If you live in the suburbs, and you’ve been wondering how you can offload that used Rolex for some walking around money, I have good news for you:
A slice of urban grit is moving to the suburbs.
Pawn shops are becoming increasingly more popular in areas outside New York City, and some residents aren’t pleased about it.
The sign of the pawnbroker, familiar in the concrete jungle of Gotham, is coming soon to a suburban street near you.
This is very exciting news, I think. I’ve become a big fan of all those cable shows featuring pawn brokers buying up stuff, so I’m looking forward to something like “Pawn Stars: Westchester” on my basic cable lineup this fall.
And anytime that I find some antiques lying around the house, and am looking to get a good 20 cents on the dollar on my way to Atlantic City, I no longer have to lug them into the city.
Seriously, do people really need pawn shops anymore? Ebay is basically a big pawn shop where you can sell basically anything and probably get a better price rather than negotiating with a guy who probably knows more about what you’re selling than you do, and does this all day long.
While I’m on the subject, why do people bring specialty items into pawn stores?Every week on Pawn Stars, some guy comes in with a Civil War rifle or something, and big bald Rick tells them he’ll have to bring an expert in to appraise it. Why don’t those people just bring it to the expert in the first place? And then why do they stand there and let the appraiser value it, only to then sell it for 60 cents on the dollar to Rick? Those people drive me crazy. GO TO EBAY!
All that said, as the honorary and self-appointed driver of the “Moving to the Suburbs of Manhattan” Welcome Wagon, let me just say to the owners of all these wonderful pawn shops — Welcome to the Suburbs!
