Cash Strapped Americans Pawning Precious Belongings

(Chicago, IL) -- Americans need cash and they're discovering pawn shops are willing to give it to them.
"USA Today" reports on a pawnshop boom.
Randy Cohen, co-owner of a Chicago store says "anything people can possibly get ahold of to bring in and pay their mortgage and get gas in the car, they're doing it." He says he has a line at the door when he opens in the morning.
Cohen and others like him will take just about anything.
Diamonds, pawn shops are awash in them and someone even pawned a 30 foot boat! Brandon Burke, who manages Charleston Gold and Diamond Exchange in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, says the number of people giving up gold and other precious metals "has skyrocketed." Firearms and electronics are popular too.
Burke says "anything that's collecting dust is getting melted."
The story is the same on the other side of the country.
In Portland, Oregon, Blake Swearingen manages Silver Lining Jewelry & Loan.
He says his clientele now includes "middle and upper-income people." Joseph Barats, president of Chicago's Fullerton Pawners says "day in and day out" his customers now include people selling their grandmothers' jewelry and other precious heirlooms.
Among the items in his store is a mink coat valued at around ten-thousand dollars when new.
It was pawned for 200-dollars.
The store is asking 500-dollars for it.
The National Pawnbrokers Association says there are lots of first time customers and plenty of new bargain-hunters too.
There are plenty of bargains to be had with the pawn redemption rate, the percentage of people reclaiming their goods, dropping substantially from the usual 65-percent.
Pawn shops are jammed with jewelry, iPods, guitars and TVs.
The manager of Cynthia's Consignments in Chicago, Simone Hale says, quote, "the bad economy is good for business."

(Copyright 2008 by Newsroom Solutions)
RNS-11-10-08 0622CST