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Pawn Shop Near me + Zipcode Search: 10 High-Paying Locations!

Pawn Shop Near Me

So, are you looking to sell or pawn used items (or unused items) in exchange for cash?

Well, you are in luck my friend. You can consider a pawn shop near me and you.

It may sound unusual but it is not. Selling or pawning used items at pawnshops (or owning a pawn shop business franchise) is one of the best side hustles to make extra money

Note: Selling and pawning are two different concepts. Pawning is the method of loaning money by keeping a collateral in possession of the pawn shop owner.

We will go over the basics as well as different pawn shop business franchise in this post. So, read it till the end.

📌 If you read this post till the end, you will learn

PART I – Pawn shops nearest to me and you to sell or pawn items

PART II – The basics of pawn shops, including, what it is and how does it work

PART III – Owing a pawn shop franchise

Want to sell used items on eBay instead? Check this out.

Looking for other side hustle ideas, grab this list of weekend jobs

Now, without further wasting your precious time, lets identify best pawn shops nearest me and you.

The post includes affiliate links.

Want to make money quickly? Here are a few platforms to earn up to $25 – $50 in a few minutes!

PART I – Pawn Shop Nearest to me

While you can use the following form to find the nearest pawn shops to me (or you), I recommend you use the search

Just enter in your zip code and find all pawn shops nearest to me and you ranked by real Google reviews.


If you are thinking which of the pawn shops nearest to me are the most reliable, just go with one of these names

  • Cash America
  • Money Mizer
  • Port City Trade Pawn Shop
  • God’s Silver Money
  • Gold and Silver Refinery
  • Pawn Castle
  • Castle Gold
  • 1st United Pawn and Loan
  • Countrywide Gold Buyers
  • Valley Goldmine

Besides them, these are also leading pawn shops available near you

  • Gold and Silver Pawn Shop
  • Metro Pawn
  • American Jewelry and Loan
  • Simon Jewelry
  • Dock Brothers Pawn Shop
  • Hoosier God Buyer
  • Cash America Pawn
  • Pawn Plus
  • Super Pawn
  • Lew Silver Diamond Brokers
  • Hendrick’s County Estate Buyers
  • Crazy Mary’s Buy and Sell
  • Aaron’s Jewelry and Loan Inc.
  • Alex Gold and Silver and Laptops
  • Alex and ANI Venetian

These are the best and the most reliable pawn shops nearest to you.

You can also use the following terms in Google to find pawns shops near me

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  • local pawn shops in my area
  • pawn shops that buy jewelry near me
  • jewelry pawn near me etc

If you are interested in knowing the basics of pawn shops, keep reading.

PART II – Pawn Shop Basics

What is a Pawn Shop?

Now that we have talked about pawn shops near me and you, let’s take a step back and learn what a pawn shop is.

Pawn is a Latin word which means “pignus”, which means, pledge. The items that are collected by pawnbrokers are known as pawns, pledges or collaterals.

pawn shop is a legal business that grants secured loans to people in exchange for personal property (as a means of collateral).

Those who offer a loan are called pawnbroker and the money they make are interest charged on the loans procured against pawns or pledges.

Besides that, you can also sell valuable items to a pawn shop. Pawn Stars, anyone?


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What Items Does a Pawn Shop Accept?

A lot of items! If you watch pawn stars, you should already know this.

You can deal in jewelry, home audio equipment, musical instruments, computers, televisions, video game systems, power tools, cameras and other valuables.

Either sell the valuables or get a loan keeping those items as collateral.

According to Statista, people pawn the following items

What Happens If I Don’t Pay Back My Loan?

That is a valid question.

If an individual refuses to pay back a loan (or fails to do so), the pawnbroker takes full ownership of the item.

They generally sell the item to recover the cost of the loan. The items can also be traded for other items.

Can I Trade Firearms?

Pawn shops have firearm licenses to trade rifles and pistols to individuals who meet the federal and state acquisition criteria. That said, firearm trading is exclusive to a few states in the U.S.

Besides the firearms, you can also pawn platinum, silver, gold and broken jewellery with less value.

Why Use a Pawnshop?

We’re seeing more people who have never been in a pawnshop before looking for short-term solutions without having to sell the farm,” says Rick Harrison, whose family owns the Gold and Silver Pawnshop in Las Vegas and stars in the History Channel series “Pawn Stars.”

