Buyers, Sellers Satisfied with Pawnshop Shopping
from The Hagerstown Morning Herald
The Collector's Edition Scrabble Board, with its gold-plated letters and wood-framed board that spins, like a lazy Susan, so each player can easily read the board during their turn, sat on the pawn shop shelf with a sticker price of $89. It wasn't new, but it looked to be in pretty good shape. And with the Franklin Mint selling the collector's edition online for $595, this one was a bargain. More

HSBC Creates $5 Billion Fund for Businesses
from Reuters
HSBC Holdings has created a $5 billion global working capital fund for small and medium-sized businesses to help them weather the credit crisis. "SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) are the lifeblood of most economies and it is their success that will create economic growth," according to HSBC Group CEO Michael Geoghegan. More

More People Turning to Pawnshops for Extra Cash
from KHNL-TV
With the price of precious metals soaring during this recession, a lot of people look to pawnshops for help in their struggle to tough it out. It's not easy letting go of valued possessions like jewelry and heirlooms which hold sentimental value. One pawnshop in Honolulu is trying to make it as easy as possible for people in need of some extra cash. More

Analysts Say Three Million More Jobs Could be Lost by 2010
from The Indianapolis Star
An alarming half-million American jobs vanished last month, the worst mass layoffs in more than a third of a century, as the nation hurtled toward what could be the hardest times since the Great Depression. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has shed 1.9 million jobs, and the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.7 million -- to 10.3 million now out of work. In November, 533,000 jobs were lost. More

Pawnshops Help Save Money on Some Costly Christmas Gifts
from WAGT-TV
Most everyone is looking to save some money this holiday season. Pawnshops may not be the first place you think of when searching for discounted gifts. But owners say give it a try you may find more than you bargained for. More

Arizona City Pawnshops See More Business
from The Yuma Sun
Wall Street analysts officially declared a recession. And Arizona reported a record number of jobless at the beginning of the month. As a result, some average citizens in "recession-proof Yuma" are falling back on a more tried and true safety net: the pawnshop. More

Pawn Brokers to the Stars
from CBS News
Forget Rodeo Drive. In this economy, the rich and famous have a new destination: the collateral lender. "At the end of the day that's a fancy term for a pawnshop," said Jordan Tabach-Bank, the CEO of Beverly Loan Company, a pawnbroker to the stars. More

Gun Sales Brisk, as Buyers Fear Bans
from The Minneapolis Star Tribune
As retailers started their Christmas sales, gun sale business is brisk, with shoppers buying shotguns, hunting knives and at least a few semiautomatic rifles – the gun most gun-rights advocates think an Obama presidency might ban. Gun sales are volatile, often rising this time of the year for hunting season and Christmas, so it's difficult to pin the buying on one factor, experts warn. More