STARKVILLE — A step inside AAA Jewelry & Loan Co. on Highway 182 reveals a bargain hunter”s paradise.
Along one wall, guitars, ukuleles and other instruments are hung in rows. Drum sets sit nearby, along with amplifiers, foot pedals and other musical accessories.
Rifles line the wall behind the counter, along with artwork, car radios and speakers. Handguns and jewelry fill the counter, while the aisles throughout the store are lined by tables, lamps, cabinets, tools and appliances. Another cabinet features dozens of cameras, while yet another contains tiny figurines and sculptures.
Behind the counter, AAA Jewelry & Loan manager Pauline “Polly” McClain and employee Tony Bradway greet customers with a smile.
“We have the nicest customers in town,” McClain said.
How long have you been involved in the pawn shop business and how did you get started?
I”ve been here 22 years. What happened was, my daughter and her husband were in Columbus and he was acquainted with Herman Trulove, and Herman had worked in a pawn shop down in the Delta. I”ve forgotten where. Cleveland, I believe it was. They were musician friends. He and my son-in-law were musician friends and had been knowing each other for years, so he came up with the idea of “Let”s put in a pawn shop.” So, he didn”t have the money to go in business, but my son-in-law — my daughter and her husband — could furnish some financial help. So, what they did was they opened a pawn shop in Columbus and it immediately took off. It just started doing real well because they put stuff like this in it out here (gesturing at the store), furnishings and little whatnots. They stayed in business for a few months and my son-in-law bought Herman”s share out, and Herman came here (to Starkville) and opened this store. Then my husband and I came by one day. We were just visiting and looking at the store and I just made the remark “I could come and work for Herman and make some extra Christmas money.” I was only joking and didn”t really mean it, but they called me and asked me if I would come work for them. So I told them I would work through Christmas and I”m still here almost 23 years later. It”s been a while now.
Can you explain what services you offer here or what exactly you do?
Well, the service we offer is, you bring something in of value that we feel like we can sell if you don”t come back and get it, and we loan you money on it. If we can give you as much as you need, we do. If we can”t give you as much as you need, we tell you what we can do based on research on how much it sells for new. It will be used once it comes in here, so we can”t sell it as new and can”t give you a new price for it. We have to give you a price where if we sell it we can make a little bit of profit off of it. You have 30 days to come back and get your item. If you can”t come back and get it in 30 days, you can pay a pawn service charge and leave it for a month. You can do that for as many months as you need to. We do pro-rate it, the interest rate, after the first month, so it”s a help to people who can”t pick their items up on time.
How do you determine how much an item is worth? Do you just study up on these things or do you bring in experts to help you out or what?
Well, we have, but right now we do most of it online.
So if somebody brings something in, you can immediately look it up online?
We look it up online and know exactly how much it”s selling for today, so that way you know how much you can put in it. That”s the price. Of course, we buy gold by weight and we try to do more than anyone else in town. We do pretty good, I think, at it.
What are some of the more obscure items you”ve seen come through these doors over the years?
We had a velvet lamp. It looked like it was out of a swanky hotel. It might have been.
Do you ever “pass” on items when people bring stuff in?
We do.
What kind of stuff and why?
Sometimes it”s broken or it might have pieces missing, like knobs, things like that. It depends on the condition of the item. If it”s in good condition, we try to give the best price for it. If it”s in poor condition, we might take it, but not put much in it because a lot of times if you put too much in something people won”t come back and get it. We really want people to come back and get their items.
With the down economy and the recent popularity of shows like “Pawn Stars” on TV, have you seen an increase in business over the past year or two?
The pawn business has gone way up this year. The last few months it”s gone way up.
Do you attribute that to the economy?
I do. I think people are struggling, so we”re getting kind of a different class, maybe, of people coming in to pawn that are bringing nicer items. Some of these people have never pawned before. With the economy like it is, people are struggling. They”re having to bring in their nicer pieces of jewelry and other items in.
What steps do you take to make sure an item isn”t stolen?
You really don”t have any way to assure that it hasn”t been stolen. If you think it”s stolen — say for instance there”s a young person with an item that looks too expensive for them to have or something — we don”t ask them if it”s stolen. We say to them, “If this is stolen, we do a police report every day and the police will have your name and what you pawned here.”
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