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Thread: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    (snip)"Selling To Survive: Madison pawn shops see boom in business
    With rising gas prices and a shaky housing market, people do what they must to survive, even if that means pawning grandma's pearls.

    It may be a struggling economy for consumers, but their losses are a pawn shop's gains.

    The owner of Rick's Olde Gold on Willy Street in Madison says he's seen a 40% increase in business since January.

    He says people sell their gold jewelry and priceless heirlooms for cash, because many need the money for gas, food and even mortgages.

    Rick's Olde Gold advises customers not to sell heirlooms, unless it's a last resort.

    Most people who do, end up regretting it later."(snip)

    from


    While this story is anecdotal, it is not an isolated instance. It also confirms the theory that US consumers will continue to 'sell off' their remaining assets in order to maintain a lifestyle that they can no longer afford. This started with home equity borrowing, then moved to sales of 'toys' (i.e. vacation homes, RV's, boats, motorcycles, second cars), then moved to sale of investments, and is now moving to the sale of jewelry / heirlooms.

    This essentially leaves only one asset remaining, which is the premature cashing in of 401k / IRA holdings.

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    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    I keep buying things from pawn shops because they're so cheap and I'm good at finding quality items. I use them for investments because of it.


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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Melonie, what do you think of

    AEA (Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc),
    CSH (Cash America International),
    DLLR (Dollar Financial Corp.),
    EZPW (Ezcorp, Inc. )?

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    Banned i.breathe.in's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    thats so sad. ive never been to a pawn shop before, but theres something about buying other peoples desperation and shattered dreams that just doesnt appeal to me.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Adelina, none of the companies you have cited are a 'pure play' ... as most are also mixed up in payday loans and other types of 'subprime' loans. Of your offerings, CSH probably has the least amount of unsecured subprime loan activity. But the real profits are being gleaned by privately owned organizations such as , simply because every pawn loan they make is secured by highly salable collateral.

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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Pawn shops and second hand clothing stores are way cool. But, you have to be careful. Pricing may not be that big of a bargain. My BF wanted a telephoto lens for his 35mm camera. I hit a couple of pawn shops around town and found several lenses that would probably have worked, but, I found a brand new one at Wolfe Camera for the same price.

    Like they say over on the blue side, YMMV.

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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    I'm surprised that so many people are foolish enough to pawn their valuables when they have Ebay.

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    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Quote Originally Posted by eagle2 View Post
    I'm surprised that so many people are foolish enough to pawn their valuables when they have Ebay.
    Ebay has gone the way of the dodo. You don't get nearly as much, pay high fees, ship things, can get complaints, can have you paypal closed and really, if you're THAT broke, chances are you don't have internet.

    But another man's loss is my treasure. It's where I get a majority of my jewels (which are appraised and valued, do not worry).


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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    I'm glad it works out well for you. There aren't any pawn shops near me so I wouldn't know how good the bargains are.

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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Don't you have to have a criminal record check to pawn stuff? That seems like a huge hassle.

    ETA the chain we have up here is apparently a British co traded on the LSX- CCVU (Cash Converters). They used to have a few Van locations, but they've all shut down in the past few years, except one.

    Feature costumes for sale!

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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Quote Originally Posted by scarlett_vancouver View Post
    Don't you have to have a criminal record check to pawn stuff? That seems like a huge hassle.

    ETA the chain we have up here is apparently a British co traded on the LSX- CCVU (Cash Converters). They used to have a few Van locations, but they've all shut down in the past few years, except one.
    If that were true the Cash Converters next to the BiRite Electrical wouldn't have so many damn fridges. Hahahaha.


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    Veteran Member XxAmber89xX's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Liquidation World.

    LQW-TSX (I don't know how many of you have access to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX)

    Purchase Price $2.80
    Initial Sell Target $8.24

    Weighting 1.46/4 Currently worth about 3.8% of my portfolio.

    Liquidation World is a company that thrives on problems. When Hurricane
    Katrina arrived signalling misery for a multitude, the people at
    Liquidation, while not wishing sorrow on anyone we assume, were probably
    licking their chops. In fact, they were probably licking mighty tasty
    chops because the disaster led them to open a distribution centre in Texas
    for the goods acquired for their stores. Bargain offerings are what this
    retailer, with 116 stores, thrives on.

    Despite this made-to-order disaster, Liquidation has been having problems.
    Like many Canadian companies that venture into the United States, they had
    their heads handed back on a platter. At this point, the firm is
    dislodging itself from that mess with closures. The expansion was part of
    the reason that additional management and staff were hired. Many of these
    people will likely be released with a cheque in hand. Short-term debt has
    swollen, not to catastrophic levels, but enough to muddy the balance
    sheet. While revenues have tipped upwards and should nip above $200
    million annually for the second time in corporate history, same store
    sales in the most recent quarter dropped 6.1 percent. This key measurement
    of health will take time to remedy, not as easy as taking a couple Advil
    and turning off the lights. Management recognizes this and while they feel
    they have a good baseline of products, they know that it is the "Event
    Deals" that bring the mobs to the stores. Those are infrequent and
    entirely unpredictable.

    If retail bankruptcies increase, Liquidation should have ample inventory
    sourcing opportunities to put product in the stores. If politicos manage
    to steer the economy to avoid a major downturn, the future for this
    company is less attractive.

    The stock has been beaten down. From a height of $7.98 in 2004, which was
    less than half previous levels, investors for the most part have fled
    because of the current risk. This is for reasons we can understand.
    Contrarians like us, and George Armoyan, CEO and President of Clarke Inc.,
    tend to be attracted to this kind of mess. His company announced in
    November that they now own over 10 percent of LQW.
    Oh Canada, we stand on cars and freeze...

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    God/dess scarlett_vancouver's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    Yeah, all the Liquidation WOrlds out west are shutting down. Much to my dismay, that was my favourite store.

    Thanks for the idea though, off to research LQW

    Feature costumes for sale!

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    Veteran Member XxAmber89xX's Avatar
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    Default Re: too bad there isn't a national chain of pawn shots to invest in ...

    ^ yeah, when I bought Hudson Bay Company a few years ago I knew that even though they were closing alot of stores also, they owned almost all of their real estate... selling commercial real estate between 2002 and 2006 made for pretty good gains.

    sadly, Liquidation World doesn't own quite as much real estate, but we're talking of a much smaller company here.

    Like I said, I put under 4% of my portfolio into this company... a risky play with potential high rewards.
    Oh Canada, we stand on cars and freeze...

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