Pawn shops BOOMING with the Coming DEPRESSION

In hard times, consumers turn to pawn shops for quick cash

Republican & Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
James Oldham walked into a neon-lit pawn shop on Centre Street, slapped a stack of DVDs up on the counter and in less than three minutes walked right back out, his pockets $80 thicker.
It wasn't any magic trick. Oldham had transformed nine movies and games into gas money, rent money and money to feed his son as part of an ages-old business that has historically thrived during dismal economic seasons.
"The other day I went in with a poker set I had, unopened," Oldham said. "They gave me five bucks for it. Yeah, in better days I would have gladly used it to play cards with my buddies. But nowadays, people need things directly related to their well-being."

Things like winter coats and heating oil, Oldham said. Buy-and-sell shops like Pottsville's Cash & Trading, Buy Me Again and Arizona Video are helping people cope with their expenses by snapping up the stuff that isn't entirely essential. After all, Oldham said, "They know times will get better eventually."

Times are better in the here-and-now for shopkeepers like Walt MacCorkle, owner of Cash & Trading. Since the economy began to plummet more than a month ago, MacCorkle said, his volume of business has risen by nearly a third.

"It's been crazy," he said Wednesday as customers perused his wares. "My daily number of items bought has doubled."
People come to MacCorkle with high definition televisions practically still in the box. They come to him with guitars, iPods and diamond-encrusted wedding rings, just to name a few. They come to him with their stories, too, MacCorkle said -- especially those pawning off rings.
"Sometimes I feel like a barber or a bartender," he said.
It may seem sad or strange to some to swap the sentimental for the fundamental, but MacCorkle said most of his customers are just trying to get by.

"They tell me they need to pay their bills, get food on the table and gas in their tank," he said. At Buy Me Again on Market Street, Pottsville, people have been trading and selling gold jewelry, according to manager Rob Bowers.
"We're picking up much more business with the economy," Bowers said. "No one can afford new anymore, and people need gas and oil now with the winter coming."

The weak economy has also lifted business at Arizona Video, its owner said.
"I don't like looking at it that way, saying I do benefit from people's troubles," said Arizona Video owner Ken Lucas. "But I do."