Calling the pawn shop owner at 2am

Pawn shops on Lang Street are bustling during Euro season.

Full of pawn

According to the reporter's records, on Lang, Bach Mai, Cau Giay, My Dinh, Buoi streets..., pawn shops are always crowded with people coming and going. In particular, a nearly 4-kilometer stretch of Lang Street has a section of road next to pawn shops. These days, the shops are bustling with people coming and going.

Many shops are packed with pawned motorbikes, taking up the entire sidewalk. Many shops even have to rent additional storage or park customers’ motorbikes outside the vehicle parking area.

We stopped by a pawn shop on Lang Street when there were 3 customers waiting to do the paperwork. One pawned a phone, another a motorbike, and another a car. The white car was pawned for 100 million VND and belonged to a young man. The shop owner handed over a yellow pawn slip, the young man held the pen but hesitated, his hands were shaking, he took a deep breath before deciding to sign. Through talking to the shop owner, we learned that this young man lost a football bet.

“During Euro season, more customers come to pawn. My younger brother recently was also a football player. I have to ask for full paperwork and procedures for the cars that customers pawn. There are so many cars, there is no more space, so most of them are parked outside,” said the shop owner.

According to another shop owner on Lang Street, since the beginning of the Euro season, the number of customers coming to consign their assets has gradually increased. Phones, laptops, cars, motorbikes, land certificates, etc. have been consigned by customers. According to the owner’s forecast, during and after the upcoming Euro finals, the number of customers will increase dramatically.

“Many customers call at 2am and ask, ‘Please help me with this and that so I can finish my football match. This season, my store has to open earlier than usual to meet customer demand,” the store owner said.

According to the survey, each pawn shop has different interest rates depending on the value and duration of the pawn; the lowest is 1,500 VND/million VND/day, the highest is 3,000 VND/million VND/day. Pawn shops often charge higher interest rates when the pawn amount is low and the duration is short.

Pawn branded clothes and shoes

Not only pawning common assets such as cars, motorbikes, and phones, some people also pawn expensive branded items during the Euro season.

They are usually “VIP” customers with good financial conditions. The branded items they hold are worth tens of millions of dong, such as branded pants, shirts, backpacks, handbags, belts, leather wallets...

The owner of a store specializing in purchasing, consigning, and pawning branded items on Ly Nam De Street (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) shared: "Items branded as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes... or limited edition Nike and Adidas shoes are brought in by many customers to be consigned or sold outright," said the store owner.

According to shop owners who specialize in buying and selling branded goods on consignment, customers usually come here to exchange, such as selling a used item to buy a new one, a new model. However, since the beginning of the Euro season, the number of customers coming to pawn has increased sharply.

“Recent customers usually only hold items for a short period of time. Some customers hold items the day before and come back the next day to pick them up. But there are also customers who have to leave their favorite items behind when they can’t get them back,” said a store owner.

TB (according to Tien Phong)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/mua-euro-2024-hai-gio-sang-con-goi-chu-cua-hang-cam-do-386570.html