According to numbers recorded by national pawnbrokers association cited by WSAV, the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia, over 20 million Americans have made use of pawn shops.

Pawn shops help a lot of people

  • Meet their daily financial needs
  • Get small loans for emergencies,
  • Sell valuables quickly

They help with electricity, fuel, pay for utility, and also keep the landlord away to provide a safety net for 30 millionAmericans.

In fact, a lot of citizens are now opting for pawn shops, kiosks, and roadside shops to get cash for selling electronics, tools, jewellery and other personal stuff

What Are the Dangers of Pawn Shops?

Before you use a pawn shop, you need to be acquainted with dangers of pawn shops.

Why? Because many of these pawn shops take advantage of inexperienced people!

Before running to the nearest pawn shop, you should understand how to save yourself and have the following considerations in mind:

  • If you go to your nearest pawn shop and they force you to borrow more than you need (or want to), you should leave.

    This is a tactic to Pawn shops adopt to leave you swimming in debt and to takeover the valuable you put as a collateral.
  • When you find the best pawn shop near me or you, investigate about the interest rate charged on loans and any additional fees you accumulate on it.

    So, make the necessary inquiries so you know what you’re signing up for.
  • Before you set out to to the pawn shop nearest to me and you, you should know the minimum price for your belongings and negotiate the money (as well as the terms).

    Make sure repayment is made in time else the pawnshop may keep your item or charge you excess fees.

How Much Money Can You Get From a Pawn Shop?

In a give year, over 30 million Americans visit the 11,000 available pawn shops in the US.

Pawn shops can help those in need by securing the loan they need

On average, they can secure a loan of about $150.

Advantages of Taking Out Pawn Shop Loans

There are many banks and micro-finance institutions that allow you to take up a loan at the most competitive rates but a pawn shop is just as safe.

While it is not possible to get huge loans at a pawn shops, it is definitely possible to get a smaller loan.

Emergencies and need for money are NOT always huge. So you can always visit a pawn shop when you need a small amount of fast cash.

Pawnshops have a lot of advantages when it comes to other loans. Here are a few of them:

#1 Loans Are Instant

Pawn shop loans are instant and fast.

If you’re looking for loans that are processed faster, then pawn shop loans are your best option.

It can take weeks and months to process a loan from banks but it is just a matter of a few minutes at a pawn shop.

All you need is a valuable collateral that matches your money needs.

#2 No Credit Checks

Well, this can be pretty useful for people with a bad credit history.

Another reason why pawn loans are preferred because there is no credit check policy.

In fact, a pawnbroker will not care about your positive or negative credit score.

They will never ask about it because the collateral you have will be enough to secure the loan.

#3 No Impact on Your Credit Rating

Pawn shops do not care about. credit checks so their services do not affect your credit rating.

On the other hand, microfinance institutions and banks care a lot about credit ratings

#4 Get Multiple Loans

You can get multiple pawn loans at a pawn shop. If you decide to get five loans, 5 days of the week – it is allowed till the time you have the collateral.

For each loan request, you have to bring new collateral.

#5 No consequence for non payment

Other than you do not get your item back, there are no consequences of non payment of loans from pawn shops.

Have you used a pawn shop? Let us know by posting in the comments below!

If you are interested in owning a pawn shop, keep reading.

PART III – Owing a Pawn Shop

Let’s look at how to start a pawn shop business.

How Do Pawn Shops Make Money?

By now, if you read this post on closest pawn shops near me or you, you know how pawn shops make money.

But, if you are interested in owning a pawn shop or looking to start your own pawn shop, we will go over EVERYTHING in this section.

When a customer does not pay the loan or is unable to pay the loan within the agreed period, the pawn broker becomes the owner of the collateral you gave them.

They can now recoup the money that was loaned by selling the item in his possession. Common items that are pawned by customers include electronics, gold, silver, platinum, metal, gemstones, tools, musical instruments and collectibles.


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How Much Does a Pawn Shop Make?

Oooo. Interesting question!

Pawn shops are generate tonnes of money each year. In this year alone, pawnshops generated $14 billion in revenue and is estimated to increase by 7 percent with a project of $15.6 billion.

With time, the customer base of pawn shops are growing.

According to ABC News reports, people have brought in their Harry Winston diamonds, Cartier jewelry and even an NFL SuperBowl ring to pawn shops operating in Beverly Hills.

