Business & Tech

Burnsville Pawn Shop's Business Model: Second-Hand, Not Second-Rate

Burnsville-based company Pawn America recently opened its 25th location, where it's working on a model to separate pawn shops from their negative connotations.

Over the last 22 years, the Burnsville-based company Pawn America has grown into a regional force largely by subverting customers' not-so-high expectations of what a pawn shop should look like.

Pawn America recently opened its 25th location on I-94 in St. Paul—called "PA Exchange, its the company's first store to drop the word "pawn" from the name.

"This year we should run right around $80 million in sales, and I believe at the end of the year we'll end up right around 800 employees," Brad Rixmann, the company's owner, told the Pioneer Press.

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Pawn America has long worked to fight the pawn shop stigma, partnering with other community businesses and working with law enforcement to combat theft.

But the new concept store is taking additional steps to take the sketchy connotation out of pawn shops.

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The new store has wider aisles, bright lighting and a marked separation between the retail sales floor and the pawning operation.

"Our largest area of growth is in categories which appeal to women, like jewelry and clothing," Rixmann told the Pioneer Press. "We spend a lot of time and effort making sure our stores are bright and our employees look professional."

 


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