I'll probably be doing another gear review here in a bit, but I'm also thinking about a new feature. Since I do find some decent deals at pawn shops that are good pieces of gear to own, but not necessarily to flip, I'm going to ask the pawn brokers if they'll let me photograph some items and share them with you, the readers. Obviously, at this point there aren't many of you, but if doing this adds value to the website, I think you might keep visiting.
In the meantime, here's a quick rundown of the pawn shops in the local (Champaign/Urbana, Illinois) area, in case you were curious:
1.) Pawn King: This is the newest shop, so new that it isn't on Google Maps yet. It replaced one of the worst excuses for a pawn shop I've seen...just my opinion. I didn't like the old place, as they had horribly priced guitars and were not willing to negotiate...along the lines of asking over $200 for Squier Standard and Affinity guitars, often over even the new retail price.
At any rate, the new store (here labeled "Gold & Diamond Exchange) is probably the most professional-looking pawn shops I've seen before. Well laid-out, clean, with a helpful staff.
In terms of musical selection, there's not much to be had, but the Ukulele Flip I did not too long ago happened there. They occasionally get good gear, and it's reasonably priced. After talking to the person there who deals the most with musical instruments, there was a prior employee who made some bad purchasing decisions, like buying a Japanese-made generic brand hollowbody for $200, which will never sell for its asking price of $400. There's a few pedals there, and a couple instruments worth looking at -- a Fender MIM HH Stratocaster in light-blue color, which you might be able to get for under $300 if you negotiate, and a Peavey Bass that's quite solid and just needs a good setup, which they're asking for $125. Good deal. I recommend you visit!
2.) Leonard's Pawn Shop: If you were to look up "pawn shop" in a dictionary, this is what I would picture. A room with glass cases, items strewn on the walls, and fairly gruff-looking employees. But don't let those looks fool you. This place is my go-to when it comes to finding pawn shop deals.
In terms of musical selection, there's not much to be had, but the Ukulele Flip I did not too long ago happened there. They occasionally get good gear, and it's reasonably priced. After talking to the person there who deals the most with musical instruments, there was a prior employee who made some bad purchasing decisions, like buying a Japanese-made generic brand hollowbody for $200, which will never sell for its asking price of $400. There's a few pedals there, and a couple instruments worth looking at -- a Fender MIM HH Stratocaster in light-blue color, which you might be able to get for under $300 if you negotiate, and a Peavey Bass that's quite solid and just needs a good setup, which they're asking for $125. Good deal. I recommend you visit!
2.) Leonard's Pawn Shop: If you were to look up "pawn shop" in a dictionary, this is what I would picture. A room with glass cases, items strewn on the walls, and fairly gruff-looking employees. But don't let those looks fool you. This place is my go-to when it comes to finding pawn shop deals.
I'm not perfectly familiar with the names of the 2 employees there, but one of them is Leonard, the owner, and I believe the other guy, the one most commonly working there day-in, day-out, is the one I deal with the most.
They have a pretty wide selection of guitars, to be honest. They're the ones with the Gibson '97 double cutaway Les Paul that looks gorgeous and is ridiculously overpriced. One thing to note -- they're always running a 20% off Musical Instruments sale, so remember the prices are always lower than the tag. Smart advertising. You can get Squiers here for under $100, and the occasional good deal. I'll go into details about this deal, but I once got a MIJ 80s Telecaster here for about $125 that I ended up, through flipping, netting about $350 for. That helped me fund my first telecaster build, and I still had over $125 remaining, so it was a zero-sum effort.
Take note of what's on the walls and keep it in your mind. If you see an item has sat on the wall for a long time, you can likely pounce on it for barely more than they paid for it. Don't be afraid to ask them what they paid for it. They might not tell you, but if it's been there awhile, they may share with you so you can make a reasonable offer so they can make a small profit and get it off their shelf. The guy who I deal with there is a really nice guy, and often asks me questions about gear he gets in. There's an array of instruments and amps here, for all price points. Not all of them are incredible deals, but there are lots of keeper instruments to be had if you're willing to pay what they're honestly worth.
3.) Gold Rush II: Not entirely sure where the "II" comes from, as I never saw another Gold Rush, but this is another good shop worth visiting.
