Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Only In America: Pawn Shops for the (Formerly) Rich

The rich have always faced periodic “liquidity shortfalls,” where they have plenty of assets but not enough cash, according to a report in the Wall St Journal. Yet apparently, those shortfalls are becoming more common in the bad economy. And the cash-poor rich are fueling a continued rise in high-end pawn shops.

According to an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, business is booming at Boca Raton Pawn, which will pawn everything from Hublot watches and Jimmy Choo shoes to diamonds and Lamborghinis. The shop recently got a call about a Picasso.
“We looked around and there were really no pawn shops in the area catering to the rich,” owner Seth Marcus said. “We call ourselves a pawn shop, but we’re really a high-end collateral lender….”

Boca Raton Pawn is part of a growing cottage industry of pawning to the rich. They work like regular pawn shops, where the shop gives a loan based on a piece of collateral that it holds. If the loan isn’t paid back, the shop sells the collateral. The only difference is that high-end pawn shops deal in bigger numbers….

There's more at http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/09/27/pawn-shops-for-the-formerly-rich/?mod=WSJBlog

1 comment:

  1. It is right that Pawn buisness is booming but when we look at the pawn shops catering for the poor than they are very few names to think about.
    httpm://pawnutah.co

    ReplyDelete