing to remain in Oregon, near family and forests, made him reconsider. “It’s a good business,” he says. “Every day is different. You never know what’s going to come through the door.”
The economic downturn has, according to Mr. Oller, brought more middle-class customers to the loan windows. But the real change in pawning has to do with the skyrocketing price of gold. With gold at $1,500 an ounce, pawnshops are making easy profits by buying gold jewelry and selling it to refineries. For sellers, those gold cufflinks languishing in a jewelry box might now cover several weeks’ worth of groceries.
Even gold dust has become worth pursuing. Inspired by stories he’d heard of people boiling the carpets in old jewelry manufacturing buildings to recover remnants of precious metals, Mr. Oller installed a special sewage filtration system in his shop. Now, after employees work with jewelry, they can wash their hands — those tricky crevasses in the knuckles and under their nails — without throwing money, literally, down the drain. Silver Lining’s sewage sludge is collected, dried, baked and burned. “It’s gross,” he admits. But from hand-washing water, he said, the shop collected about $1,000 last year.
Mr. Oller takes me on a tour of the store, including its maze of storage rooms filled with the traditional pawn loot: electronics and guns. But I have a passion for old junk and we both perk up in a low-ceilinged room holding objects that defy categorization.
“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to a small turquoise trunk. It holds a ventriloquist’s dummy. I desperately want to look at it, but Mr. Oller has moved on to a 100-year-old bottle of Kentucky whiskey. “How much did you loan for that?” I ask.
“Probably 50 bucks,” he says. And then there are the items for which it’s nearly impossible to name a price, like the miniature but functional cannon made out of brass.
When we finish the tour, I find myself drawn to the jewelry cases. It’s hard not to imagine the sad stories behind the diamond rings sitting there — love soured, jobs lost. But I steel myself to see if there’s any gold vintage jewelry, the kind I wear and love. The absence of this — of any gold jewelry — is notable.
Most days I wear a gold Victorian lion pendant that my boyfriend got for me when I sold my first book. I’d long admired it in the window of an estate jewelry store in Berkeley, Calif., where I was living at the time. The impeccably made lion holds a little diamond shard in his fierce mouth. His eyes shine with ruby beads. His whiskers grow from tiny specks beneath his perfectly carved nostrils. I love to think about where he came from, and whom he will belong to after I’m gone. I hate to think — in fact, can’t bring myself to think — of his horrible end if I pawned him. Straight to the scrapper, he’d go.
When I say the fate of all the gold jewelry seems sad, Mr. Oller shrugs. “Gold’s just a commodity, like grain,” he says.
From a pawnbroker’s perspective, this outlook makes sense. Regular customers can no longer afford gold jewelry, and so pawnbrokers stand to make more selling it all to refineries. But I think of my grandmother’s filigreed earrings and my lion pendant, both antique pieces made with great care, now part of my own history. I imagine these objects melted into bars and sold on the open market — to China, to Russia. It’s unsettling.
For a while I wonder whether I can set up a little booth in front of the pawnshop and convince people to sell their antique jewelry to me instead, to save it from its fiery end. But this would probably be illegal, financially suspect … maybe even insane. I settle on hoping that some people, despite this extended recession, can afford to keep their heirloom earrings and cufflinks, medallions and lockets — those little pieces of our human history, sentimental and unrefined.
Robin Romm is the author of “The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks.”
Tags: consumer credit, Gold Prices, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Portland OR, Robin Romm, Silver Lining Pawn
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Friday, May 20th, 2011
From Fox News Dot Com
‘Pawn’ Star Says Tough Credit Helping Pawn Industry
By Hollie McKay
Published May 19, 2011 | FoxNews.com
People love a good bargain, and shows about good bargains.
Audiences can’t get enough of History’s reality series “Pawn Stars,” which details the modern day madness behind one the world’s most ancient forms of trade.
“I always wanted to be a pawn broker because I always bought and sold stuff,” Rick Harrison, owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, and star of the leading cable series told FOX411’s Pop Tarts. “(And I’m proud) that it is a good family show. I hear from moms all the time that it is the only show their whole family can watch together.”
But being family-friendly does require some slight modifications.
“The most bizarre thing I ever got was some really, really erotic art – it was about 250 years old from Japan,” he said. “I bought it because there is a market for it, but it’s a pretty difficult sell because it’s not like I’m going to display it in my store as my mom comes in and she really wouldn’t approve!”
But now that Harrison is a household name in many American homes, others are trying to use his business dealings to strike up their own fifteen minutes of fame.
