PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – A Kodiak bear-skin rug. A 1958 Barbie doll, still in the box. Hand-carved wooden squirrel calls.
Local pawnshops are a mecca of the odd and unexpected. Once thought of as seedy hangouts for the down-and-out, pawnshops have enjoyed a resurgence lately, thanks in part to the stagnant economy and reality TV.
Bob Cramer, owner of Adams Street Exchange Pawn and Swap, 416 SW Adams St., said shows like Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn aren’t exactly realistic portrayals of day-to-day pawnshop life, however.
“Those are made-for-TV shows,” Cramer said. “They want you to believe that every five minutes this cannon, there’s only one in existence, and it’s going to come into your shop. You really have to take a lot of that with a grain of salt. We get some rare things, but you don’t get them every day. This is Peoria.”
Still, among the trays of cast-off engagement rings, shelves of secondhand musical instruments, knickknacks and aging video game consoles, there are some gems. Some things are so unique that Cramer is reluctant to part with them, such as a small Piper Cub model plane with a Weed Eater motor that hangs from the ceiling. Or the bearskin rug, which is for sale, but only at the right price.
“We could’ve made good money on the bear, but we held out,” Cramer said. “You have to have some things in the store that look cool.”
Pawnshops aren’t just for shoppers, however. Many of their customers are living on a fixed income and just need some cash to make it through the week. So they bring in their valuables, show ID and fill out paperwork. They walk out with cash and a receipt. The pawnshop holds merchandise for a certain number of days and, if the customer doesn’t come back for the goods, they end up on the sale floor. Sometimes they come back for the goods, sometimes they don’t.
Pawnshops are governed by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and are insured just like a bank, since they hold items that don’t belong to them. Adams Street Exchange has a database of more than 18,000 customers, including Peoria resident Patricia Arias.
Arias, who is on a fixed income, said she comes to Adams Street Exchange every month. She brings in rings and necklaces for extra cash.
“Sometimes you’re a little short for the month,” she said. “The economy doesn’t make a difference.”
Robert Hayes, who has run Derby Pawn, 814 Derby St. in Pekin since 1993, says there have been more customers coming in lately with merchandise to pawn than there are people interested in buying.
“Our shelves are so full of merchandise that I’m probably sitting on 50 guitars. I’ve never had that many guitars,” Hayes said. “My loans have gone up probably 30 percent from last year, and who knows what 2012 is going to bring.”
Hayes sees all kinds of items. The strangest thing he’s ever taken in? A male bondage leather outfit.
“I said, dude, I don’t want to buy that. But he only wanted $20 for it. So I put it on eBay and, lo and behold, someone from California was interested. He bought it for $100.”
Hayes said the best part of running a pawnshop is getting to know his regular customers.
“We’re helping them through times when their paycheck doesn’t make it through until the end of the week,” he said. “I enjoy that. It’s kind of like a family around here. We all know that pawnshops thrive and flourish during bad economies – especially while the cost of precious metals are up. So if the economy doesn’t get fixed, there’s going to be a need for us for quite some time.”
John Balaco, owner of R&J’s Northside Pawnshop, 1215 NE Jefferson Ave., says many of his customers bring in items “just to keep up with the price of gas.”
Balaco says construction workers often bring in tools during the off season, then buy them back when the work starts up again. He also has electronics, guns, the occasional piece of art. Unique items include two sets of early 1800s dueling pistols. There’s a pony skin on one wall, a hand-carved jade rosary from Africa, small replica shrimp boats about the size of a child’s bicycle.
Balaco, who owned Mulligan’s bar for 20 years and now runs EastPort Marina Cantina May through October, learned the pawn business from his father, who ran a shop in Alton, Ill. He was taught things like how to tell the value of items, and how to identify counterfeit gold from the real stuff.
He says the pawnshop television shows have brought in customers that may never have stopped in.
“We get so many people who have never been to a shop and wanted to see one,” he said. “The TV shows have done a really good job getting people interested.”
But, he says, the shows aren’t exactly realistic.
“A piece of moon rock – who has that stuff?” he said. “And if you do, you’ll take it to Christie’s (auction house), not a neighborhood pawnshop.”
___
Information from: Journal Star, http://pjstar.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-10-19-11 1120GMT