'Hardcore Pan' star Les Gould says the economy is driving customers to pawn goods

US News

Charles Greitz, Fox News

As the U.S. economy continues to slump under President Biden's tenure, pawn shops across the country are seeing an increase in customers looking to pawn their items rather than reclaim them, former „Hardcore Pawn” star and Detroit pawnbroker Les Gould told Fox News.

Gould, who starred in the hit TrueTV series between 2010 and 2015, said pawnbrokers are „street-level economists,” along with her grown children and pawnbrokers Ashley and Seth at American Jewelry and Lending. Economic conditions Improvement or deterioration before the media.

„I see it every day,” he said, referring to the two customer lines a pawn shop typically has — the „redeem” line and the „soldier” line.

„Right now, the pawn line is twice as long as the rescue line for people buying stuff,” he said on „The Ingraham Angle.”

Gold has reflected a significant increase in customers visiting its 8 Mile store in the last six months, who are in dire need of cash to finance basic needs.

„They need to put food on their table, gas in their tank and a roof over their head, so we're seeing a lot of customers coming in for loans right now,” he said.

When host Laura Ingraham pointed out how such a move shows Americans living month-to-month, Gold said customers' economic woes are worse than that.

„You say month by month,” he said. „Our customers, our customers, are pledging things to make it through the week. They're not worried about next month.

„They – you know – may or may not get a check, but they come every day to pawn their stuff because, like I said, they only need money for necessities.”

The precedent is not unique to American jewelry and debt, but pawnbrokers across the country report similar conditions, while some suggest that they look to pawn shops as a means of accessing credit and money in banks, since the latter usually require credit checks and so on. .

„The good thing is pawn shops — the stuff that's being pawned, they're unsecured loans, so it's not going to affect their credit scores or their ability to get a loan,” he said.

While many customers seek to pawn fixed items such as electronics, furniture or jewelry, Gold noted some exotic items that people came to pawn.

The late pathologist and right-to-die supporter Dr. Gould noted that a van owned by Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan native.

Gold described making a bet with the person who pawned it, where he would pay $20,000 or $40,000.

Gold bought the van for $20,000.

„So, it still wasn't worth the money, but the idea of ​​having something so iconic — I had to make the deal.”