Pawnshops flourish in crisis
A casual glance at any social networking website will reveal the bitter stories of Greeks who have had to sell jewelry and family heirlooms to raise cash to pay for bills and meet other expenses.
?I ran into an unemployed friend and asked him how he?s getting by. ?I sold my baptismal cross and I?m doing OK now,? he told me,? is one narrative on Twitter.
A 45-year-old private sector employee confesses that ?I opened up my cupboards and put emotion aside. I had a lot of gold jewelry and other items that I inherited from my mother and grandmother and never wore.? She thinks that this was a small sacrifice, ?which I?m hoping I?ll soon forget,? for being able to pay for, among other things, her son?s English lessons.
Thinking in different terms, a 70-year-old pensioner pawned most of her valuables, arguing that ?I?d rather sell them and use the money before some burglar grabs it all.?
The boost in activity for pawnshops in Greece began in 2010, according to people in the business, who say that a lot has changed, even in one year.
?At the start of the crisis, people would pawn their valuables in the hope of redeeming them at a later date,? one pawnshop owner, who declined to be named, told Kathimerini. ?Now, though, they don?t think that they will be able to raise the cash to get them back at some later date.?
According to people who have experience in the field, pawnshops always have business, even though it is common knowledge that they buy items at a much lower price than their real value.
?Right now, gold is going for around 20 euros a gram, but there are people who are paying half that price for it,? said one expert.
Greeks, however, are cautious about what pawnshops they approach. ?They do their research before they make a decision,? another pawnshop owner told Kathimerini. ?You have to do quite a lot of haggling because there is so much more competition today,? he said, adding that pawnshops are offering more services, such as swapping valuables for gold coins or ingots.
As more and more people in Greece flock to pawnbrokers, the market is changing, with dozens of new shops opening all around the country, while along many commercial streets in big cities or towns in Greece, the only establishments doing brisk business are pawnshops.
?Two years ago, there were just five pawnshops in the area and now there are 25,? one pawnbroker in Syntagma told Kathimerini.
Beside the old-school pawnbrokers, who are used to working out of stores in basements or in tucked-away apartments, the new professionals moving in are cultivating an entirely different profile. They lease central locations there is huge availability after all invest in renovations, create websites, distribute advertising fliers and treat their clients with great formality and tact. Many also have display cases with gold crosses, wedding rings, brand watches and gold chains at ?bargain prices,? and bright signs saying ?I buy gold.?
?Transactions are not conducted in an aura of secrecy anymore and they are no longer limited to the outcasts of society,? a new inductee to the business, who used to own a clothing store, told Kathimerini.
Not everyone is happy to see the pawn business flourishing however.
A few days ago, in the Athenian suburb of Zografou, a pawnshop was spray-painted with slogans from the anti-dictatorship movement of the 1970s.
Other Greeks simply look at the phenomenon with a good dose of humor. ?I?ll stop scouring the ads for a job and open a pawnshop instead that?s where the future lies,? one unemployed woman wrote on Twitter.
Boats, cars
The vast lots of cars, boats, powerful engines and trucks seen on the way to Athens International Airport are not part of some car show but the premises of the pawn company Auto Credit.
Most of the company?s clients are people who can no longer afford to run or maintain their luxurious vehicles and boats, and who trade them in for cash that can go toward paying their mortgages, taxes or social security contributions.
For around 10 percent of these customers, according to the managing director of the company, Christos Ioannou, parting with their beloved machines is final as few will be able to raise the money to get them back within the given four-month period.
?Our company is active in other areas as well,? said Ioannou, ?such as the import and sale of cars.? Given the current circumstances, however, the company ?has stopped imports, but has started exporting large cars to Germany,? he added. Auto Credit currently has 60 cars, 30 yachts and over 15 trucks.
The benefits for people ?parking? their boats during the winter are many, according to Ioannou, as they can get away with not paying for mooring and security for four months or until they claim them back.
The pawnbroker also said that even some professional truck drivers have had to pawn the vehicles with which they once made a living.
