Americans are back-to-school shopping earlier than previous years due to fears of tariffs raising prices. Families with tighter budgets are finding deals in a less traditional place: pawn shops.
Families plan to spend about 2% less this back-to-school season compared to last year, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. Pawn shop owners told CNN they are seeing more Americans coming in for back-to-school essentials.
“With the way the economy is right now, people realize that they can go to a pawn shop anywhere in the United States, and they can save tremendous amounts of money,” said Les Gold, owner of the pawn shop American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit.
Pawn shops can be one-stop shops for many back-to-school items: Sneakers, laptops, musical instruments, and mini-refrigerators for college dorms. They’re all sold in one place, and at a fraction of the cost of the major retailers.
“People are struggling more, and that’s why more people are looking for better deals,” said Gold. “They don’t have the money, and they still want their children to have a laptop,”
Tariffs have boosted the prices on some key back-to-school items. The US imports the majority of its clothes and shoes from China, Vietnam and Cambodia — all countries facing tariffs of upwards of 30%. The price of shoes jumped 1.4% in July from the month before, while apparel rose 0.1%, according to July’s Consumer Price Index.
But prices at pawn shops can be up to 50% less expensive compared to major retailers, according to EZPawn, a chain of 500 pawn shops nationwide. The company said merchandise sales increased by 4% last quarter, noting specific growth in back-to-school categories like shoes, boots, electronics and laptops.
“We’re getting more customers coming because they know we have reasonable prices and because they don’t really have to worry about the stress of paying retail when it’s unaffordable to them,” said Renita Parker, a regional director in Houston who oversees 88 stores for EZPawn.
Not to mention, 98% of the merchandise sold in pawn shops is pre-owned, according to USA Pawn. That means it’s tariff-free.
“Tariffs are not a factor here at our company simply because our customers are the ones that supplies us with the merchandise,” said Parker.
Trading gold for sneakers
Americans aren’t just shopping at pawn shops. They’re pawning gold, and lots of it.
“We’ve seen a big jump probably in the last three weeks. I feel that they’re selling their jewelry and gold to buy school supplies,” said Nick Fulton, managing partner at USA Pawn, which has six locations in central Mississippi.
Families desperate for extra cash are bringing in broken gold jewelry or single gold hoop earrings to sell.
“It’s just sitting in their drawer. They’re just coming in and just capitalizing on the high gold prices,” said Fulton.
Since President Donald Trump took office, the price of gold has shattered records as Americans looked for safe havens to invest amid the uncertainty of tariffs. Prices are up about 27% since January, trading at $3,400 an ounce.
“It’s shocking when we tell people the price that we’re offering, they don’t realize how high the price of gold is,” said Fulton.
Pawn shops are economic indicators
Booming business at pawn shops could be an economic warning sign. Often, the busier they are, the worse things are for Americans.
“You can’t imagine what’s going on in the economy right now unless you live in the pawn shop. Pawn shops help these people survive by either loaning them money on their merchandise, or selling them merchandise less than if they went anywhere else,” Gold said.
The average pawn shop customer doesn’t have access to traditional lines of credit or loans, according to the National Pawnbrokers Association, and those who do, may be holding debt. Credit card debt for all American households held steady at $1.2 trillion in the second quarter of this year, similar to last year’s figures, according to the New York Fed.
“In reality, the economy isn’t as good for my clientele, they’re struggling,” said Gold. “We’re not talking about the people that are getting a paycheck once a week and they’re surviving. A lot of the people that we deal with don’t get a paycheck every week. They’re surviving day-to-day.”
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