“My biggest pet peeve is when people come in but don’t really want to sell anything; they just want to get on camera. It happens a few times a week,” he said. “We chat and I end up saying, ‘this item is really cool, I would love to film with it,’ and they’ll say, ‘well, I don’t want to sell it. I just want to be on TV.’ It gets really annoying, I tell them that’s not cool, and they won’t be on TV now.”
Time wasters aside, television exposure certainly has its upside.
The star pawnbroker told us that the store has now become quite the Sin City tourist attraction, bringing in a few thousand customers on a daily basis. Moreover, Harrison is also using his far-reaching platform to debunk the many negative connotations that have come to surround pawn shops over the past few decades.
“It’s an odd business, but for some reason if you see something on television about a bad pawn broker, everyone thinks all pawn brokers are bad. We’ve been vilified by Hollywood,” he said. “But back in the 1950’s, pawn shops were the number one form of consumer credit in the United States.”
But as a result of America’s weakened economy over recent times, the pawn industry is steadily becoming stronger.
“Congress has passed a few laws that have been making it harder for people to get credit, so it is making people come back to pawn shops, which is pretty good for me,” he enthused. “But my pawn shop is a lot different to most you’ll see. Not every pawn shop has Picassos on the wall.”
The popularity of “Pawn Stars” and the concept of showing Americans that old trash can be turned into treasure has since paved the way for a new History channel spin-off, “American Restoration,” in which Rick Dale of Rick’s Restorations in Vegas turns customers beloved and oddball artifacts into collectibles that look like new.
“People are passionate about this not only because of the economy but because they want something that makes them happy, a little boost, and by restoring their memory or family history I can do that,” Dale told us. “People want to restore things because they want to remember themselves.”
Furthermore, Dale – who is called on by a slew of stars including Christian Slater and Dick Clark to revive their goods – is trying to encourage viewers to buy U.S.-made products.
“We need to build America back up and I want to do it one piece at a time,” Dale said. “You can see how these old products last through and through, and what you’re buying today that isn’t built here in the U.S. is poorly made.”
Having brought back to life everything from beer machines and bicycles, to 1950’s diners and go-karts, Dale has discovered at least one key tool he now couldn’t live without.
“Nail polish remover,” he added. “It strips paint. It’s funny because in construction you use acetone to take paint off walls… so it is probably not good for your skin.”
“Pawn Stars” airs Mondays at 10/9c, and “American Restoration” airs Fridays at 10/9c
Deidre Behar contributed to this report .
Tags: consumer credit, Las Vegas, Pawn Loans, Pawn Stars, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
From Smart Money Dot Com
With more middle-class borrowers looking for cash, pawnbrokers are cleaning up their image.
By ANNE KADET
When Jim De Lisa’s chain of six furniture stores went belly-up midrecession, the New Jersey father of five found himself in a fix. He was suddenly unemployed and broke, and his credit score, he says, was “in the crapper.” Pushed to the edge by looming house and car payments, he did the unthinkable: He pawned his wife’s $18,000 engagement ring. But no one ever saw him visit the pawnshop De Lisa hocked the 1.7-karat stunner over the Internet.
Is no industry immune to the inexorable forces of technology and gentrification? These days, even the pawn business is going upscale. Pawn merchants say the recessionary credit crunch is bringing in more middle-class clients along with small businesses seeking short-term loans to meet payroll. Jordan Tabach-Bank, CEO of Beverly Loan Co. in Beverly Hills (“Pawnshop to the Stars”), says he’s seen a flood of doctors, lawyers and accountants hocking valuables to keep their kids in private school. There’s a pawn store reality show airing on the History Channel and an iPhone app to help high-tech indigents locate the nearest pawnbroker. If the trend continues, hocking the family jewels may become as mainstream as applying for a credit card.
While pawnshops still charge eye-popping interest rates (up to 25 percent in some states), the once shady industry is rapidly going Disney. Pawn consultant Steve Krupnik says the sector’s three publicly traded chains took cues from traditional retailers, deploying clean-cut employees, suburban locations and efficient technology. “They’ve forced the marginal operators to clean up,” he adds.
Some of the nation’s 13,000 pawnshops lure the (formerly) affluent with private appointments and house visits. In New York, EZ Pawn, an eight-store chain, is placing ads in local magazines. Pawn magnate Craig McCall, whose 13 Oregon and Arizona locations are in traditional shopping centers (two are in former Hollywood Video stores), decorates some shops with wainscoting and leather chairs at the loan desk: “There’s no bars anywhere!” He even tried dressing his associates in shirts and ties, but they got too grubby lugging pawned lawn mowers and power tools. He settled for red polo shirts and khakis.
