Posts Tagged ‘Pawn Loans’
Thursday, 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.
Tags: consumer credit, L Oppleman, Lynchburg VA, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Saturday, 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.
Tags: consumer credit, Credit Crunch, economic crisis, National Pawnbrokers Association, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, United Kingdom
Posted in Pawn Ecomomics | No Comments »
Thursday, 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?”
Tags: Business Risk, consumer credit, economic crisis, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Monday, 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.
Tags: consumer credit, Las Vegas, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Payday Loans
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Tuesday, 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.
Tags: Bob Moulton, consumer credit, National Pawn, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
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Saturday, July 17th, 2010
From The Wall Street Journal Blog
By Michael Casey
July 16, 2010, 3:41 PM ET. Boom Times for Diamond District.
The world’s financial markets are living through a unique historical moment, one in which a deflationary present competes fiercely with fears of an inflationary future.
A weak economy and high gold prices create a perfect storm for pawn brokers. For proof, look no further than New York’s Diamond District on West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Here, deflation and inflation do battle on a daily basis, creating a new business opportunity for the jewelers who have plied their trade on that strip for the past 60 years.
Deflationary forces lie in the push factors that send a steady flow of people there to convert their gold-based valuables into cash, either through collateralized loans or outright sales. They are the victims of a moribund economy whose modest recovery from last year’s recession is failing to produce jobs or small business revenue growth.
Yet there’s also inflation at work. It’s there in the pull factors driving this business. Both the buyers and sellers on the street know that gold prices are near record highs around $1,200 a troy ounce and are seeking to exploit that. Gold’s gains reflect the broader concern that indebted governments will be forced to devalue their fiat currencies and create monetary inflation.
“It’s usually one or the other that drives this business. Either the economy has come down and people need money, or the gold value has gone up. But in this case it’s both,” said Roni Rubinov, who runs both a pawn broker and jewelry-buying business out of side-by-side offices on W. 47th Street.
He says the flow into his pawn business has, if anything, increased since the 2008 crisis. It’s a trend that reflects the persistence of deflationary pressures in an economy with 9.5% unemployment. Just look at Friday’s data releases: the U.S. consumer price index down 0.1% in June, average weekly earnings down 0.2% in the same month, consumer sentiment down almost 10 points in July.
The flow of pawn customers has increased because the depletion of people’s cash holdings has been “a gradual process” since the crisis, Rubinov said. “It’s not a sudden assault as if someone robbed them…it’s that the well is slowly drying up.”
“The way I’m hearing it, the banks are holding off on personal loans. I guess the public doesn’t have anything else to fall back on,” Rubinov said. He found a moment to talk during a brief break in the stream of clients coming up the stairs, each escorted by a scout from the street carrying flyers that say “We Buy Gold, Diamonds, Watches & Jewelry.”
His analysis of banks is spot on. The Federal Reserve’s latest monthly consumer credit data produced its 18th contraction out of the past 20 months.
Yet, inflation fears are equally powerful.
Yale Zoland, a third-generation jeweler two doors down from Rubinov, did virtually no gold trading until the price started to rise. Now it’s worth up to 15% of his revenue.
It’s a simpler, more commoditized business than the complicated diamond trade his family has traditionally handled. The customers come in and hand over their gold rings and necklaces to Zoland, who weighs them, verifies their carat stamp with acid tests and then offers the sellers a price a few percentage points below that day’s gold fixing. At the end of business, he sells the day’s intake to gold refiners, who melt it.
Given the current public mood, this trade seems unlikely to disappear soon.
It’s about the trust that was destroyed by the crisis, Rubinov said. “People are realizing now they need to have something tangible, not just a piece of paper.”
And yet it is paper — greenbacks, to be precise — that the people coming into his office most want.
Tags: consumer credit, Gold Prices, New York, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop
Posted in Pawn Ecomomics | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
From Tulsa World Dot Com
Ad man
by: World’s Editorial Writers
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
It’s inappropriate for a county sheriff — in uniform — to endorse a pawn shop and precious metals dealer in television advertising.
Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton, who first got his face in the public’s eye by being a spokesman for the Tulsa Police Department, appears in TV spots for Tulsa Gold and Gems.
Walton says he has been a friend of the owners of the business for more than 20 years and isn’t paid for his appearance.
We’re glad he’s not doing ads for his enemies and that he isn’t taking money for the ads. That doesn’t make it any better.
He also says that even if he’s an elected law enforcement officer, he still has the right to express his opinion, which is certainly true.
But if he is only expressing his own opinion, why wear the uniform? Why not wear a business suit or a shirt with the logo of the pawn shop?
We suspect the uniform is part of the message, an attempt to give the business the implicit endorsement of law enforcement, which is why the ads are inappropriate.
When you get a badge and a gun and the authority to arrest people in the name of the state, you should recognize that your voice represents more than just your own opinion, especially when you are wearing your law enforcement uniform.
Walton’s appearance in the ads appears to be legal, which isn’t to say it is the right thing to do.
The final judges in the matter, of course, will be the voters of Rogers County. If they like seeing their sheriff shilling for a Tulsa pawn shop, then so be it. We suspect otherwise.
