Abraham Lincoln said “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
Brian Garret, our latest ‘Profile in Pawn’ is the real thing.
Brian Garret, our latest ‘Profile in Pawn’ is the real thing.
Brian, a second-generation pawnbroker, runs Tom’s Pawn. Located in Brazoria County, Texas, this four-store operation will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. After Brian’s father, Dennis, returned from the Army, he went to work for an uncle in Dallas who was a pawnbroker. He launched Tom’s Pawn in 1972 and operated alongside his wife Paula while they raised their family, including Brian’s older brother and younger sister.
After graduating from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Business Management in 2000, Brian returned to Tom’s Pawn, where he’s worked ever since.
"Brian Garrett is one of the most giving and helpful pawnbrokers in the industry. He lives to help. Brian wants to see all pawnbrokers and their businesses succeed. He is the guy that goes the extra mile. Brian is an asset to our industry and I am very proud to call him my friend."
Brian describes his mother, from whom he learned back-office operations and financials, as an empathetic leader. “She has a gift for always seeing different sides of the situation.”
Brian, who credits learning a strong work ethic from his father, is known as a super hands-on leader who believes in prioritizing time spent with his team. He hosts monthly meetings with managers, a book club for leaders, coffee with new employees, dinners, and more. “I believe in making time and investing in my people outside of work,” Garrett says. It is an approach that he calls intentional engagement. “I’m not on the counter, so I pour myself into the team,” he says of his near-thirty employees.
He also believes strongly in investing in one’s own self-improvement work and invests in a life coach not only for himself but for his managers, assistant managers, and keyholders. He believes that “learning about yourself, understanding your thought process and why you think the way you do” is the key to his success.
Brian lives with his wife Shellie and their two daughters in Lake Jackson, Texas where he’s been spending an increasing amount of time among the clouds having earned his pilot’s license over the past year. To learn more about Tom’s Pawn, visit www.tomspawn.com or follow them on Facebook.
