Here in New York, it’s rare to see pawn shops, but in Florida, they’re all over the place! Why are they so prevelant there but not here?
hm, maybe the teeming pawn shops in New York have evolved into porn shops. i dunno
This is weird. I was always under the impression that New York would be crawling with pawn shops. At least it was in old movies.
Damn Union armies!
What part of Florida? Not all parts are considered as part of the south. In fact some people think that south Florida is more part of the Caribbean. Maybe it was the pirates that started the whole thing.
Or maybe they need money to bet on Jai Alai. 
It’s called poverty, which is more prevalent in the South.
My vote’s for poverty as well. The same reason you find pawn shops (and payday loans, auto title loans, etc.) in the dirty run-down areas of town instead of the squeaky clean rich districts.
Not significantly. According to the US Census report, Poverty in the United States: 2001 (PDF file), it breaks down by region as follows:
Northeast: 10.7%
Midwest: 9.4%
South: 13.5%
West: 12.1%
In certain areas of Chicago, there are pawn shops, title loan agencies, currency exchanges, etc… on every block. I include currency exchanges because I don’t see them nearly as often in the nicer neighborhoods, assumedly because more well-to-do people have actual bank accounts where they deposit their paychecks, rather than simply cash them.
I think they are all prevalant in poor localities, regardless of geography.
Around military bases you will find quite a few pawn shops. I know that Fayetteville, here in North Carolina, has at least 20 pawn shops, due to Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB being next door. Out toward the coast you have Cherry Point, a marine base, quite a few pawn shops out that way too.
maybe it’s more ingrained in the culture in the south to sell things you own when you need a little cash while in the north people tend to borrow money on a CC or such.
It may also have to do with laws regulating loans. I used to work for a “payday loan” company. When I began working for them, it was pretty much an unregulated industry in much of the South - but they only managed to get as far north as Pennsylvania during my time with them. This was partly due to stricter laws regarding interest rates and what institutions could make loans in some states.
At the same time, not all southern states were hospitable to this industry either - Georgia, for example. The explanation I received was that Georgia did not allow unsecured loans like these - but they did eventually get into Georgia by associating with a bank, so I’m not sure how accurate the statement about unsecured loans is.
I also don’t know if pawn shops are governed by the same rules as payday loan companies.
Because we can’t get anybody to buy @#$% rooks and bishops.
RR