Good selection of guitars. I've seen high-end American-made instruments here and some of the cheapest of the cheap. They know their stuff, too. You can tell their prices are well-researched, as there aren't great flipping deals here, but very good deals for instruments to keep. My Ibanez ART100 flip started here at Gold Rush, and this is one of the points worth making about the shop: your best deals if you're looking to flip from here are going to come from brands that aren't Gibson or Fender. They know how to price those instruments, but will occasionally under-price Peavey, Ibanez, and other instruments due to lack of information online about the instruments. When I saw the Ibanez for $85 at their shop, I knew I was onto something, and when I haggled it slightly lower due to some finish/hardware issues, I knew I had a flip coming. I didn't expect I'd love that guitar, which I ended up doing, but it still turned out to be a great flip, albeit the one I miss the most. So there's plenty of deals here, and this would be the first place I go if I'm looking for a specific guitar or a specific brand. Just recently, they got an influx of amps and effects pedals, so they're worth visiting. They tend to over-price their pedals, so be warned. Do your research.
4.) Pawn Stop: This one is a ways away from the other 3, but is a reasonable pawn shop to stop by. I wouldn't call this one "sketchy," because they do have quality stuff, but if you're one who's uncomfortable going in a shop that has bars on the windows and doors, you may not like what you see.
So the real saving grace of this place is that they have a lot of instruments. Not a lot in terms of amps or effects, but they have more than nothing in those regards. The instrument wall in the back has a decent range of low- to mid-priced guitars, probably maxing around the $400 range. Not that they don't have higher-end instruments there from time-to-time, but it's not the norm like it is for Leonard's and Gold Rush II.
Very good deals to be had here. I've bought quite a few items for flipping from here...though the specific flips elude me right now. Their tagged prices are reasonable for ownership, and you can usually haggle prices that are flip-worthy. For example, there's a MIM J-Bass there right now with a tag of $250 that I'm positive someone could buy for about $175-180 if they haggled the right way. Easy $300 sale for a tidy profit, and a decent bass to own, for sure. Plenty of cool guitars including the old 80s shredder guitars that have no headstock. Would be fun to own to channel my inner "Bill & Ted" but those guitars are more pricey than I'm willing to shell out.
Also check out their movie selection and tools. They have plenty of both, and the prices on those are awesome.
"Honorable" Mention
5.) The Pawn Shop in Rantoul: Even though it's 20-25 minutes away from the Champaign-Urbana area, I will add this to the list as it's a relatively local shop I've visited. Worthwhile to visit, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.
"Why?" you may ask, and here's my response: their prices are ridiculous, and hard to negotiate. The one saving grace of this shop is that it has the most impressive collection of modern and vintage instruments and amps I've seen in a pawn shop. They have an entire room dedicated to the audio arts, and a couple small rooms for trying out instruments.
But their prices are ridiculous. I get it, they have a bottom line and overhead to pay, so they need meat on the bones. But I didn't find one single item in their inventory that was priced at anything below about retail+10%. If they were a music shop, I might understand, but they have old tube amps with brands that no one recognizes that they're trying to sell for $300-700, and I doubt they'll move anytime soon. I'll gladly buy-to-own a vintage tube amp for maybe $200 but more likely $100-150, but it's ridiculous to expect people to shell out a ton of money on amps that simply aren't worth it. The sticker shock alone makes me cautious.
I did buy one item from them, at what I would consider a reasonable cost but nothing near what I'd expect from a pawn shop. I won't name it, since my negative review and the item could "out" me, but suffice it to say I was able to sell the item for the same price I bought it for, so it still wasn't an incredible deal. If I lived in Rantoul, yes, I'd probably visit daily and enjoy myself. But for the cost of gas and the effort of trying to haggle with someone who believes that the overpriced junk should stay overpriced is just not worth it to me. So I'll pass, unless business finds me in Rantoul for some other reason.
So there you have it. I was expecting a shorter writing, but opted to provide as much detail as possible. Enjoy!
~C
They have a pretty wide selection of guitars, to be honest. They're the ones with the Gibson '97 double cutaway Les Paul that looks gorgeous and is ridiculously overpriced. One thing to note -- they're always running a 20% off Musical Instruments sale, so remember the prices are always lower than the tag. Smart advertising. You can get Squiers here for under $100, and the occasional good deal. I'll go into details about this deal, but I once got a MIJ 80s Telecaster here for about $125 that I ended up, through flipping, netting about $350 for. That helped me fund my first telecaster build, and I still had over $125 remaining, so it was a zero-sum effort.
