Pawn shops are booming. What’s that say about the economy?

E&B Pawn is a clean, bright blue building in Moorestown, New Jersey, just about 15 miles outside of Philly.

“We have some standard comic books to super rare coins for sale. Cards, newer tools, laptops, electronics, of course. Gold, silver, watches…” said Ted Brigante, giving a tour of what was in stock. “Basically, we try to be like a traditional pawn shop.”

Like many pawn shops, there are two parts of the business. First, sales: People sell items to the shop, and the shop sells them to other customers. The store also offers loans for people who need quick cash but don’t want to permanently part with something valuable to them.

When explaining how it works to customers, Brigante calls it “a mortgage on your stuff.”

Take, for example, a grandmother’s ring or a laptop. “We assign a value to it,” Brigante explained. “Let’s say, $1,000. They then have 90 days to come and get their stuff back.”

Loan customers get their collateral back once they pay back the principal, with interest. If customers can’t pay, the loan is extended (again, with interest). Eventually, E&B has the right to sell the items, though Brigante said at his store, they really try to avoid this and will even offer a good deed of the day deal.

“We’re not the first place they want to be, and they need help,” Brigante said. “We try to help them while at the same time trying to do our business.”

Most pawnshops are small and independently owned, according to the National Pawnbrokers Association.

The two publicly traded pawn shop companies, FirstCash and EZCORP, reported record revenues in their last financial results, and said the balances customers are borrowing are up, too.

Take the average EZCORP loan in the U.S. At the end of last year, CFO Tim Jugmans said it had gone up to $231.

“In 2022, it was around $160, and in ‘25, the average was close to $210,” Jugmans said. “It gives you an indication — over time, this is slowly increasing, because the need for cash is increasing for customers.”

Anthony Chukumba, who follows FirstCash for Loop Capital Markets, called the macroeconomic conditions a “Goldilocks environment.”

Customers can get bigger loans for jewelry when gold and silver prices are rising. Also, while consumers are squeezed, Chukumba pointed out, they do still have jobs. The unemployment rate, for the most part, has been holding steady.

“They’re in a position where they can repay that pawn loan, where they can occasionally go in and buy pawn merchandise that has been forfeited,” he said.

Another possible explanation: Some of the recent increased pawn activity could be due to the relative lack of such loans during and after COVID, according to Scott Fulford, an economist and author of the book “The Pandemic Paradox: How the COVID Crisis Made Americans More Financially Secure.”

“Since then, people's savings have gone down, and they've had less savings available to deal with the problems that come up in their lives,” Fulford said. “So over the last several years, there's been an increase in pawn, payday, and other kinds of high-cost debt.”

Back at E&B Pawn, about two dozen people trickle in and out. Some are selling and shopping; others are there for loans. Between assisting these customers, Ted Brigante reflected on how all of this is playing out in his shop.

“You can say, you know, all the fancy numbers: GDP, all that sort of stuff, but that doesn't affect most people,” Brigante said. “Most people just try to get through the regular week without being broke, and I'll see them come in for, you know, get a little bit of gas money, get some grocery money, handle this bill, handle that bill.”

The beginning of the month, he said, is the busiest, because people have to pay rent. By the end of the month, he said, traffic picks up again, too. Back-to-school time is usually a busy time, as is the holiday season. When tax refunds hit, customers pick up their stuff and pay back their loans, and cash flow comes back into the store, he said.

Adina Cruz has been pawning her jewelry with Brigante’s family’s business for two decades. Sometimes, she said, to cover a bill. Other times, for a trip.

“The bank? I don’t want to deal with them like that on just a little, small loan,” she explained in an interview just outside the store. “And the payday loans — that’s another horror story. I don’t even want to think about that.”

Nowadays, she said, she’s feeling squeezed: Rent just went up.

But she is working. In fact, this time, she doesn’t need a loan. Instead, she’s picking up a knotted, 14-carat gold cross she bought for $200 on layaway. She’s been paying installments since November — as a birthday gift to herself.