Area Pawn Shops See Blizzards Of Holiday Shoppers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One of the hottest spots for holiday shopping isn't the mall -- it's the local pawn shop.
And business is brisk, according to Tod Gordon, president of Carver W. Reed, a jewelry pawn shop at 10th and Sansom Streets in center city.
Gordon says this holiday season has been very merry, with shoppers flocking in and spending.
"High-end watches seem to be the number one thing people are asking for: Rolexes, Piaget, Patik Phillipe," Gordon notes.
He says some of the watches retail for nearly $100,000 -- so why buy it at a pawn shop?
"They would buy it here because they'd be able to buy it for 50 cents on the dollar -- maybe half price -- and get the same warranty and guarantee as going into a store and buying one brand-new in the box," Gordon says.
He adds that it's obvious to him that the economy is turning around, because not only are more people buying bling, but fewer are looking to pawn their possessions.
Reported by Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060.
