VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The doors at Nathan’s Lynnhaven Pawn Shop are unlocked during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are the lenders of the last resort - people that can’t go to their bank and need to raise cash,” says owner Nathan Segal.
In Segal’s 36 years of doing business in Virginia Beach, he says his customers are in need more than ever before.
“Never seen people in this kind of situation,” he adds.
Situations where they are bringing in valuables like gold jewelry, instruments, guns - anything with value for instant cash.
“A lot of people are hurting. People are laid off; some of their jobs have completely disappeared,” Segal adds.
Forcing them to pawn things they never thought they would.
Even though the pawn shop is still open, Segal says they’ve had to switch up their business model just a little, especially for the elderly population. Now, they offer curbside.
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“They will pay over the phone, we will bring it out to the car so they don’t have to come in because seniors don’t want to be exposed to anything like that, says Segal.
Segal says the staff is cleaning constantly, and for people who are bringing things into sell, the items go under a steamer.
“We steam every item off when we take it in to clean any germs on the items.”
One hot item Segal is surprised people are still coming in for during this time of crisis is diamond engagement rings.
“I’m happy that they are still finding some kind or normalcy in the stress of everything going on,” said Segal.
