Reprinted with permission from Star News Online:
At National Pawn’s three Wilmington locations, business during the COVID-19 pandemic has been steady in an unexpected way.
Shawn Rowell excepted a jump in the number of people pawning items at the stores he manages for National Pawn in Wilmington and Fayetteville during the pandemic. Instead, the shops saw an uptick in the number of customers coming in to browse and buy the store’s tools, jewelry, electronics, handbags and other items.
During the pandemic, North Carolina pawn shops were deemed essential businesses, which meant they remained open while other types of businesses were forced to temporarily shut down.
“They deemed us an essential business during COVID because of our financial aspect,” Rowell said. “People need to borrow money for a short term whether they’re employed or not employed.”
Pawn shops like National Pawn allow customers to pawn items in exchange for a loan. The customer can get the item back by paying back the loan and its accumulated interest. The shop also purchases items from customers that they then sell.
“It’s more than just retail. It’s a financial institution,” Douglas Zelaya, a pawnbroker at National Pawn’s Dawson Street location, said.
Rowell said he attributes the increase in retail customers during the pandemic to other businesses being closed and people having more time on their hands.
The pawn shop’s “core” group of customers were also more likely to receive government assistance during the pandemic, Rowell said, which could explain why the stores didn’t see a jump in the number of items being pawned for loans.
“Our core client base were receiving additional unemployment, the stimulus checks, the additional government assistance for childcare, what have you,” Rowell said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Rowell expected to see the opposite.
“When COVID first hit we expected a sharp increase in the loan side of our business and people selling things because we figured their businesses would slow down,” he said. “We did not anticipate the government providing as much assistance as they did.”
National Pawn acquired two new stores in Wilmington during the COVID-19 pandemic from Picasso Pawn. They already owned a store on College Road.
Things at the pawn shop slowly moved “back to almost normal” this summer as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. But since the delta variant has caused the number of COVID-19 cases to tick up locally, Zelaya noticed a slight drop in the number of people coming into the store.
When they do come in, the shop’s tools section has become popular with customers.
“The tool section has been our stronghold,” Zelaya said. “Everybody’s looking for drills. They’re looking for miter saws, table saws … that’s the one that’s been the biggest impact.”
Wilmington has more than 10 pawn shops. That compares pretty closely, per capita, to the number of shops in North Carolina cities like Raleigh and Charlotte, Rowell said.
Read the full article: https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2021/09/06/covid-19-brings-unexpected-trends-wilmington-pawn-shops/8230773002/
