Pawning for fast cash

Walking into TomCats Pawn shop, located at 750 W. 17th St., almost feels like walking into a friend's house. Laughter and voices echo throughout the store, although you can't see anyone past the rows and rows of televisions, stereos and leather jackets. The atmosphere is more like "Cheers" than a pawn shop. It's a community place "where everybody knows your name."\n"To me, pawn means people always will need," said Cathy Haggerty, co-owner of TomCats Pawn shop and an IU alumna.\nMore than 75 million Americans don't have bank accounts or credit cards, according to the National Pawnbrokers Association Web site, www.nationalpawnbrokers.org. So when unexpected expenses come along, many people are left without options. For people faced with debt, pawn shops provide an easy solution to a stressful situation.\n"No one ever wants to borrow, but if you need to, we can help you with the short-term loans. ... We're not where you invest all your money," Haggerty said. "We're more like the band-aid you put on a cut so you don't have to get stitches." \nThe number of pawn shops across the country has almost doubled in the past 10 years, according to the NPA. Employees at Ace Pawn Shop, located at 532 S. Walnut St., said on any given day they take in about a hundred items.\n"If I had to ballpark it, I would say there are more than 13,000 pawn shops across the country," said Bob Benidict, executive director of the NPA. "We're in the process of counting them all right now, but it's an overwhelming task." \nRepresentatives of the NPA said there are several reasons for the increase in demand for pawn shops; among them are the deregulation of banks, the relaxed regulations on pawnshops and the inability of people without collateral to get a loan from the bank. \nPawn shops' unique qualities are that they buy almost anything that people are willing to sell. \n"I'll try anything once ... I bought a dump truck once," Haggerty said. "I'll never do that again. ... It was too hard to store." \nPawn shops accept anything from electronics to stuffed animal heads to bear skin rugs.\n"People ask if we take smoking accessories ... which of course we don't take them, but people always ask," said Ben Williams, an employee at Ace Pawn Shop.\nPawn shops also make small loans for quick cash on any item. \n"Someone brings in an item, we assess the value. We try to sell things at around half the value," said Jeremy Hurley, an employee at Ace Pawn Shop. "We need to buy it at about half of that or loan it about half of that. We issue a loan on the item, then we hold the item in back ... until the person can buy their item back".\nSince many college students are no strangers to money troubles, the idea of fast cash is very appealing. Haggerty said most of her costumers are just hard-working people in the surrounding community who need a little help. The NPA said its average customer is a young male who may have graduated from high school but did not graduate from collage. \n"We get a surge of people in August when school starts up, but of course the population of the town has just doubled," Haggerty said.\nWilliams said he sees college students wanting to buy items more than sell or try to get loans. \n"In the beginning of the year we see a lot of students coming in looking for electronics, dorm fridges, TVs and things like that," Williams said. \nSenior Cara Baltzell and junior Evayn Burns visited Ace Pawn Shop browsing for living room decorations for their new house. For $110, about the price of one new TV, the girls got two large TVs -- one for each of the living rooms in their house. \nPawn shops have something for just about everyone, Haggerty said. \n"I came in looking to buy games for my old-school Nintendo. This is the only place in town where you can find the games," said senior Ryan Barett, while shopping at Ace Pawn Shop. \nNot everyone has a positive view of pawn shops, however.\n"There is so much negative (opinions) out there about pawn shops and that's just not true at all," Haggerty said.\nHaggerty said she always has to fight the stereotype that pawn shops are places for junkies and thieves. The truth is it is very hard for thieves to sell stolen merchandise at pawn shops, Haggerty said. People who try to sell something or get a loan must, by law, provide their basic information, two forms of ID and a thumb print. Haggerty said the thumb print is important because it is extremely hard to forge a thumb print. \nEach item sold goes on a list that is given to the police. The item has to be held for 10 days until the police tell the pawn shop that there is no record of that item stolen in the area. \n"When I started I thought (finding stolen items) would be fairly (regular)," Hurley said. "But it's really less then one item a month."\nBut Hurley said he gets about one junkie every other day. \n"In Bloomington, even the junkies who are looking for money really aren't that bad," he said. "They are a little confused; they have problems, but they're not dangerous." \nA national law prohibits pawn shop employees from buying or giving loans to anyone under 18 years or anyone who is drunk or under the influence of drugs. \n"(Drug addicts are) a weird set of people to deal with on a daily basis," Hurley said. "You don't want to give them too much money; you want to give them enough for a taco, but not enough for a crack rock."\nEven though a few stolen items and a few people trying to get fast drugs and money come into pawn shops, Haggerty said, pawn shops are really there to help people who are in a financial bind. \n"A lot of college kids don't come because they don't know where we are," Haggerty said. "So they go to the mall and spend twice what they have to. But if you're a bargain hunter, you'll really have fun in pawn shops. You'll never know what you'll find."\n-- Contact staff writer Amy Barnicle at abarnicl@indiana.edu.