Meet the Pawn Stars

Before the American reality show “Pawn Stars” became popular, I’d never thought of a pawn shop as a tourist attraction. But the show’s three seasons on the History Channel have turned the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in downtown Las Vegas into one of the city’s hottest new tourist stops. The store pulls in so many fans that there’s often a line to get inside. Since the Pawn Stars are a pretty smart bunch, they’ve come up with a new way to meet their fans: a traveling road show.

If you live near Hoosiers Park Casino in Indiana, you can meet the Pawn Stars (and sell your stuff) on September 11, 2010. The Pawn Stars will be in Coachella Valley on October 16 at Spotlight 29, and I expect we’ll see more dates—but their first road show was right here in Las Vegas, where they traveled into the Las Vegas suburbs to the Suncoast Hotel Casino. Since that’s close to where I live, I paid the $7.00 admission to see what the Pawn Stars Road Show was all about. I brought five antique silver dollars with me, and when I walked through the doors to the show, I got my number: 528. They were calling numbers in the 200s when I took a seat at the back of the room.

What can you expect if you go the Pawn Stars Road Show? Well, don’t expect anything like the show. Yes, you can meet Rick, Corey, and Chumlee (I can’t speak for the Old Man—he wasn’t there when I arrived) and get your picture taken with them or get an autograph. You can also get an offer on your valuables. But you won’t get to see the inside of the store, and none of them were arguing with each other, at least not while I was there.

At the Suncoast’s show, there was one line for those of us with gold and/or silver, and another line for people with items. The Pawn Stars–Rick and Corey Harrison and Chumlee–were helping the people from the item line. Two gigantic screens on either side of the room were broadcasting the exchanges on their side of the table. On the non-stars side of the table, other staff members helped those of us with gold and silver. When I first saw the camera, lights, and big screen televisions, I had a moment of panic—I hadn’t come prepared to be in front of a camera. I was relieved to be on the other side of table, away from the cameras, even though I didn’t get to meet any of the Pawn Stars.

Although “Pawn Stars” has been described as “Antiques Roadshow” crossed with “American Choppers,” you should remember that the Harrisons are running a pawn shop. While the appraisers from “Antiques Roadshow” are there to estimate the insurance value or retail worth of items, the men from “Pawn Stars” are there to buy your stuff. If you haven’t seen the show, what that means is that you can expect to get about half of the retail value.  I was offered $75 for my five coins, which I decided to keep instead of sell. Just a few feet away from where I sat talking to a tattooed pawn shop employee, Rick Harrison was patiently examining everything from WWII Navy records to a creepy cowboy doll—which, actually, was just like the show.

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All photographs courtesy of Terrisa Meeks