Sunday, September 4, 2011

Again, Williston Is Ahead of The Curve: Pawn Shops -- Kind of a Bakken Story

Link here.
Today, the modern pawn industry has become something else entirely. Many of these shops, which also operate like small banks, are publicly traded companies and are becoming cultural phenomena. The embodiment of the new era of the pawn shop is Rick Harrison, star of History Channel's monster hit Pawn Stars and author of the book "License to Pawn". Harrison, who runs the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada recently sat down with Breakout to discuss the economy, misconceptions about his business, and the endless number of curios he comes across when dealing with the 3,000 to 4,000 customers coming through his shop every single day.

Harrison immediately addressed the lingering perception of pawn shops preying on the down-and-out, or especially in Las Vegas, desperate gamblers down to their last chips. Despite the tough times, nearly 80% customers reclaim their goods; meaning a pawn shop transaction is more like a bridge loan for the roughly 25 million Americans without a traditional bank account, rather than a legitimized loan sharking operation.
There may very well be a pawn shop in Williston (I'm sure there is) but I have not found it.  I was too lazy, my bad. There is indeed a pawn shop in Williston:


Carns & Sons Pawn Shop   @  1206 2nd Avenue West  has been in business for several decades . 

Also, see comments below.

4 comments:

  1. million dollar way at 9th? west side

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  2. million dollar way at 13th.

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  3. Thank you. I will have to update the post.

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  4. A pawn shop is a questionable business for Williston because nearly everyone should have
    jobs and money. If you really need one or two hundred dollars to get your car out of impound or to pay your rent a pawn shop can be a good source for a small loan. Banks are not in the "micro-loan" business.

    The pawn redemption rate is a bit misleading because you can get significantly more if you sell rather than pawn.

    That said, a pawn store in Williston might act as a good "second hand store. If you buy a big high-def flat screen TV it may be a hassle selling older flat screen directly.

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