Perhaps the most intriguing new model is Jim De Lisa’s lender: Pawngo.com, an online pawnbroker backed by $3.8 million in venture capital. Clients get an online estimate, FedEx their valuables to the company’s Centennial, Colo., office park vault (Pawngo pays the shipping and insurance), and get a loan wired to their bank account within 24 hours. CEO Todd Hills says most of his clients wouldn’t dream of frequenting a pawnshop they’re hocking Cartier watches, Louis Vuitton bags, even a Picasso. His typical loan runs about $1,700, 17 times the $100 pawn-industry average.
The upside: Like all pawn loans, Pawngo transactions are never reported to the credit bureaus. If you default, all you’ve got to lose is your dearly departed mother’s wedding ring. But the price for discretion is stiff; Pawngo’s annual percentage rates range from 48 to 84 percent, depending on loan size. De Lisa says he paid more than $4,000 in interest on his 15-month loan worth less than $8,000. At least he’s getting the ring back in time for his sixth wedding anniversary. And the experience has him considering new options: “I should open my own pawnshop!”
Tags: Beverly Loan Co, consumer credit, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, Pawngo.com, pawnshop, Smart Money
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Monday, May 9th, 2011
From Hampton Roads Dot Com
By Joanne Kimberlin
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 8, 2011
When word came last week that Osama bin Laden was dead, a crowd gathered at Lynnhaven Pawn Shop.
Why? Gold prices spiked briefly after the world’s most-wanted terrorist was killed.
Propelled by economic uncertainty, the precious metal shot up $50 an ounce, prompting folks who keep an eye on such things to scour their jewelry and deposit boxes.
“When I saw the news on TV Monday morning, I knew we’d be busy,” said Nathan Segal, who opened Lynnhaven Pawn nearly 30 years ago. “When I got to work, people were lined up outside ready to sell.”
Pawn shops find themselves at the intersection of a surprising range of events. The bin Laden rush, which lasted until gold prices fell that afternoon, had global fuel. Other runs are the product of much more personal concerns.
Consider the calendar. Easter. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Or even today, Mother’s Day. Segal can track them all with a look inside his vaults.
“We’re at our emptiest just before holidays,” he said. “People come in and pay the loan on Grandma’s china because family is coming to dinner and they don’t want to be embarrassed. Then the next week, they bring it all back.”
Fact is, the business isn’t nearly as wild as it looks on TV, where shows like “Pawn Stars” – the History Channel’s hit series – portray a stream of colorful characters and rare finds.
In real life?
Not so much.
The majority of people who walk in Segal’s door just want to borrow a few bucks on collateral that tilts toward the mundane – a necklace, a bag of golf clubs, a set of silver flatware.
“The real business isn’t something you’d want to watch on TV,” he said.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing of interest. Segal poked through a tray of jewelry, coins and other keepsakes people had recently brought in to sell.
“Everything here has a story,” he said.
Take the solid gold police badge from New York City, engraved “From your friends – 1970.” Or the massive rings that marked an athlete’s glory days – a Tar Heels bowl game, an Admirals’ championship. Or the small gold band inscribed for an even more momentous occasion: “To love, cherish and obey.”
“Apparently, not anymore,” Segal said with a shrug and a grin.
Divorce. Death. Unemployment. Moving on. Pawn shops are a witness to life’s crossroads, and a barometer of the times.
For example, Segal has noticed a boom in customers who can only speak Spanish, evidence of more immigrants in Hampton Roads. He can gauge the job market by the amount of flat screens, power tools, laptops and guitars awaiting redemption in his storage rooms. He can assess the economy by the number of loans he’s floating – currently around 6,000, which is fewer than two years ago when times were really tight.
And, every now and then, someone does show up with a curiosity that could make the cut on “Pawn Stars.”
Segal reached deep into one of his many safes to retrieve a mysterious lump. Fifteen years ago, it served as collateral for $600 borrowed. Segal says 90 percent of his customers repay their loans, but those who don’t – like the lump’s owner – forfeit their merchandise.
Most items are resold in the shop, but not the lump. Segal peeled back its wrappings to expose the grayish ridges of a giant tooth – a fossil from a woolly mammoth that lived tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of years ago.
“Things like this,” he said, “I just have to keep for myself.”
