Little more than a year ago, Pawn America declared bankruptcy and began shuttering locations across the upper Midwest, including two in St. Paul.

Its worst days may be behind it.

In a sign of growing optimism from the Burnsville-based store chain, owner Brad Rixmann and the Rixmann family have applied to re-enter the St. Paul market and reopen one of their recently vacated locations near Snelling and University avenues. The city will hold a licensing hearing at 10 a.m. July 16, in the third floor of St. Paul City Hall.

A RETURN TO ST. PAUL

The application for a pawn license at 1636 W. University Ave. would allow the pawnshop to come back to the capital city after a brief hiatus.

In February 2017, Pawn America shuttered a 15,000-square-foot pawnshop that had served as the sole major tenant of 1855 Suburban Ave., on the city’s East Side, for the previous four years. An affiliated Payday America lending and check-cashing operation closed alongside it.

The Midway location closed a few months later.

So far, the city has received a single letter of objection. It was from a duplex owner on Sherburne Avenue who feels that between the Green Line and the future Major League Soccer stadium Allianz Field, the Midway is overdue for a renaissance and a pawnshop might not help.

WHERE BANKRUPTCY STANDS

The company’s website lists 18 active stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin, down from the 23 it operated across the two states and the Dakotas before the bankruptcy. A call to Brad Rixmann was not immediately returned. Related Articles With new shops and street improvements, Saturday’s ‘Rice and LarpenTOUR’ showcases three cities

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The company has made progress on its bankruptcy case, but the claims against it — which once totaled between $10 million and $50 million to roughly 1,000 creditors — are still not fully resolved.

On July 18, at the federal courthouse in St. Paul, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Constantine will hear technical issues related to whether claims held against Pawn America Minnesota and Pawn America Wisconsin by the same creditors can be combined and treated as a single claim.

The company began with a single store in Robbinsdale in 1991.