How to start a pawn shop business – A Starter Guide

Starting a pawn shop business near your location is very profitable. In fact, the return on investment is one of the driving factors behind people wanting to go in the industry.

The one and only risk in the business (a prominent risk) is of stolen goods. But, if you are careful about and follow the recommended guidelines, you are good to go.

As a pawn broker, you are responsible to establish the idetification of the everyone who gets to the shop.

Some laws require you to establish a holding period of the item to allow the local enforcement authorities time to track the item if it was stolen.

Some places require pawn shops to submit list of all pawned items each month to the police. If there is a robbery or burglary, police also recommends owners to check up with nearest pawn shops if the item came into their shop

These are some of the way stolen goods are dealt with. But, that is not the subject matter of this post.

Getting back to profitability –

You are profited either way.

  • If the customer is able to give back the money, you earn with interest
  • If the customer is unable to pay back, you sell the item to recoup the money. In many cases, the items cost a lot more than the money loaned (especially when jewellery is pawned)

Starting a Pawn Shop Business – Market Research and Feasibility Studies

  • Understanding Demographics and Psychographics

There are millions of people who use a pawn shop service for various reasons – to sell, buy or to get a loan.

Depending on the reason, the following people are the kind of people that use the services of a pawn shop:

  • Wealthy people
  • Business men and business women
  • The general public
  • Students
  • Office workers

List of Niche ideas Within the Pawn Brokerage Industry That You Can Specialize in

Just like every other business, pawn shops also have niches.

If you want to start a pawn shop business, the following niches are the most profitable ones –

  • High-value niche
  • Jewelry and electronic niche
  • Musical instrument niche
  • Go-carts niche
  • Electric wheel-chair niche
  • Tools niche
  • Motorcycle niche
  • Car niche
  • Motor homes niche

The Level of Competition in the Pawn Brokerage Industry

The only way to survive in the pawn shop industry is to acquire knowledge of how industry works.

A few tips to break in –

  • Learn how the industry works

  • Go into a profitable pawn shop niche

  • Cater to the needs of your location. If your pawn shop is in a posh location, a low class pawn shop will not work

  • Create a unique and interesting experience to draw them in.

  • Get sufficient capital to build a solid pawn loan base.

  • Acquire the knowledge to identify and differentiate metals.

    You will be out of business quickly if you cannot differentiate between different precious metals (or differentiate between fake and real) brought into your shop.

Legal and other economic requirements

Before you start a pawn shop, you need to carry out a critical economic analysis to protect your business from the risks

For example, you need. to need to learn about

  • Minimum holding times
  • Maximum financial charges
  • Unredeemed pledge disposals and
  • Other important business metrics that you will need to comply with etc

There are several how-to books, programs and industry experts that are available for you. Making use of them will avoid any mistakes and give you a better financial security for your pawn shop business

Is a Pawn Shop Worth Starting from Scratch or is Buying a Franchise Better?

  • Independent: If you’re ready for it and want to be independent, consider starting your own pawn shop business from scratch. You can have full control over the business and transfer ownership to your children as well.

  • Franchise: If you want to work with a popular name, you can take on the franchise of an existing brand. While you will remain an independent business owner, but you will have to work within the restrictions of your franchise agreement.

According to the latest reports by National Pawnbrokers, 85% of pawn stores are independently owned small businesses or small regional chains.

Starting a Pawn Shop Business – Legal Matters

Best legal entity to use for a pawn shop

  • You will fall under a wide variety of mandatory local, state and federal regulations and compliance.

  • Establish a legal structure – corporation or a sole proprietorship.

    A corporation will help you enjoy limited liability. Meaning, your liability is restricted to the amount of money you have invested in the business

    A sole proprietor, on the other hand, put all liabilities on you. That means, you personal belongings (like, house and car) can be seized to pay off debts (liability)

The Best Insurance Policy Needed for a Pawn Shop

It is important to have the right insurance policy for your pawn shop. It helps covers the risk and protect your business from losses.

The following are some of the insurance policies you need, should you intend to start a pawn shop business:

  • General Liability insurance
  • Business property insurance
  • Property coverage insurance
  • Business owner’s policy
  • Business auto insurance
  • Commercial umbrella policy
  • Health insurance
  • Risk Insurance
  • Fire insurance policy
  • Payment protection insurance
  • Professional liability insurance
  • Workers comp insurance

Intellectual Property Protection and Trademark

If you are serious about building a pawn shop business, then consider intellectual property registrations.

