Pawn Stars store

Hey guys,

I finally went over to the "Pawn Stars" store !! I have been promising to do so for quite a while now and finally got my wife to drive me over. What a surprise I must say.

It is nothing at all like the TV show. It's more like a sound stage set.

There were a lot of people inside lined along the counters and display cases, so I though it was a Queue and stood in it. Well, it was just people looking at stuff. I saw some swords displayed that I thought were ones featured on an episode and the famous "bowling ball cannon". But as I said it was kinda crowded, so I couldn't look at much.

Anyway, I wanted to see what pawn value a couple of things I had might be worth. To do that, there was a counter kinda like at McDonald's with 3 cash registers. When called I went up and I had an antique compass plane I had taken as a "beard". Because my slabs were in my pocket and I wanted it to look like the plane was what I had.

First off, the guy says "We don't take antique tools". I said I have something else. So I showed him my 1988 D reverse 89. It's slabbed by ANACS as most of you know and is one of the 2 AU55 shown in the pop report. The guy tells me "We don't take copper". At that point I replied "This is a 1988 D RDV006, reverse 89". He says it's a "penny to me". LOL So I replied "Maybe I should show it to one of the big boys". He told me "They don't come here anymore".

At least there was no line of people wanting to Pawn or sell stuff. I was able to walk right up. I didn't have to wait to buy souvenirs either. The crowd was people just looking. They were lined up all along the counters. It reminded me of a big flea market to tell the truth.

OK, I had about $100 face junk silver in the car, so I asked what their buy price was. He told me 6 x face for halves and smaller. They would look up a price for dollars.

Now, I am laying skid marks with my tennies back to the car. It was a good laugh ! I apologized to my wife for driving me across town to go there. She mentioned that some of the tourists were complaining about none of the "Celebrities" bothering to come into the store anymore. I guess a lot of people were upset over that ?

I did get back by the big tables of Souvenirs. They had all the typical gift shop stuff. From key fobs to sweat shirts. It really reminded me of the Souvenir store on Sahara with all the Las Vegas stuff. Except this was all Pawn Stars related. I got a few things to send to some of my "mint trading pals" whom I know watch the show.

My wife also told me there was a display of coins for sale. Honestly, I missed that entirely. I just figured after talking with the guy, they weren't interested in coins much at all. I was surprised when she told me. So I didn't check any of that out, I am sorry to say.

It was a good thing to get out of my system. I was glad I hadn't taken any antique guns or anything else. And I am glad I didn't need to get a loan, as I had no collateral. lol

I am glad the guys "made it" and now are retired. They came up with a cool idea that was successful. I did learn the real "store" is nothing like what I imagined from the show. I guess if you do have a "rarity", you probably need to audition like the Antiques Road Show or something ?

It was fun to see. Enlightening, and, I got all desire to go out of my system. But truthfully, I think if you get over here to Vegas, it's something you should check out for yourselves. Parking was easy with plenty of spaces and traffic wasn't too bad for a Saturday. It would be worth your time and was something to see.

gary

 

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I went in the store in January 2010. My thoughts were similar to yours. None of the "stars" were there but I wouldn't expect them to be there at 6 PM on a Friday in January. The store seemed smaller in real life and it was somewhat dingy. The few coins I saw in their case were common and overpriced. I was not impressed.

 

Thanks for the write up. Im not surprised they didnt bother with your coin, sounds like they dont know much other then the basics of coins.

I enjoy the show very much but I really have no desire to see the shop in-person even though vegas is 4 hours away.

Even though its on TV, it's heart is still a pawn shop.

 

I love pawn stars. I wonder how they make money if everyone is just there to look for the stars themselves?

 

Do they even sell any merchandise or is it all souvenirs? Sounds disappointing. If the "stars" don't come in anymore does that mean the show is over? Seemed cheesy and scripted anyway.

