Pawn shops are often seen as small businesses owned by savvy individuals that know their stuff. Most pawn shops are, in fact, just that. However, there are plenty of larger-scale shops that cater to much wider consumer bases than the average pawn shop. Some of these might even qualify as being the biggest pawn shop in the world.
Where is the Biggest Pawn Shop in the World?
This is a bit more difficult to answer than one might think. Mostly, it depends on your own personal definition of what makes a business “big”. This could mean the actual size of the shop itself, its customer base, or even the platforms the shop uses to grow its business.
Let’s take a closer look at shops that cover each of these definitions below.
McTamney’s Pawn Shop in Canada
McTamney’s in Canada boasts a client base of around 60,000 Canadians on a regular basis, all with different items they want to pawn of sell off entirely. To accommodate this large client base, McTamney’s has 10 loan booths and separate pawn sections, aisles dedicated solely to jewelry, and a showroom for items customers can buy.
However, the article boasting that McTamney’s is the biggest pawn shop came out in 1956. Plenty of factors in the meantime could have changed this claim-to-fame. It may still be one of the biggest pawn shops in Canada, but it might be a stretch to call it the biggest pawn shop in the entire world.
The Dina Collection in Beverly Hills, California
On the surface, this pawn shop might look like any luxury retailer that sells high-end jewelry, watches, and designer items. However, The Dina Collection serves a far wealthier clientele than most—celebrities, millionaires, and even billionaires.
Some people might be startled to discover that the rich use pawn shops like regular people. After all, the wealthiest people in the world should have no problem buying any of the luxury items they want, right?
According to The Dina Collection’s owner Yossi Dina, his wealthiest clientele love bargains as much as everyone else. They also love rare, one-of-a-kind items, which pawn shops pride themselves on selling.
This shop could be considered the “biggest” pawn shop in the world purely for the rich clientele it draws in alone. However, because this pawn shop caters to the obscenely wealthy, it might not appeal much to the average consumer.
Pawn America
With 17 stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin and a 900 square-foot location in Robbinsdale, Pawn America looks to expand their business to even more customers.
The Internet is a vast landscape of untapped marketing potential, a potential that Pawn America hopes to crack. Indeed, with most people nowadays having at least a passing understanding of how the Internet works, they will also look to the convenience of the Internet to pawn off or sell their old junk to make a quick buck.
Pawn America offers this exact convenience and has gained a huge client base because of it.