In order to file for intellectual property and also register the trademark of your pawn shop business, you are required to begin the process with the USPTO.

Is Professional Certification Needed to Run a Pawn Shop?

It is always better to have some form of training for you and your staff to get an edge over your competitors.

Trained staff will make your life much easier as a pawn shop owner.

The following trainings can be advantageous to the success of a pawn shop business.

  • Pawn shop operation and management
  • Gold appraisals training
  • Diamond appraisals
  • Gadget appraisals

List of Legal Documents You Need to Run a Pawn Shop

Like every other business, pawn shop always requires you have to legal documents.

Some pawn shops are licensed at state levels, others at local level and it could be licensed at both levels.

The following are the list of some legal documents that you need to have to set up your pawn shop business:

  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Business License
  • Business Plan
  • DBA business name
  • Non – disclosure Agreement
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
  • Pawnbroker’s license
  • Precious metal dealer license
  • Second hand dealer license
  • Sales tax permit
  • Federal tax identification
  • Federal firearms license
  • Operating Agreement
  • Company Bylaws
  • Operating Agreement for LLCs

Detailed Cost Analysis for Starting a Pawn Shop Business

The following are only for reference purpose and will change according to the location of your pawn shop.

But, for starters –

  • The Total Fee for incorporating a business – $750.

  • The budget for permits, Insurance and license – $10,000

  • The Amount needed to rent a suitable office with enough space (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) – $30,000.

  • The Cost for equipping of the office (shelves, lockable display cases, cash register, security system, furniture, filing cabinets, safety gadgets, computers, printers, telephones, fax machines, and electronics) – $20,000

  • The Cost to Launch an official Website – $700

  • Additional Expenditure (Signage, Business cards, Adverts and Promotions) – $2,500

  • Miscellaneous expenses- $5,000

In short –

  1. To set up a small scale business, you will need $100,000

  2. For a medium scale modeling agency business, you will need an average of $1, 000,000

  3. For a large scale business, you need up to $10,000,000

Financing Your Pawn Shop Business

You may have the capital to start your pawn shop business BUT if you don’t, the following are ways by which you can fund your pawn shop business:

  • Raising capital from selling personal stocks, properties and personal savings.

  • Raising capital from investors and business partners

  • Applying for a bank loan

  • Pitching your business idea and applying for seed funding from donor organizations and angel investors

  • Sourcing for loans from your friend and family members.

  • Using money from your Credit cards

  • Getting cash advance against the income from your credit card

  • Raising money through venture capital

  • Through grants and subsidies


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Choosing a Location for Your Pawn Shop Business

Besides the obvious “I want to like a location” requirement, the laws also put in certain restrictions. For example, you cannot have a pawn shop within. a certain periphery of schools.

You need to contact your city planning department before you select a location for your pawn shop.

You can also consider occupying an old pawn shop in a safe neighbourhood to reduce the need for additional permits and zoning approval.

You should also keep the following considerations in mind –

  • Mode of operation
  • demography of the location
  • The amount of foot traffic
  • The availability of competition
  • Proximity to other businesses and services
  • Accessibility of the place and parking space for your clients
  • Ordinances and zoning restrictions
  • Traffic and security
  • The building’s infrastructure in terms of what is required to support the high technology needs of contemporary business

Starting a Pawn Shop – The Marketing Plan

Marketing Ideas and Strategies for a Pawn Shop Business

Marketing of your pawn shop to potential clients can be carried out through the following methods:

  • Advertising on the company website or through magazine ads
  • Giving updates on social media about your pawn shop
  • Informing local media to put word out about your pawn shop
  • Printing business cards and fliers
  • Sending out press releases
  • Giving special incentives to your first set of clients so that they can spread word around about your pawn shop
  • Creating a company brochure to show clients
  • Listing your pawn shop on local directories/yellow pages
  • Advertising on radio and television stations

Finding and Creating a Suppliers / Distribution Network

  • Join the national pawnbrokers association.

  • Consider forming an alliance with other pawn shops in the business. This way, you can be able to learn from one another and trade valuable information with each other in the business.

