Pawnshops doing brisk business
CHICAGO -- Randy Cohen, co-owner of Royal Redemption, a downtown pawnshop, has never seen anything like the current parade of cash-strapped customers forced to sell their stuff.
"Anything people can possibly get ahold of to bring in to pay their mortgage and get gas in the car, they're doing it," he says. "I actually have lines when I open at 9. The economy just fell apart, and people really need cash."
Want a 30-foot boat? Cohen has one. A big diamond? Cohen has plenty. Two Segway scooters? No problem. Many of his new customers are once-wealthy suburbanites. "They're so embarrassed when they come in here," he says.
The miserable economy is a boon for pawnshops and consignment stores across the USA. The National Pawnbrokers Association does not track trends, but managers say they're seeing lots of first-time customers who are feeling the pinch — and new bargain-hunters who are looking for used jewelry and other high-end items at reduced prices.
At Charleston Gold & Diamond Exchange in Mount Pleasant, S.C., manager Brandon Burke says the number of customers selling gold and other precious metals "has skyrocketed." Gold sells for more than $700 an ounce. Firearms and electronics are also popular.
"You're looking at some desperation and some people who are taking advantage of the market," Burke says. "Anything that's collecting dust is getting melted."
It's the same story in Portland, Ore. Blake Swearingen, sales manager at Silver Lining Jewelry & Loan, says his clientele includes new "middle- and upper-income people who … due to mistakes they've made or the environment, need to find ways to take care of their responsibilities."
'I'm embarrassed'
Dealing with customers who are sometimes reluctantly selling their possessions "takes tact and explanations," Burke says. "It's untread ground for a lot of people."
Louise Wright never thought she'd be lining up at a Chicago hotel to sell her son's long-neglected coin collection and the silver utensils she inherited from her grandmother to a company set up in a conference room for a few days to buy such belongings.
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