If you’re like 95% of Americans, you’ve never even been inside a Pawn Shop.

Pawning has existed for centuries dating back to the Greek and Roman Empires. While pawning in Europe has remained popular, in the United States it has a rather checkered reputation. But recently, the wildly popular television shows Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn have broadened the awareness of the industry. The modern pawn shop is an attractive retail operation run by professionals who are intent on providing a good customer experience. The modern Pawn Shop is not a dark, dingy, back alley place as depicted in movies, but an attractive, well merchandised, professionally managed outlet for quality goods and excellent customer service.

I’m Don Battis, Founder and CEO of online Pawn Shop, Pawntique. I’m delighted to be invited by the CEO of Tagsellit.com to be a Guest Blogger. I’ll be blogging weekly about how Pawn Shops work and how people can become more comfortable dealing with Pawn Brokers.

Do you ever have short term cash emergencies or don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills?

Do you ever want to buy jewelry and gifts for your loved ones but can’t afford to pay retail prices?

Pawn Shops are great places to solve both those problems. There are 12,000 brick-and-mortar Pawn Shops in the United States, as well as several online pawn shops. This is a huge industry and it is expanding rapidly. 25 Million Americans spent over $15 Billion at Pawn Shops last year.

We launched Pawntique as a boutique online pawn shop last year. We’re a family owned business located in Portsmouth, NH but we serve customers all over the US. My family has been in the jewelry business for three generations and I’ve been an entrepreneur and small business investor all my life. I founded a small metal fabricating business in 1986 that grew to be a successful automotive and telecom equipment parts supplier. Since selling the company in 2000, our family has focused on small business loans to help companies grow, particularly in the Internet marketing arena.

Like many people, I’m a big fan of Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn and all the interesting people and items that come into their shops. The idea of Pawntique grew from that nationwide fascination with pawning. We saw an opportunity to participate in the trend by utilizing our Internet marketing talents, money lending experience, and jewelry expertise. Pawntique combines all these capabilities. We lend money to individuals and small businesses using their valuable jewelry and upscale assets as collateral. Our customers appreciate the convenience and confidentiality of the Internet to conduct the transactions.

I look forward to sharing some of the interesting items that come into our pawn shop and explaining how pawn shops work. I‘m also inviting some of my colleagues in the pawn industry to contribute their experiences. If you have questions or comments about the pawn shop business, let me know and I’ll be sure to cover them in future articles.