Local pawn shops seeing more customers

With months of high gas prices and other expenses putting the squeeze on consumers' wallets, more people are pawning their belongings to make it to their next paycheck.

Nathan Glover Jr., who partners with his father, Nathan Glover Sr., at C & T Pawn on East Oak Street, said he has seen a change in customers' behavior.

"Three or four years ago they'd bring in pretty good stuff and we'd pawn it. But now they're bringing in anything and everything," he said. "The normal type of stuff we take in are guns and jewelry and some electronics," he went on. "They're bringing in anything from the outdoor lawn chairs; old VHS movies, which are getting kind of obsolete; clothing, leather jackets we don't really mess with those; old tools, rusty tools; old lawn mowers that aren't really worth anything. It just looks like they went through their storage building. A lot of people are bringing in costume jewelry they think is worth something, but it's not."

Glover added, "Most of them will say, 'I need some gas money.' I feel sorry for them, because I know the feeling of the pressure of high gas, but there are certain things you can't take because they won't come back and pick them up, and you can't sell stuff like that."

In those cases, it is necessary to distance himself from the situation, he said.

"You hear excuses like, 'My baby needs diapers.' You just have to let it go in one ear and out the other," he said.

Blake Allison, owner of Big Bubba's Pawn Shop on Chestnut Street, said, "Everyone's hurting now just gas and trying to pay their rent."

He said he buys mainly jewelry and scrap gold, "but I'll take anything that's worth anything."

"I feel sorry for these people," he said, looking over the case of jewelry. "Usually they're always going to come back and get them, but they never do."

Wendy Price of Exchange Center Gun and Pawn said, "Everybody needs money for gas. They need to get to work, pay the light bill."

Her mother, Alice Price, said, "A lady last week said Kroger was cutting hours and she needed to pawn stuff to pay bills."

Wendy Price said, "Mainly we take firearms, jewelry, newer game systems, nice tools. I got away from doing electronic stuff."

Glover said his shop has seen an increase in gold "because the gold market has gone up."

Granger Davis, financial advisor for Edward Jones, explained why gold has increased in value and why the increase will be temporary.

"Typically when things get beat up in the economy, (investors) think gold is a good hiding place. Gold is a purely speculative investment from the philosophy of 'buy good quality and hold onto it for a long time.' You're betting on the short term. Plus, it doesn't pay dividends. The dollar has fallen internationally, compared to international currency. When people are worried about a recession, gold tends to go up in value.

"Historically, gold is highly volatile, with short drops often following rapid increases. Along with being unpredictable, gold also experiences some long bear markets where it's down and stays down for a long period of time."

He added, "I don't know how high gold's going to go, but I don't own any except for the band around my finger. I like investments to pay a dividend and not to fluctuate as much as gold does over time."

(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)