 

Last time I was there was when the show was pretty new. I think my wife and I were the only ones in the store, besides the doorman and an employee working the register, and the old man was there, doing apparently nothing. Of course, that was during the middle of the week as I avoid the strip on weekends for good cause.
Guy

 

I guess they sell stuff. But my wife said a lot of people were looking at jewelry and handing it back ? As I mentioned, I only have collectibles, coins and guns and it didn't seem there was any interest in anything I have. There was no reason to hang around, so we left quickly. I wonder if they might have sold the store and their name ? Possibly a franchised thing ? But it was all in fun and still a good day. The weather was perfect for a drive out and about even if some streets were blocked off for Heldarado Days.

 

Expert: "Retail, at auction, you're looking at $10,000 plus. Easy."
Rick: "Thanks for coming in and checking it out for us.... So, what do you want for it?"
Seller: "He said it's worth $10,000."




My favorite parts of the show.

 

Star are Grandpa & Chummily IMO& funny-Rick & Jr are a**holes

A few show back I loved seeing know it all Rick get burned:devil:
Was it Karma?I sure hope it was!!!

 

Too funny. :too-funny: Here is the next part:

Rick: "That's retail. I'm thinking $1,500...and I am really taking a chance here."
Seller: "How about $2,000?"
Old Man: "How about $1,000?"

 

I wouldn't be surprised if you went to the "American Pickers" store in Iowa, you would find the same thing. When you start seeing the swamp in Georgia begin constructing luxury hotels, you will know that "Swamp People" has made it to the big time as well.

 

Actually one of my co-workers was telling me about a friend of hers who just visited the American Pickers store a few weeks ago. He said one of the guys from the show was there and he was really nice (I assume it was Mike because I guess Frank has a different store). I guess they had a lot of show merchandise for sale too.

 

I always wondered where all those oil cans went after Frank bought them. I never saw any in the store shots from later episodes. I didn't realise he had his own store. There must be a benefit for keeping it incognito for him.

 

That's FUNNY !
Swim with the Water Mocassin packages and Wrangle your own gator, featuring famous swamp menu items like Gator tail stew and deep fried possum tail.

I bet they could even offer "Brave the Mosquito" package tours and stuff for the more extreme vacationeers.

gary

 

Me too. With 8 employees I counted. Only one person conducting a pawn transaction. No interest in any types of items I happened to have. I didn't think the souvenir stand was doing that great. It seemed the marked prices were where negotiations would start, but my wife said they weren't "dealing". Maybe the TV revenue is enough ? I truly couldn't say, but there were a lot of people, so maybe there's more "business" than we saw taking place. I think they are working on a lot wider margin than the TV show depicts. I mean Rick always seems to come in at about half on the show. But if 6x face on silver coins is typical, maybe they only pay about 20% of value ??

At any rate, it looked like a lot of overhead.

I am glad I left the 32S Washington at home. lol

 

I live about 20 minutes from the "Cake Boss" store in Hoboken, New Jersey and one time I wanted to stop in to get a few things because my wife told me that they have good Italian stuff and being have Italian I wanted to stop in,,,Well when we drove by ,,,there must have been a line about six blocks long with about 500 people on it. Well i told my wife that they couldn't have enough bakery goods in that small store for all those people. So I told her we can stop in on a weekday,,,,Well we did and it didn't make any differenece at all,, still a very long line with many people. The funny part about this was I don't think I seen one person come out of the store with a bakery box. I guess once you make it big anything goes and people still flock to you even if they are handing you nothing in return.

 

I would have said,,,, How about $12,000 and walked out

I have seen to many people on that show get ripped off.

 

Well, people who take a 10K item to a pawn shop in the first place are morons, and then to think they won't get lowballed...it's a pawn shop after all! Aside from the fact they're on tv, they're no different from any other pawn shop anywhere.
Guy

 

lucky you didnt drag in some massive junky antique that youd hate to have to take back just because they cant make a fair offer.

you see a tv show of a store that makes it look like its worth going to but once you get there you wonder what made you go there in the first place.

 

Welcome to the world of reality TV. It's all make believe.