SOUTH BELOIT—Paymaster Pawn & Jewelers, 440 Gardner St., celebrated with a ribbon cutting on Monday following its opening on Nov. 29.
Monday marked National Pawn Brokers Day. The new business is located in the former Vern’s Flea Market.
The business owners are Bob and Karen Vandiver of Roscoe. Their son Jason Vandiver is vice president and manager and their son Evan Vandiver is vice president of sales. It marks the third generation in the business as Karen said her father-in-law, Jim Vandiver, started the first location in Rockford at Seventh Street and Tenth Avenue 35 years ago.
“We have quite a few customers that come from Beloit and Janesville, and we wanted to expand on the jewelry side of the business. We have estate jewelry and also have new jewelry as a full-service jeweler,” Karen Vandiver said.
The store also offers electronics, televisions, DVD/video systems, Bluetooth speakers, Apple watches, designer handbags and more. They say their biggest sellers are TVs and jewelry items.
The store is open and airy, with plenty of room for comfortable browsing, and the family is expecting a bustling holiday shopping season.
Jason thanked everyone for coming to the ribbon cutting event, including guests such as Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana, Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, and representatives from the City of South Beloit.
“It means a lot that you are here and support small businesses. It means a lot to us,” Jason said.
Jason and Karen explained how people can sell their items, buy items or get short-term loans by using their items such as jewelry as collateral. Jason said it can take only two to three minutes to write up a loan. People may seek the loan when needing cash to get them to their next payday or other unforeseen expenses occur.
No credit searches are conducted to receive a loan, and the loans from the store don’t affect one’s credit.
Karen noted 80% of people at their Rockford location redeem their items.
“I think we enjoy helping people. We have a lot of loyal customers that come to us when they need cash. We also have repeat customers for all of their jewelry needs,” Karen said.
