Sell My Watch
When we think of the typical pawnshop customer, often we think of low income people out of work and down on their luck.
The one thing I hear all the time is pawnshops only deal with crack heads, drunks and thieves. These typical stereotypes still hold true for a number of pawn customers, but there is a new pawn customer emerging.
The pawn industry has significantly changed over the last decade. There is a new customer base and a new quality of product being pawned. The high unemployment rate, lack of personal loans, and overall economic downsize has produced a whole new breed of pawn customers. These people are not crack heads, drunks and certainly not thieves. The new customers are honest, hard working, educated, blue and white collar Americans that are caught in the country’s credit crunch and huge economic slowdown.
Let me be a little more specific about who this new customer is. It could be a very successful business owner that has a payroll to meet next week. I have provided financial solutions for a few professional athletes, who are down on the luck and their contracts have expired. With the divorce rate continuing to loom around 50%, diamond rings are pawned or sold to help build new lives. Or how about a big time wealth manager or a real estate broker, mortgage broker or car sales person. Many industries are being affected by the economy and many people are one pay check away from financial hardship. In this day and age I never know who my customer will be, but am always glad I can offer a financial solution. In the good times these new pawn customers have done their part in stimulating the economy by purchasing
items like. The good news is that they have these assets, which can be pawned for financial relief. I have seen a tremendous growth in the value of items being pledged, and would expect to see this trend as the economy continues to suffer.
Pawnshops have been around for centuries. In the good times and bad, they have been there to service the financial gap that traditional financial institutions cannot, or will not serve.
Todd Hills