Segal comes from a line of pawnbrokers, the family behind Littman’s, operating in downtown Norfolk since 1892. And while it’s not well known, America owes a lot to this ancient profession. Legend says Queen Isabella of Spain hocked her jewels to bankroll the explorations of Christopher Columbus. As late as the 1950s, pawning was America’s most common form of consumer credit.
But what was once a reputable industry slid into seediness over the past few decades, rife with shady players and stolen goods.
Now, better oversight is helping to polish the trade’s image. Shows like Pawn Stars are dispelling its taboo, or at least fading it.
“I discovered this place about a year ago,” said Dawn, a customer in Segal’s shop who didn’t want her last name in this story. “Women used to never go inside a pawn shop.”
Dawn said Segal’s small showroom – clean and well-lit – made her feel more at ease. And besides, her family needs help.
“My husband is in the ministry and I’m in real estate,” she said. “With the economy the way it is, we’re living from bill to bill. We have our college rings here – for the second time.”
State law caps pawn shop interest at 5 percent per month, a rate that can add up, especially when combined with the 5 percent monthly storage fee commonly charged for holding collateral.
“This is intended to be a short-term loan,” Segal said.
It doesn’t always work out that way. Customers can keep a loan alive indefinitely as long as they pay the interest and storage fee. Pieces of jewelry have been left with Segal for 10 years. One loan has been out for 20.
“They’ve paid more than the jewelry is worth,” he said. “But they’re OK with it. They’re using us like a storage place.”
That security appeals to military members, who often pawn personal firearms before deployments. Others pawn because they can’t qualify for bank loans, or they don’t want family or friends to know they’re short on money, or they like the fact that only their collateral is at stake if they can’t pay back what they borrowed.
The average loan at Lynnhaven Pawn is only around $200, but Segal has handed over as much as $50,000. One of his largest loans was on a set of 1933 baseball cards featuring Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. A leather belt from the Holocaust era rated a similar loan; 40 gold coins from Nazi Germany were sewn inside its secret compartment.
Segal turns to experts – often with the Chrysler Museum – to authenticate items like that.
“Everybody has Adolf Hitler’s dagger, bought off eBay,” he said. “They’re very disappointed to find out it’s not the real thing.”
Stolen goods are always a concern, one reason Virginia Beach, like many cities, restricts the number of pawn shops within its boundaries. Only 15 are allowed – a ceiling that’s always maxed out – and pawnbrokers need a license approved by a circuit court.
Transactions are logged into a computer and emailed daily to police, including a detailed description of the merchandise and the ID and Social Security number of the person who brought it in. Most police departments have a pawn unit that checks the log against a list of items reported missing in the area.
Nowadays, according to the National Pawnbrokers Association, less than 1 percent of pawned goods are identified as stolen.
“Real criminals know better than to come here,” said Segal, who makes it a practice to collect a photo and thumbprint from every seller as well.
When trouble does turn up at his place, it’s usually the domestic kind: Teens who filch from mom’s jewelry box; couples who split and try to sell each other’s stuff; battered spouses – women and men – desperate to raise some cash to get away.
“They come in with black eyes and busted lips,” he said. “We keep a list of shelters we refer them to.”
Unlike on TV, there isn’t much haggling. The final price doesn’t drift far from the initial offer.
“We have to make money, too,” said Willie Showell, Segal’s assistant manager, “and if something winds up sitting in the back for months, it can be worth even less when it comes out.”
Electronics become outdated particularly fast, one reason pawn shops are only interested in the latest gadgets. Solid loans are the ones made on collateral that grows more valuable with age.
Jewelry and firearms are stored inside separate vaults, watched over by an electronic field that triggers an alarm when disturbed. Segal figures he’s invested close to $50,000 in anti-theft systems. Walls are reinforced. Ceilings are wired. He says he’s the only pawn shop in the area outfitted with a system that sprays tear gas when it detects body heat or shifts in air movement or pressure.
A vibration detector guards valuables inside the “fragile vault” – a small storage room crammed with Lladro and Hummel figurines, silverware and candlesticks, autographed baseballs, antique decoys, ship models and swords, expensive artwork and Lionel trains. Someone borrowed against a platinum record awarded to the Molly Hatchet band. Another loan is secured by a law brief written and signed by Abraham Lincoln.
Discretion is part of the profession. Regular customers of Segal’s often look the other way when they see him in public.
“They don’t want to have to explain anything to their spouse,” he said. “I guess it’s sort of like being a priest. Everything is private.”
