Gold & Silver Pawn can definitely count itself among the massive reality-TV show success stories, with an average of 4,000 people passing through the (pretty small) store every day now. The cast has even spread the love farther afield, with buddy Danny "The Count" Koker first appearing as the "car expert" on the series, and then landing his own gig with "Counting Cars," while Rick's Dale also hit the public eye while "restoring crap" for "Pawn Stars'" Rick Harrison, from which was born his own spinoff series "American Restoration."
Not content with taking America by storm, the "Pawn Stars" team is evidently making a bid for world domination, with the protagonists currently on a week-long Asia Tour for the show through Aug. 28, taking in Singapore, Malyasia, and the Philippines.
Not only has the unlikely History Channel smash hit done a great PR job for the stores that star in it, but it has also brought a fresh perspective to the pawnbroking business in general, which traditionally has enjoyed something of a seedy reputation, often for very good reason. As we wrote in an earlier QoD (7/22/13), we have personal experience of Gold & Silver and can only say we were very pleasantly surprised on all levels. We can attest only to the prices paid for silver and gold, which seem to be consistently (and significantly) higher than rates offered at other pawn brokers and buyers around town (plus, they were happy to accept scrap-metal silver, which others turned their noses up at) and from episodes we've seen, the staff really does seem to pride itself on a knowledge of antiques and collectibles and in paying what they deem to be a fair and realistic market price -- they are in the buying and selling trade to make a living, obviously. but company policy evidently does not include trying to cash in on naive vendors who don't know they're sitting on a treasure. The stars of the show are not always on premises, but a couple of them were kind enough to sign a t-shirt we dropped off for the autistic son of an out-of-state LVA fan a couple of years ago and it totally made the lad's Christmas, so they're definitely alright by us.
With all the hype surrounding the place -- yes, there's regularly a line outside the door and down the street, while it's the only pawn broker we've ever seen that has multiple parking attendants trying to impose some crowd control in the smallish but very orderly adjacent parking lot -- it's almost easy to lose sight of the fact that it is a commercial enterprise, not just a tourist attraction. However, if you want to sell or pawn during regular business hours (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily), just line up in the same queue as the gawking hordes, but when you enter the shop, make an immediate turn to the left, which is where you'll find the buying counter. If you're after hours, there's the "Express Window" at the back on the Las Vegas Boulevard side, which is open for business when the regular store is closed. Note that you do have to be there in person, with your item(s), if you wish to sell or pawn; while the store sells some items online via its eBay store, they'll only buy in person.
This is actually a timely QoD, since not long after we received it we also received a press release informing us that the store is closing briefly for a much-needed facelift, due to the inevitable wear and tear imposed by 4,000+ people tramping through on a daily basis. They've timed it -- sort of -- to coincide with the tour of Asia, with the main showroom closing to the public at 5 p.m. on Sunday August 25th until approximately 9 a.m. on Saturday August 31st, while some sprucing up is performed.
Still, they are very conscious of how many people make a special trip to come see them, so even though the showroom will be closed, they're setting up shop outside, selling t-shirts, jewelry, and other souvenirs to the tourist crowd, while the Express Window will remain open 24/7 to those looking to make a sale or take out a loan.
