Pawn Shop Owners Proud To Help Others

From Go San Angelo Dot Com

Pawnshop owners proud to help others
By Justin Zamudio

Originally published 08:56 p.m., April 18, 2010

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The ability to lend a helping hand to those in need is a driving force for business owner Lynda Clark.

She said she gets personal satisfaction from knowing she is aiding people who are down on their luck through her business, Lynda’s Pawn Shop.

The pawnshop provides short-term loans by lending a percentage of a valued collateral. Lynda’s Pawn Shop many times sees the same customers and items come through the doors seeking the short-term loans. After the loan and garnered interest is paid back, customers are able to recover their items of collateral.

Besides running the pawnshop, Lynda and her husband Joe Clark donate money and items to various Christian-based, nonprofit organizations that focus on rehabilitation.

Lynda said many times her customers turn to the pawnshop because banks won’t lend to some of her clientele or don’t offer small enough loans. She said many times people seek the short-term loans to pay for immediate needs.

“It’s a need society has. Many people don’t realize how important the pawnshop can be,” Clark said. Short-term loans “can feed your kids, it could buy your medicine, pay the baby sitter, help with your rent. If you just get into a jam or anything, it is there to help with money.”

The Clarks have been in the pawn business for more than 30 years, and Lynda’s Pawn has been a mainstay on Sherwood Way for the past 15 years. The couple became pawnbrokers while living in Odessa.

Lynda’s initial reaction to her husband’s pursuit of a pawn license was negative — she didn’t fully understand the functions of a pawnshop and had only heard of stereotypes about pawn shops, imagining them as underground places where drug addicts and gangs exchange stolen goods.

Before jumping into the business and making a big investment, Lynda decided to work for Odessa’s top pawnshop to seek guidance in the industry.

“I worked for free for a long time. He taught me everything — the good things, bad things, all the sides of the business,” Lynda said.

“She was a college graduate when she walked out of Jack’s Pawn Shop” in Odessa, Joe said.

After being in the business for about 15 years in Odessa, the couple decided to let their daughter take the reins of the shop and moved to San Angelo to enjoy their retirement and love for fishing. After about a month or two off the pawn scene, the couple saw the Sherwood Way building for lease and decided retirement wasn’t their thing. They soon opened up shop.

Early in her career, Lynda figured getting into the pawn business was a way to make a living and expand on her fascination with tools, which she has a wide selection of at the shop. After being in the business for a while, she discovered the joy of forging personal connections with her customers, many of whom repeatedly drop in to “just shoot the breeze.”

“You get to know these people so well,” Lynda said. “There are some very happy moments in the pawn business and some heart-wrenching ones. Some are so heart-wrenching that you just can’t close your mind to it. If you’re a Christian, you remember them and have them in your prayers that night.

“Our customers become like family —we laugh when they laugh and hurt when they hurt.”

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