As for “Pawn Stars,” Segal has seen the show but rarely tunes in. Too much footage is devoted to the deal.
“It’s not really like that,” he said. “One customer just went through five or six tissues just trying to talk to us. You don’t see that on TV.”
Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com
Tags: consumer credit, Gold Prices, Hampton Roads, Lynnhaven Pawn Shop, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
From ESPN The Magazine
By Shaun Assael
When athletes can’t keep up with their luxe lifestyle, they know where to go for a loan.
This story appears in the May 2, 2011 issue of ESPN The Magazine.
BROCK WILLIAMS ISN’T HAPPY to hear from me.
I’ve tracked down the obscure former Patriots cornerback to ask about the Super Bowl XXXVI ring he pawned a decade ago for $2,600. “Ah, man, that was a bad time,” he says over the phone, letting the space between his words linger. “I’m just trying to put that all behind me.”
Unfortunately for Williams, that’s hard to do when America sees your ring every week in the opening montage of the hit TV show Pawn Stars, harder still when celebrity pawnbroker Rick Harrison brags about being the guy who has it. Gold, cars, Rolexes … yawn. But a Super Bowl ring? “You want the thing a guy worked his whole life to get,” says Harrison.
His Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas is a window onto our times, with Harrison the appraiser of our excess. Desperate people populate his tales, many of them jocks. There was the time in 1999, for instance, when IBF super featherweight champ Diego Corrales, who was reckless in the ring and with his money, traded in his title belt. “I think I gave him $1,500 and sold it five months later for $3,000,” Harrison says. In another sad case, long jumper Joe Greene ventured into Harrison’s store in 2003 with the bronze medal he’d won at the Atlanta Olympics seven years earlier. “I think it’s all he had left,” says Harrison.
The guy’s got a million stories. And he’s not the only one. For every champ who needs a quick fix for that untenable monthly nut, there’s a pawnbroker ready to make his ring ka-ching. “Athletes are perfect customers because they’re collateral rich but cash poor,” says Steve Krupnik, a former broker and author of Pawnonomics.
For your basic overextended athlete, pawnshops do what conventional banks won’t. Good luck finding a neighborhood loan agent willing to dole out 10 grand for those new rims you can’t afford because you fell short of your incentive bonus. Or maybe you need some off-the-radar money for that off-the-radar honey. Whatever. Pawnbrokers don’t ask questions. More important, they don’t answer to the financial industry. “Pawned loans aren’t reported to credit agencies, so they don’t affect personal credit ratings,” says Krupnik. That matters to an athlete who’s a mortgage payment down on his mansion and can’t afford another financial red flag.
Williams’ mistake wasn’t that he off-loaded an iconic object; it’s that he did it at the most public pawnshop in America. If he’d gone to the Beverly Loan Company in Beverly Hills, for example, he’d have met Jordan Tabach-Bank standing beside artwork by Picasso and assuring well-heeled customers that he “deals in discretion.” Tabach-Bank has seen rings pawned to pay for a kid’s private school tuition, for a wife’s plastic surgery and for a nursing home for Mom. “I don’t ask why people want to pawn things,” he says, “but nine times out of 10 they tell me.”
Last year, an NFL lineman walked in with a Super Bowl ring and a story that’s typical pawn math: bad investments plus impending divorce. “I worked my ass off for this ring,” he said to Tabach-Bank. “I don’t want to see it go.” Recently, though, the lineman stopped making interest payments on the $12,000 loan, putting him in default. Still, Tabach-Bank can’t bear to sell the ring. He’s keeping it in a vault instead of the showroom. “I can only imagine how many hours of practice it took to get it,” he says. “I really want to work with him.”
ACCORDING TO an informal survey of pawnbrokers, the overwhelming majority of athletes make their payments and get back their merchandise. But rules are rules, and when a pawnbroker’s patience wears out, collateral is converted back to cash. Sometimes items end up on eBay. That’s where Krupnik went when a Nebraska football reserve named Joe Horst neglected to reclaim the 1995 national championship ring he pawned for $400 in 2003. A day before the auction ended, Horst showed up at Krupnik’s store in South Bend, Ind., begging to buy back the ring. “I said he’d have to win it,” Krupnik says. After Horst bid wildly, the pawnbroker revealed a softer side: “At the end of the day, I took what he owed, maybe $600.”
