The Rich Turn to Pawnshops

Where do you take that Movado Fiero watch if you come up a little short this month? Try the pawnshop! Though the income of a typical pawnshop customer is $29,000, The Wall Street Journal reports that middle- and upper-class customers are now streaming into pawnshops in search of cash. Several pawnbrokers tell the paper of an uptick in luxury cars pulling up outside their doors. An Evanston, Ill., pawnbroker says he had one woman who arrived with a $9,000 fur coat from Saks: She said “she needed a loan to help buy private-school uniforms for her child.”