Best Pawn Shop Business Franchises

If you want to own a pawnshop franchise in the United States and wish to be among the remunerative industry by being a franchise owner, these are your options

#1 Cash America

Cash America is one of the biggest chains of pawn shops in America which allows you to get cash for valuable items or products.

Not only did Cash America bring a tremendous change in the pawn shop industry with developed business practices, but it also introduced the concept of modern buildings and shops.

Even without looking, I can be sure that Cash America must have a pawn shop near me and you!

After all, it has pawn shops over 500 locations in the US.

This is a local store that offers individuals easy access to convert items for cash. Cash America makes it possible for various types of items and products to be sold by customers.

If you want to take up a franchise for Cash America, it can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000.

However, the actual cost of setting up a pawn shop franchise depends on location and size.

#2 Money Mizer

Money Mizer, found in 1980s, is a popular pawn shop that trades in old as well as new items and products.  

You can deal in jewellery, computers, sporting goods, antique, cameras and other variety of goods.

You can own a Money Mizer franchise but the you will need

To own a Money Mizer franchise, you would require;

  • Liquid capital – $150,000
  • Net worth – $300,000 to $500,000
  • Total investment – $260,000 – $950,000

If you are not sure of “k” or 6 figures, 7 figures, 8 figures etc, check out what is 6, 7, 8 and 9 figures

#3 Port City Trade Pawn Shop

To open a Port City Trade franchise, you need between $100,000 to $380,000.

Besides that, you will also need an initial fee of $30,000 and an annual renewal licensing fee (or royalty fee) for $2,500.

A minimum of ten years agreement terms is also required.

  • Initial fee – $30,000
  • Royalty fee – annual licensing renewal fee – $2,500
  • Terms of agreement – 10 years

#4 God’s Silver Money

God’s Silver Money, as the name suggest, is one of the biggest dealers in modern coin and is headquatered in Indiana.

They are popular for selling and collecting currency, silver and gold, old coins, precious. metals and lots more.

The total investment required to start God’s Silver Money pawn shop franchise is $125k and above

#5 Gold and Silver Refinery

They sell and collect gold as well as silver items.

While the initial fee is $15,000, the initial investment cost is $25000 and royalty fee is about $10000.

The agreements is required to be signed for 10 years and advertising is 20% of royalty fee.

  • Initial investment – $25,000
  • Initial fee – $15,000
  • Royalty fee – $10,000
  • Advertising – 20 percent of royalty fee
  • Terms of agreement – 10 years

#6 Pawn Castle

Pawn Castle buys and sells valuables and pay cash in return. They deal in jewelry, gold, silver, precious stones, old cash laptops etc

So, basically any item which is valuable can be exchanged for cash only.

In their franchise agreement, the franchisee owner owns 80 percent of the company and gives Pawn Castle 20 percent stock fund ownership to be invested back into the business.

  • Up front fee: $10,000
  • Monthly fee: 5 percent of gross

#7 Castle Gold

Castle Gold buy and sell gold, diamonds, pawning and rental mart. You can also get money and cash for silver, gold and platinum scrap

They operate three types of business models and all three have different startup costs.

  • Street retail business (walk-in) – $50,000 initial capital
  • Shopping center business (walk-in) – $100,000 initial capital
  • Free standing business (drive thru) – $300,000 initial capital

#8 1st United Pawn and Loan

1st United Pawn and load pawn jewellery for cash and give loan to people. In fact, they accept a variety of items as collateral. 

They also deal in collectibles, money, precious gems, coins metal antiques and lots more.

This pawn shop has been chosen by law firms and financial companies for numerous independent appraisals.

#9 Countrywide Gold Buyers

Countrywide Gold Buyers was founded in 2006.

The main focus of their dealing is to buy and recycle diamonds and precious metals.

  • Initial investment – $42,500 to $72,000
  • Net worth requirement – $80,000
  • Initial franchise fee – $29,900
  • Royalty fee – 6 percent
  • Veteran incentives – 15 percent off franchise fee
  • Units in operation – 16

#10 Valley Goldmine

Valley Goldmine deals in gold and turns it into cash.

They also deal in silver, gold, platinum, coins, jewellery, bullion, scrap gold, sterling silverware, dental gold and lots more.

Valley Goldmine offers quality private consultations to individuals who are interested.

  • Liquid capital required – $20,000
  • Total investment – $19,565 – $47,105

There you go. This is all about how to start a pawn shop business


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