Tim Robins, a former TV producer who runs championship-rings.net in Nashville, offers a more intricate cautionary tale. A Giants player recently sold his 2007 Super Bowl ring to a local jeweler, who in turn sold it to a local judge. When the judge called Robins to discern the ring’s worth, he was floored by the bargain he’d got, prompting him to sell it to another middleman, who funneled it to an auction house. A Giants executive saw it displayed online, resulting in one red-faced player, but neither Robins nor a team spokesman, who had heard the story, knows what happened to the ring. If the player did buy it back, it cost him upward of $50,000, roughly four times its original price.
Robins isn’t a pawnbroker. He just buys from them, then resells the merchandise on his website. Clients: Other middlemen and obsessive fans. Recently, a 10-year-old boy drew national attention for spending $8,500 of his college fund on William Perry’s Super Bowl XX ring so he could return it to The Fridge. But most transactions are far less heartwarming. So Robins doesn’t even reveal the names etched into the rings he offers, like the 14-karat gold band from Super Bowl XXXII he’s selling for $29,995. Only serious, vetted buyers get that information.
Don Budd, another keeper of industry secrets, estimates that he has 100 athletes as regular clients at Central Pawn Shop, which he runs out of an old bank building on the Kansas-Missouri border. If one of their rings ends up on the business end of a bad loan, he quietly contacts the team that issued it. “I’ve called Al Davis, and he’s bought back rings for players,” says Budd. “It’s an emotional thing, so I try to keep it in the family.”
Because there’s no blue book, valuing rings is more art than science. But there are a few accepted truths. Today’s rings are worth more because the diamonds are smoother. A front office exec’s scaled-down Super Bowl ring can be worth half as much as a player’s. And teams have distinct reputations: the bands of the 1970s A’s, for example, aren’t highly valued because their penny-pinching owner, Charlie Finley, sanctioned only cheap materials. Anything Patriots, on the other hand, goes up-up-up.
Still, as Budd notes, “It’s not what the ring’s worth. It’s what the player needs. I had a guy who pawned his Super Bowl ring because his old teammates were coming to town and he wanted a couple of grand to show them a good time.”
Krupnik remembers a NASCAR champ who walked into his place in Indiana talking about losing his wallet. “He was on his way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he was in a pinch,” Krupnik says. “He took off his Winston Cup ring and asked, ‘How much can I get for this?’ I lent him $4,000; I’d have done more, but it’s all he needed. He sent me a check with interest two weeks later, and I sent him back his ring. It happens every day.”
Krupnik won’t reveal who the star was. The pawnbrokers’ code, after all, is, what goes on in the shop stays in the shop. I e-mail NASCAR legend Darryl Waltrip on a lark to see if the story happens to be about him. “I don’t remember it,” he says. “But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. Go ahead and use it.”
And therein lies a central truth of pawnshops. For some, there’s no shame in patronizing a place in which the proprietor sits behind bars to protect himself from the clientele. But say you’re a former baseball bad boy who’s gone on to a career in finance and you’re caught pawning your most cherished mementos? In 2009, a Japanese film crew put a camera in a Beverly Hills pawnshop and recorded Lenny Dykstra pawning the 1986 World Series ring he won with the Mets. “A lot of pawnshops are in neighborhoods celebrities don’t want to be seen in,” says Todd Hills, the proprietor of internetpawn.com. “We offer the ultimate in discretion.”
Hills, who maintains a 2,500-square-foot office near a private airstrip in Denver, has been offered Gulfstream jets and mansions by athletes whose high-flying days are suddenly behind them. He says agents usually initiate the contact, saying, “My client needs $10,000 to $50,000, quickly. How does this work?”
As Hills recently explained to the agent of a 10-year NFL vet who’d landed on the unemployment line, he lends 50 percent of an item’s market value and charges 4 percent interest per month. (The industry term is “option charge,” and Florida allows the nation’s highest, at 25 percent.) In this case, the player mailed Hills a watch he bought for $90,000 and a six-carat princess-cut diamond ring right off his wife’s finger. Hills assessed their market value at roughly a third of the cost, $60,000, and the player got a check for half that, with a bill for $1,200 in monthly interest payments.
That’s hard-core pawn. And it’s not just jocks who grab for their stones when the gravy train crashes; their entourages do too. Recently, several guys clad in hoodies walked into Philly’s venerable Carver W. Reed Co. (est. 1860), with enough jewelry to outfit the Oscars: flashy earrings, gold necklaces and a 50-carat diamond cross so big that owner Tod Gordon was thrown. “It was almost too gaudy to sell,” he says.
