Many feel that the cost of living is just too much to afford right now and to make ends meet, some are pawning and selling their valuable items.
Palace Jewelry and Loan in downtown Reno says the amount of money they loan has skyrocketed in the last year.
They say the main reason for that is people just need a few extra bucks to survive.
Pawning is when someone gives up an item of value in exchange for money.
Then, they can come back later and re-buy the item, plus interest, if it hasn't sold already.
"When people come in, they're obviously not in the best of mood. They're not the happiest that they could be because a lot of times they're looking for money." Says Jory Mack, the C.O.O. of Palace Jewlery and Loan.
"We're in the life happens business," said General Manager Robert Allen. "You know, somebody has got medical issues, their car breaks down, kid need something for school, things like that. That's when they come see us to get that extra income to get that extra money."Â
"Usually, it's a very cyclical business so what happens is when the economy is down, the loan base goes up," said Mack. "When the economy is up the loan base goes down and people are buying stuff."
Allen also said that about 70% of people that pawn their things come back for them, and that in that last six to 12 months, they do about a hundred transactions a day.Â
Allen told me about an experience he had just today with a customer saying "A young man came in here earlier today needed 20 dollars because he's running his AC so much in his car. So yeah, we've seen a lot of that. It's all economy based."
Allen told me that when the economy is good, he doesn't have much inventory because everyone is buying.
When it's bad, his store is fully stocked.