Take note of what's on the walls and keep it in your mind. If you see an item has sat on the wall for a long time, you can likely pounce on it for barely more than they paid for it. Don't be afraid to ask them what they paid for it. They might not tell you, but if it's been there awhile, they may share with you so you can make a reasonable offer so they can make a small profit and get it off their shelf. The guy who I deal with there is a really nice guy, and often asks me questions about gear he gets in. There's an array of instruments and amps here, for all price points. Not all of them are incredible deals, but there are lots of keeper instruments to be had if you're willing to pay what they're honestly worth.
3.) Gold Rush II: Not entirely sure where the "II" comes from, as I never saw another Gold Rush, but this is another good shop worth visiting.
Good selection of guitars. I've seen high-end American-made instruments here and some of the cheapest of the cheap. They know their stuff, too. You can tell their prices are well-researched, as there aren't great flipping deals here, but very good deals for instruments to keep. My Ibanez ART100 flip started here at Gold Rush, and this is one of the points worth making about the shop: your best deals if you're looking to flip from here are going to come from brands that aren't Gibson or Fender. They know how to price those instruments, but will occasionally under-price Peavey, Ibanez, and other instruments due to lack of information online about the instruments. When I saw the Ibanez for $85 at their shop, I knew I was onto something, and when I haggled it slightly lower due to some finish/hardware issues, I knew I had a flip coming. I didn't expect I'd love that guitar, which I ended up doing, but it still turned out to be a great flip, albeit the one I miss the most. So there's plenty of deals here, and this would be the first place I go if I'm looking for a specific guitar or a specific brand. Just recently, they got an influx of amps and effects pedals, so they're worth visiting. They tend to over-price their pedals, so be warned. Do your research.
4.) Pawn Stop: This one is a ways away from the other 3, but is a reasonable pawn shop to stop by. I wouldn't call this one "sketchy," because they do have quality stuff, but if you're one who's uncomfortable going in a shop that has bars on the windows and doors, you may not like what you see.
So the real saving grace of this place is that they have a lot of instruments. Not a lot in terms of amps or effects, but they have more than nothing in those regards. The instrument wall in the back has a decent range of low- to mid-priced guitars, probably maxing around the $400 range. Not that they don't have higher-end instruments there from time-to-time, but it's not the norm like it is for Leonard's and Gold Rush II.
Very good deals to be had here. I've bought quite a few items for flipping from here...though the specific flips elude me right now. Their tagged prices are reasonable for ownership, and you can usually haggle prices that are flip-worthy. For example, there's a MIM J-Bass there right now with a tag of $250 that I'm positive someone could buy for about $175-180 if they haggled the right way. Easy $300 sale for a tidy profit, and a decent bass to own, for sure. Plenty of cool guitars including the old 80s shredder guitars that have no headstock. Would be fun to own to channel my inner "Bill & Ted" but those guitars are more pricey than I'm willing to shell out.
Also check out their movie selection and tools. They have plenty of both, and the prices on those are awesome.
"Honorable" Mention
5.) The Pawn Shop in Rantoul: Even though it's 20-25 minutes away from the Champaign-Urbana area, I will add this to the list as it's a relatively local shop I've visited. Worthwhile to visit, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.
"Why?" you may ask, and here's my response: their prices are ridiculous, and hard to negotiate. The one saving grace of this shop is that it has the most impressive collection of modern and vintage instruments and amps I've seen in a pawn shop. They have an entire room dedicated to the audio arts, and a couple small rooms for trying out instruments.
But their prices are ridiculous. I get it, they have a bottom line and overhead to pay, so they need meat on the bones. But I didn't find one single item in their inventory that was priced at anything below about retail+10%. If they were a music shop, I might understand, but they have old tube amps with brands that no one recognizes that they're trying to sell for $300-700, and I doubt they'll move anytime soon. I'll gladly buy-to-own a vintage tube amp for maybe $200 but more likely $100-150, but it's ridiculous to expect people to shell out a ton of money on amps that simply aren't worth it. The sticker shock alone makes me cautious.
I did buy one item from them, at what I would consider a reasonable cost but nothing near what I'd expect from a pawn shop. I won't name it, since my negative review and the item could "out" me, but suffice it to say I was able to sell the item for the same price I bought it for, so it still wasn't an incredible deal. If I lived in Rantoul, yes, I'd probably visit daily and enjoy myself. But for the cost of gas and the effort of trying to haggle with someone who believes that the overpriced junk should stay overpriced is just not worth it to me. So I'll pass, unless business finds me in Rantoul for some other reason.
So there you have it. I was expecting a shorter writing, but opted to provide as much detail as possible. Enjoy!
~C
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