What caught Gordon’s eye, though, were the matching tattoos on the men’s necks. A lifelong Philly fan, he believed the design matched a tat sported by a local celebrity athlete whose money woes were making news. “I’m pretty sure they were there because it was the end of the line,” he says.
Most states require pawnbrokers to file police reports to make sure items haven’t been stolen, which is how former Dodger Jim Campanis got back a Rolex swiped from his golf bag last fall. A detective working the case in La Verne, Calif., thumbing through a stack of pawnshop reports, came across a watch that fit the description. It was sold to a broker nearby.
But the happy ending came with a price. After a 90-day police hold on the item, Campanis had to buy back his timepiece. “In cases like this, the pawnshop is a victim, too,” says detective Michael Scranton. Campanis, son of the late Dodgers exec Al Campanis, was luckier with the 1988 World Series ring also lifted that day. Scranton recovered it in a search of the thief’s home. “Sometimes things work out,” he says.
And sometimes they don’t. Krupnik, who’s now an industry consultant, knows an NFL draft pick who pawned a ring from a big college bowl game because he was injured in the second half. “Take it,” the kid said. “It’s bad karma for me.”
Shaun Assael is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.
Tags: Carver W Reed, consumer credit, ESPN The Magazine, Internet Pawn, Pawn Loans, Pawn Stars, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Steve Krupnik
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Thursday, April 14th, 2011
From 10TV Dot Com
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus homeless man who became an overnight star was back on Wednesday, shooting a commercial and a reality show.
Ted Williams rose to fame earlier this year after his “golden” radio voice was discovered, 10TV’s Josh Poland reported.
He was back in his hometown on Wednesday, visiting a familiar store to shoot a commercial.
A crew was also on hand to document Williams’ life as part of an upcoming reality show.
The production company, from Florida, followed Williams to Uncle Sam’s Pawn Shop, a place he said he visited often while he was living on the streets.”This place is an institution when it comes to pawn shops,” Williams said, while shooting a commercial for store owner Gary Chasin.
Williams said it was important for him to stop at the pawn shop. He said visiting places from his past will give viewers of his reality show a chance to see where he came from.
“They’ll get a sense of my compassion and my struggles with addiction and everything that I’m going through,” Williams said.
The people at Uncle Sam’s said they are happy to see where he is headed.
“I’ve seen recent pictures of him, how nicely he’s done,” Chasin said. “He’s become very religious and very thoughtful about other people.”
Williams said he plans to be in Columbus for the rest of the week to complete filming, Poland reported. He said plans include a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles, so Williams can get his driver’s license.
Williams made national headlines after a video appeared on the Columbus Dispatch Web site about him. The clip that was filmed by Columbus Dispatch videographer Doral Chenoweth III, showed Williams standing near the ramp from Hudson Street and Interstate 71, demonstrating his voice. A sign he held read, “I’m an ex-radio announcer who has fallen on hard times.”
He later appeared on the “Dr. Phil Show” and briefly accepted an offer of drug and alcohol rehab from the show host Phil McGraw.
Watch 10TV News HD and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.
Tags: consumer credit, Gary Chasin, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Ted Williams, Uncle Sam's
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Monday, April 4th, 2011
From Home Town Life Dot Com
Experience, commitment to community earn Blaine top honor
Thomas Blaine is ready to buy, sell or trade. Owner of the Garden City Exchange, Blaine takes in items that the owner no longer wants and finds them a new owner.
Looking around his store on Ford Road, everything, he said, is for sale.
“The biggest thing we do is buy gold and buy and sell electronics, guitars, video game systems, tools and coins,” he said.
At age 31, Blaine learned the family business. His experience helped to earn him the 2011 Business Person of the Year award from the Garden City Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development Authority.
The Livonia resident will be honored at an awards program and wine tasting, starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, at Roma’s of Garden City.
Business owner Joan Hines said that Blaine has always been supportive of the chamber when she goes there.
Blaine and brother Adam run Garden City Exchange. He purchased it three years ago from Rudy Maldanado, who now owns a business in Wyandotte. Blaine’s uncle has a similar business called Olde Redford Exchange at Six Mile and Telegraph in Detroit.
“We were looking for new opportunities,” Blaine said.
Blaine believes in supporting the chamber and Downtown Development Authority events. He has bought gold from the community and has donated a portion of purchases back to the chamber at the Farmers Market.
“Gold prices are real high now, it’s been a big thing for people to sell their gold,” he said. “We try to donate whenever we can to the chamber. They come around every couple of months.”
