Wednesday, April 2, 2014

HELP! Texas Pawn shops in the 1980s

One major setting in my novel is the 'Lucky-R Pawn & Jewelry' in Wichita Falls. 

I once owned a 'buy-sell' store in Portland, Oregon that included jewelry and the occasional gun. But we didn't have a pawn license and we were a much smaller operation than the Lucky-R of my story.

So there's lots I need to know about Texas pawn store law, business operations and day-to-day activities. For example-

  • Size (sq. ft.)?
    • Space allocation between sales & operations/storage
  • Firearms-
    • Rifles/shotguns vs handguns
    • How secured when store closed (locked 'in place' vs gun safe)
    • How old employee must be to show/sell firearms (18?  21?)
    • Pawn vs outright purchase
    • Percent of overall sales
  • Jewelry
    • Pawn vs outright purchase
    • Percent of overall sales
  • Taking inventory
    • How often (weekly, monthly, etc.)
    • Method used in mid- to late-1980s (pre-bar codes)
      • Paper (by hand)?
      • Computers by simple spreadsheet?
      • Computers with some type of inventory program built-in?
      • Other?
  • Anything I haven't thought to ask?

Please leave a comment on anything you think would be helpful. Or you can email me at-
incurableoptimist@chuckpierson.com.  

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