Exploring the Lost Pawn Shops of New York City
I love secondhand shopping, including thrift & antique stores, tag sales, Craigslist, and free stores. The bargains are a factor, but I also prefer shopping for used things: you never know when you’re going to find something amazing. I also sell my used stuff at trade stores like Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads Trading Co., and sell back my books, CDs, and DVDs to apps and websites, which I’ve also written about for this site.
That said, I recently realized I had never been in a pawn shop. They aren’t on my radar at all. I didn’t even know where to find one in New York.
Pawn shops don’t work like regular secondhand stores, of course. The main purpose of a pawn shop is to pawn your valuables for a loan. You pay the loan back after a certain period of time, and if you can’t, the pawn shop keeps your item to sell. (You can also sell an item to a pawn shop outright.)
Pawn shops are mostly known for jewelry, especially silver, gold, and diamonds. Engagement rings are popular. They also take electronics and musical instruments. Pawn shops are a good place to go if you have something particular in mind, like a gold ring, or a guitar. But the merchandise in pawn shops has sad connotations. These are things that people parted with not because they wanted to, but because they had to, like someone having to pawn their great-grandmother’s ring for quick cash. Still, I was in the market for some noise-canceling headphones, which are expensive. Maybe I could find an unopened pair in a pawn shop? But does anyone actually shop at pawn shops?
As far as I knew, pawn shops have a reputation for ripping people off, so I used Time Out New York and New York Magazine as my guide. In Manhattan, most pawn shops are clustered around midtown in the Diamond District (mainly 47th St.) or above 110th St. Midtown is not a pleasant place to walk around (with the exception of Hell’s Kitchen). Even if you avoid Times Square, there’s little to be found but souvenir shops, terrible food, sketchy third party electronics stores, and office buildings.
My first stop was 48th Street Pawnbrokers, a tiny shop in a larger arcade, located between 5th and 6th Avenues. I was the only customer. They sold predominantly jewelry. Most of the merchandise was in the windows: there wasn’t much to see in the actual store. A sole fur coat hung on the wall, as well as some framed art. The price tags on the jewelry were hard to see — they clearly wanted you to inquire if you were interested. I saw a silver cameo necklace for $50 (pretty reasonable) and a gold cameo pendant for $175. There were gold plate charms from $49. I spotted some digital cameras under a sign that said “$10 As Is.” On my way out, two middle-aged ladies who had been window shopping went in.
Next was the much larger Gem Pawnbrokers on 8th near 40th St. One side of the store was lined with cases of jewelry, while the other was devoted to electronics. Instruments were in a little section at the back. In the window, engagement rings were arranged in trays by price, starting at $199.99. I saw Beats headphones from $149.99 — still too expensive to tempt me. There were iPhones, phone cases still in the box, speakers, cameras, and even an electric kettle (priced at $19.99). A belligerent man wandered in and began shouting “I’m looking for a job! Do you have a job for me?!” at the employees.
My last stop was at EZPAWN on 14th near 7th Avenue, a much less hectic location. There was a lot of jewelry, but again, the price tags were hard to see. There were two whole racks of DVDs, priced at around $5 each. They had headphones, but none were noise canceling. There were speakers and cameras as well as a wall of guitars. I noticed a small Louis Vuitton bag. There were two women pawning items, one a ring.
So I didn’t find anything to buy during my day of pawn shopping, nor was it a very fun experience. I realized that pawn shops are not for the casual shopper. Some are appointment only or inconveniently closed on weekends. At two out of the three stores I visited, you had to be buzzed in and out. The stores usually aren’t crowded, so it’s hard to go unnoticed if you just want to look around. At every shop I visited, an employee asked me if I was looking for anything in particular, and I told them I was just browsing. If you are looking to buy jewelry, you may be able to get a deal at a pawn shop; otherwise, the items are too expensive to interest most thrifters. And while I have a pretty high tolerance from frequenting thrift stores, the pawn shops made me slightly anxious. It was impossible to shake their sad nature.
Madeline Raynor is a New York City-based writer. She writes for New York Magazine and Slate, and has written for BUST Magazine, Splitsider, Death and Taxes, Mashable, Indiewire, and Time Out New York. She loves all things Tina Fey. Word to the wise: her first name is pronounced with a long “i,” like the red-haired girl from France. Follow her on Twitter @madelineraynor_.
