WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Pawn shops see increase in business during economic downturn

Pawn shops see increase in business during economic downturn

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email   
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The economy has forced stores like Circuit City and Value City out of business right here in Louisville. Monday, WAVE 3's Shayla Reaves learned where more consumers are taking their retail dollars for the first time.

At S.E. Davis Company Pawn Shop in downtown Louisville, sales are up 35 percent. With the holidays coming up, a National Retail Federation survey released in October finds two-thirds of consumers plan to shop at discount stores. More than half of those surveyed say sales and discounts are the most important factor for deciding where to shop. On the whole, Americans expect to spend less on gifts for their families. With spending expected to average around $833 this holiday season, options like pawn shops are seeing a boost.

"My husband bought a ring for me here," said Tina Skirvin who drove 30 miles from Scottsburg, Indiana just to shop at S.E. Davis. "It was like $500 and it would have probably been about $1,200 anywhere else."

We asked Vice President Jeffrey Davis to give us some examples on where you save. For example, we'll consider an LCD TV.

"Something like that brand new is 7 or 800 dollars, you could probably get it for 3 or 400 dollars here," Davis told WAVE 3 News.

To meet family needs, some people are still pawning their own items to get by. We were told that some struggling customers have found themselves in such a crunch, they were choosing to pawn or sell their items just to buy gas to get to work or groceries for their families.

The Davis family says store traffic peaked when gas prices topped $4.00 a gallon. Before, only three quarters of a back room was filled with pawned items. Now there is so much stuff the Davis family has had to move out a refrigerator just to make more space. In some cases, they've even had to turn people away.