May 15 2008
Recognizing the current popularity of Going Green, a chain of pawn brokers headquartered in Oceanside encourages people to bring in and recycle their old jewelry, and has become one of the largest gold recyclers in San Diego County.
GemsN'Loans, celebrating its l5th anniversary this year, urges prospective customers to recycle their unused gold and jewelry into ready cash -- a much- needed commodity in today's economy.
The company finds its sales activity booming, and hundreds of customers humming happily. It's a win-win situation for all.
Some of the gold recovered is made into new jewelry pieces by the company itself. The rest is sold on the global gold market.
The three GemsN'Loans stores, in Oceanside, Vista and Escondido, sell jewelry and other merchandise as well as providing quick cash pawn loans to customers.
New Look at the Pawn Shop is More Like the Mall
The GemsN'Loans enterprise has all the attributes of today's "new look at the pawn shop." First-time customers who walk in any of the stores are clearly surprised. They marvel at the clean, organized look and feel inside the store. It feels more like a nice jewelry store at the mall, rather than a place tucked away on a side street where you go and hock your guitar or necklace. They walk out realizing they can come back and buy bargains at the store as well as borrowing pawn cash or selling merchandise.
Once a person visits and becomes a customer at any of the three GemsN'Loans locations, the store keeps in touch by sending hand-signed thank-you cards and then a follow-up campaign of reminder messages. The aim is to convert each first-time customer into a loyal repeat customer who will tell others about their pleasant gold-recycling and shopping bargain experience.
The New Trend -- It's Fun To Go "PawnShopping"
More and more people are discovering the value and good sense of obtaining money from a pawn shop, as well as shopping there for genuine bargains. Once cash-strapped families discover that it is "okay to trade at the pawn shop" rather than run a garage sale or classified ad, they feel greatly relieved, financially and mentally.
To entice upscale customers, GemsN'Loans has a full-time certified jeweler on staff.
Mack Hembree, owner of GemsN'Loans, says, "No one blinks at the idea of buying a good clean used car. Why not good clean jewelry, electronic devices, musical instruments, sporting goods, and dozens of other items? The store inventory changes almost daily which makes for repeat visits by customers to see what's for sale today."