Jay Rosado noticed the change back when the mortgage crisis began. People started coming into his store, Mr. Pawnshop, more frequently and asked him to hold their stuff a little longer. But the basic model of Rosado's business hasn't been affected by the plunge in the markets. It is benefiting.
Rosado is almost entirely liquid. He is, in essence, a commodity trader in gold.
In a bad economy, pawn shop stock goes up. It is common to see musicians pawn their instruments or tradespeople their power tools, but jewelry is the bread and butter of the industry. In Hunts Point, it seems everyone has something shiny to use as collateral and enough mounting bills to compel them into Mr. Pawnshop.
Unlike TVs, stereos and power tools - other items often found in pawn shops - the value of gold has risen substantially in the past few years, even as the rest of the economy has tanked. Three years ago, the price of gold was $269 per ounce. In September, Rosado could sell it for $900 an ounce to a smelter in midtown Manhattan. Now, in November, he is still able to sell it for $735 per ounce. He usually takes the subway with a briefcase full of other people's jewelry.
The odds were against us right from the beginning of our New Media Newsroom project. First our interviewee, a pawn broker by the name Jay Rosado, had to be rushed to hospital after suffering three fractures on his ankle. Rosado fell at home while doing construction work, breaking his ankle. For a few weeks we were confused, not knowing how to proceed -- that is, whether to wait for Rosado or look for a new person.
To add to our woes, getting to Hunts Point in the Bronx, where Rosado’s pawn shop is located, was an odyssey. Almost every weekend, we would read and hear announcements about transport interruptions to the Bronx due to construction. We had to transfer from train to shuttle buses, always in the rainy fall weather, to reach our destination. However, we managed to get most of our interviewees, including Rosado, in the last week. Talk of Lady Luck.
-Jeff Otieno
The standard hold time for a pawned item is four months, with an interest rate that must remain below 4 percent. Rosado leaves his rate at 3 percent as a gesture of good faith, and has taken to holding items for up to a year to help out those who are struggling.
However, since the Wall Street meltdown, he now has to hold the goods a little longer.
"They (customers) need money for food and transportation. Many are not sure whether they will still have a job the next day," he said. "I learned since I was a kid that if you don't help people, you won't get what you want."
Rosado, 45, does not mind holding on to the goods longer to help his customers remain afloat. In fact, it makes him more money. When he sells in bulk, the price per ounce increases. "It's not like the produce stand next door where you have to sell because your fruit will go bad," he said. "If I have patience and hold onto it, I can get more for my gold. I can sell a few bars and make enough for three months of bills, six months of bills."
A neighborhood fixture
Six-hundred thousand dollars worth of jewelry is on display in the cases that Rosado built himself -- skills left over from his former career as a contractor. Wedding bands stretch along the top row of one case while crucifixes are clustered together against a red velvet inset. Rings are arranged by stone color, watches lined up by hue of gold. The most expensive pieces can cost up to $5,000. Rosado also built custom storage safes, which contain the balance of the jewelry.
Thirteen years ago, during his former life in contract building, Rosado ran into a friend who asked him to help open a pawn shop on Southern Boulevard and 163rd Street. Rosado agreed, and managed his friend's pawn shop for several years. Regular customers bugged him to open up his own shop, and in 2003 he obliged.
Rosado said that he has a loyal following of customers who come in to talk about their lives, air grievances about common acquaintances and gossip. He sees himself as a neighborhood fixture.
"When you keep it just about business, it doesn't work," he said. "Friendship is part of it."
Rosado, who is a native of the South Bronx, sees all types of people come into his shop, at an average rate of 30 per day. There are drug addicts from a treatment center around the corner, residents of a nearby women's shelter and homeless shelter, and working people who need a little extra help. Rosado said that most people who pawn use the money to keep up with their bills, particularly transportation and gas bills.
"A lot of people come in to confide in me. I'm just like the church. I guess I'm the priest," he said.
