I'm not sure about in other areas... But I know in my area that a lot of these places are working on shoestring budgets. A bad month or 2 or 3 and they start hurting for money. If PMs stay at these levels you will see many of them gone.
Gold has been in a deflationary doldrum for a bit. There are little hiccoughs like the Crimea River crisis that temporarily bump it up a bit. Otherwise it is slowly flatlining.
I have never been to one, I would think as business slows, they will need to keep lowering their buy price to stay in business.
The ones local to me pay 50% to 60%. They don't care if 9 out of 10 walk... They just need the big hits...
I've heard of them paying as low as 20-30%, and as high as 90% (gold melt). So it depends on the shop really......
Around my little burg in the world the best places to sell scrap PM are a couple of coin shops and some better known and well established, ie been around since the Civil War jewelry stores. I believe we are now down to just one cash for gold place.
I tested one of these shops in my area with a 2009 $50.00 AGE and 2009 a $50.00 AGB and was offered 95% spot price. I then went to a large jewelry store with a "buying gold" sign and was offered 60% of spot price.