He plans to be involved in the Farmers Market again this year.
The store has 5,000 square feet of space and draws customers from 10 miles away. He tries to do a lot of advertising. He has a Facebook page and advertise on the popular Pawn Stars cable TV show that’s on the Discovery Channel.
“It is a popular program and has brought us a lot of customers,” Blaine said. “It’s brought a good name to the business.”
He added that he is always willing to bargain.
“We are always negotiable on prices,” Blaine said. “We try to sell things at reasonable prices because the economy isn’t so good. On the other hand, people are always in need of cash, so we are always buying different things.”
He said that he is especially knowledgeable about gold and diamonds. He protects against buying stolen merchandise by asking for the person’s thumbprint, signature and driver’s license. They also have to be older than age 18.
“Every purchase that we make from a single DVD to a motorcycle or car is reported to the local police department, with serials and everything like that,” Blaine said. “We can act as a witness that the person was in possession of a stolen item and we can help prosecute. That’s not something that happens often.”
He admits that home invasions and larcenies are a problem in the community.
“We don’t want them (people) just to get away,” he said. “If somebody finds their stuff here, we advise them to prosecute. We don’t need these criminals to get back out there doing the same thing over and over again.”
Blaine grew up in Garden City and Livonia and is a graduate of Stevenson High School. He and his wife Amber are expecting their first child, a boy, in about 10 weeks.
For more information about the Garden City Exchange, visit gardencityexchange.com.
Tags: consumer credit, Detroit, Garden City Exchange, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
From Chicago Heights Dot Patch Dot Com
Old Pawn Shop Influences New Laws in The Heights
Shane’s has been around for more than 55 years, and the owners are still fighting for fair business practices.
By Aracely Hernandez | March 22, 2011
When looking for a good deal on a diamond or some other bling, Heights area residents head to Shane’s – The Pawn Shop located in the Wilson Plaza.
The business first opened in 1955 by Joseph Z. Schoeneman and his uncle Joe Schoeneman on the city’s east side. It’s been in the plaza for 22 years where it’s grown from one building unit to two – one features a showroom and the other is storage and a business office.
“We offer fantastic deals on jewelry compared to any other business in many miles,” David Schoeneman said. “We have a superior product knowledge and we can give [customers] a better purchase price.”
David Schoenman is Joseph Z. Schoeneman’s son. He and his wife, Carmencita, run the business.
Display cases are filled with rings, earrings, bracelets, watches, necklaces and other jewelery. The business does not take any other items.David is a gemologist and Carmencita also has an extensive knowledge of diamonds.
The store employs 13 people, Carmencita said. She runs the business behind the scenes and is working on creating a new Website for the store.
“It’s going to be colorful and bright and have information about us, pawn broking, our employees and pledge to our customers,” she said. “It will also feature coupons and other incentives.”
Shane’s can purchase an outdated necklace from customer looking to acquire extra cash, or provide a loan on the item. When a loan is taken out on a piece of jewelry, customers have up to 60 days to begin buying back the item or it is sold. It’s stopgap measure to help someone who needs a short-term loan, Carmencita said.
David said he is proud that he can provide that kind of help in the community. “It’s quick and it’s confidential,” he said.
But David doesn’t just help customers. The couple also represent pawnshops all over the state.
David is president of the Illinois Pawnbrokers Association, and Carmencita is the treasurer. The organization lobbies for pawnshops and also analyzes new laws that could affect pawnshops, Carmencita said.
Recently David helped Chicago Heights create a new law that is stricter about record keeping and inspection requirements. Now gold buying businesses have to wait seven days before they melt or sell gold after purchase. The law is called the Joseph Z. Schoeneman Precious Metal and Gem Brokers Ordinance – or informally the Schoeneman Gold Buying Law – named after David’s father.
On March 14 the City Council approved the ordinance and honored a 93-year-old Joseph for his longtime service to the Chicago Heights community. The law will aid police in tracking down items that may not have been acquired legally before being sold.
David said his father was happy about the honor, adding that he is proud to continue the work of his father and his great uncle in Chicago Heights. The fourth generation of Schoenemans, David and Carmencita’s sons, Jacob and Aaron, are also learning the trade and work at the shop during their breaks from school.
“It’s fun,” David said. “I get to help people. I earn a living and I get to feed my
family. We’re loyal to the community and it’s loyal to us.”
Shane’s – The Pawn Shop is located at 413 West 14th Street in Chicago Heights, and is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tags: Chicago, consumer credit, Gold Buyers, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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