Copyright © 2010, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved
Tags: consumer credit, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Tulsa Gold and Gems
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Friday, July 2nd, 2010
From AZSTARNET Dot Com
NEW CITY FEE FOR PAWNSHOPS
All pawnshop transactions will cost a dollar
Brian J. Pedersen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, July 2, 2010
ALLISON MULLALLY / ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Sandro Sanchez, examines a pawn ticket at Gold & Silver Exchange, 4636 S. Sixth Ave., with shop owner Armin Cicala. Tucson’s updated pawn ordinance went into effect Thursday, adding a $1 fee for all transactions made at pawnshops and secondhand dealers as well as new licensing fees and reporting requirements.
The transaction fee is similar to ones other cities impose, said Sgt. Diana Lopez, a Tucson Police Department spokeswoman.
“Most other cities charge $2 or $3,” said Lopez, noting that TPD had originally asked for a $3 fee but later agreed to the lesser charge.
The fees are expected to offset about half the estimated $700,000 annual cost of TPD’s pawnshop enforcement effort.
Pawnshops are able to list up to three items on each transaction slip, Lopez said.
A local pawnbroker said the new fee will hurt cash-strapped pawn customers - who turn goods in for collateral on short-term loans - when they can least afford it.
“It impacts every transaction, and it’s going to be charged upfront … so if I loan you $20, you’re going to walk out the door with $19,” said Greg Geile, owner of local SuperPawn franchise shops and president of the Arizona Pawn Association.
Geile said the industry had offered to pay licensing fees as an alternative to transaction fees, to spread the costs out more fairly.
But the City Council adopted a recommendation by Tucson police that included both the new transaction charge and new license fee.
Other details of the ordinance:
• Any pawnshop or secondhand dealer that had 1,000 or more transactions in the previous year is required to pay an annual $1,000 occupational license tax, which is due each January.
• Dealers from outside the city must pay a $1,000 fee if they hold three or more shows during a year within Tucson city limits. For dealers holding one or two shows each year, the fee is $500.
• All pawnshops and secondhand dealers must electronically report transactions to TPD. Any item with a serial number or owner-applied number must be reported, regardless of value, while any transaction that exceeds $100 must be reported except for furniture, music and books.
The Police Department has compiled a list of frequently asked questions for businesses and the community. Go to the department’s website at tpdinternet.tucsonaz.gov/FAQ/ pawnfaq.html for more information.
Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at bjp@azstarnet.com or call 573-4224.
Tags: consumer credit, Pawn Fee, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Tucson AZ
Posted in Pawn Ecomomics | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
From Springfield News Sun Dot Com
Pawn shop owner hopes new site anchors growth
By Elaine Morris Roberts, Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — A broken water pipe and the ensuing flood for one downtown business owner has now spawned ideas of greatness.
Sam Beloff, owner of Rose City Fine Jewelry and Loans, LLC, was forced out of the space his business occupied on the ground floor of the McAdams building — 37 E. High St. — after a pipe burst, flooding the basement of the building with what Beloff said was 14 feet, or about 800 metric tons, of water.
Beloff was lucky, though, in that there was no water in his store, but he was directly over the flood zone, which made staying impossible.
“High Street is on a slight grade, so the water was flowing away from us. We tried to hang on. We didn’t want to move the store — we had a great location on the downtown core block,” he said.
Moving the business is a project that will take Beloff and his two employees three to four months, he estimated.
“And we’re only two weeks into it,” he said.
The store is now located at 26 N. Fountain Ave.
The historic building Beloff decided on was originally constructed as a hotel with the lobby standing where his showroom, display cases and storage area now reside.
“The upper floors were the rooms and there was a bar in the basement,” he added.
Beloff is a third-generation pawn broker who grew up being a part of a downtown business. His grandfather, Max Beloff, opened Max’s Jewelers and Loan in 1933, which is now operated by Sam’s father, Larry.
Sam Beloff, who started in business with his father, sold his interest in Max’s a few years ago. He then teamed with friend and investor Glenn Altschuld Jr. to open Rose City in 2006.
When the flood forced him to start shopping locations, Beloff looked at two other spots outside the downtown, but realized he had to remain at the city’s core.
“But being such a proponent of the downtown, I felt I needed to stay…. I’ve always been an advocate for focusing on development that includes re-establishing what exists along side developing new and true leadership comes from acting on your beliefs,” said Beloff, a founding member of Center City Association.
The space Rose City now calls home is part of the only downtown block that has complete retail store frontage, Beloff said.
He’s now envisioning the block filled with boutique retail shops and eateries that will provide a reason for people to frequent the downtown.
“If we can make this block an anchor point, we could be known for something good again. It’s an investment of time and money, but we can create a pleasant place for people to shop and do business,” he said.
Beloff wants his individual business success, to be sure, but he’s working to help create a successful business arena for anyone who chooses to locate downtown.
“I want great success,” he said, “and to do that, it requires many businesses coming together…. The only way to achieve that success is to bring many into the fold, which will create more jobs and increase the tax base for the city.”
Tags: consumer credit, Pawn Loans, pawnbroker, pawnshop, Rose City, Springfield Ohio
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