Rush for Cash Makes Pawnbrokers Merry : Shopping: While retail business is down, pawnshops report a holiday surge as shoppers look for quick dollars to make Christmas purchases and end up buying pawned items.
Jeff Bernard acknowledges that there is some good-humored debate about the meaning of the three balls that hang above the doorway of Palace Pawnbrokers.
Some people say the balls, long the symbol of the pawn industry, stand for Buy, Sell and Trade, said Bernard, the manager of the San Diego shop. Others quip that, if you borrow money at a pawnshop, leaving your valuables behind as collateral, the three balls are a reminder that “two to one, you won’t get them back.”
But, on Monday, harried pawnbrokers around the county said the three balls might as well have been Christmas ornaments. From El Cajon to Lemon Grove to Oceanside, owners of hock shops reported a holiday surge in business sure to make most conventional retailers turn red and green with envy.
At the pawnbrokers’ well-lighted loan counters, people lined up to trade their belongings for last-minute shopping money--usually 10% to 25% of an item’s retail worth. And, as often as not, many turned around and spent their new-found cash before leaving the shops, reveling in the unusual selection and the rock-bottom prices.
“I do all my Christmas shopping here,” said Kathy Carpenter, an executive secretary from Mission Valley who spent part of Christmas Eve browsing around Royal Loan Pawnbrokers in Hillcrest. She proudly displayed a gold chain bracelet that she had bought for her boyfriend--a $400 value, she said, for just $185.
“Gold is gold. Diamonds are diamonds. What does it matter if it’s been used?” she asked. “I’ll never go back to a regular jewelry store.”
Indeed, as area department stores and gift shops report lighter-than-usual holiday buying, Christmas cheer is alive and well at local pawnshops. According to shop owners, including several who have extended their hours to accommodate the new business, the recent economic downturn seems to have broadened their customer base.
“We’re hitting more the middle class as opposed to the lower-to-middle,” said Marc Vogel, owner of We Lend More Inc. in National City, who says the last 90 days have brought more requests for high-end loans. “More Rolex and Cartier watches (being pawned). Larger diamonds, larger loans. . . . We knew about the recession before the recession happened.”
“They seem to come in busloads,” said Donny Kaufman, the owner of East County Pawn Shop in El Cajon, who claims to buy, loan, sell or trade “practically anything” of value. Kaufman also reported making more loans on everything from computers to compact discs. “People need money, more so this year than last year,” he said.
Bernard, who was serving champagne at his store Monday, attributes some of the rush to the fact that department stores, desperate for sales, have held their usual post-Christmas sales before the holidays.
“The stores are forcing people to spend now,” he said. But, while they’re in the pawnshop getting cash, it never hurts to look around--at the autoharps, conga drums, encyclopedias, luggage, shortwave radios, weed whackers and wedding rings, among other things.
“You’d rather give somebody a used Nintendo game than something else new that they won’t use, right?” said Bernard. “You have to put things in perspective: If it works, it works. Quality is quality--new, used or indifferent.”
Besides, it’s not necessarily forever--you have four months to reclaim your belongings. And it’s fun to drive a bargain. Haggling is generally frowned upon in Robinson’s or Nordstrom. But, at a pawnshop, it’s encouraged--especially if you have cash.
“This would be $2,500 new,” Bernard said of a gold pinkie ring sporting a 3/4-carat diamond. “Here, it’s $1,600. And, if a customer had cash, they could walk out of the store with this ring for $1,200 or $1,300.”
Jerry, the manager of Royal Loan Pawnbrokers, says he has had customers this year who charged expensive items on their department store accounts in order to sell them to Jerry for cash. That’s how he got the new video camera in the window--just $895, complete with manufacturer’s warranty.
Jerry doesn’t want to see his last name in the newspaper; he says he wants his customers to visit him at the 4,000-square-foot store, not at home.
Jerry, who calls his shop the poor man’s bank, likes to hand out a three-color flyer that commands: “Visit Your Pawn Shop for a Day of Exciting Shopping.” It points out the relative impossibility of getting a 30-to-90 day loan of, say, $300 from a larger financial institution. It also notes that pawnshops are legitimate businesses, licensed by the state.
“You may be asking, ‘Isn’t a lot of the merchandise in a pawnshop stolen?’ ” reads the flyer, which uses the term “previously owned merchandise” instead of “used.” The answer is no, it says. “The pawn broker is not here today and gone tomorrow like the flea market, auction sale, garage sale, or the guy selling out of a van on the side of the road.”
On the wall at Royal Loan is a vibrant painting by LeRoy Neiman, the artist best known for his sports paintings and his close association with Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner.
“That would be $10,000 at any gallery in La Jolla,” Jerry says. “We’re asking $5,500.”
At the loan counter is a photograph of a Classic ’58 Buick with a custom turquoise paint job and all the original parts. Somebody pawned the car and never picked it up. It has just 3,700 miles on it, and it can by yours for “just $4,995, or best offer.”
Jerry claims to have no set limit on his loans. But he doesn’t take just anything as collateral, as one woman found out Monday.
“It’s before Christmas, and I’m running low, and I found out my boyfriend’s got me an engagement ring,” she said, holding out a slim wristwatch. “I want to get him something special. If you could give me even $10 for this. . . .”
Jerry shook his head. Only gold watches and Rolexes, he explained. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Another woman was on the telephone. She needed a minimum of $1,000, she said, for an Australian coin.
“You got gold coins?” Jerry asked her. “Bring ‘em all in here and I’ll do my best to see you walk out of here with $1,000.”
