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# <br />�� <br />� ' '' <br />Serving the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities <br />Wednesday, March 26, 2008 <br />Pawning to make ends meet <br />Lisa Furgison, reporting � Ifurgison@twelve.tv <br />As soon as the doors open at Cash N' Pawn in Crystal, people are <br />waiting to come in. <br />"It is a si n of the times " mana er Barb Faschin said. "We have <br />B , B B <br />seen a dramatic increase in business." Overall, business is up by 40 <br />percent at the Crystal store. People like Arlesia Robinson are behind the boost in <br />business. <br />"I had some hard times," Robinson said. Recently, she needed some fast cash to cover <br />some of her bills. "They really did help me out," she said. "I'm only 21 years old and I <br />have a baby and a lot of bills and I just needed a little help." She pawned a ring for a <br />couple hundred dollars to pay the bills. She is not alone. <br />"We're seeing more middle class people, where it used to be the more blue collar <br />workers coming in," Fasching said. "Now we're seeing small business owners get loans <br />because of the crunch in the housing market." <br />Fasching says people are pawning everything from gaming systems to flat screen Ns. <br />But the most common item to pawn lately is gold, since its value recently tripled. "That <br />makes a substantial difference in our business," Fasching said. "It has created a frenzy of <br />people coming to the store." <br />Some gold pieces are worth $150 more than they were last year, making it a little easier <br />for people like Robinson to part with their jewelry to make ends meet. <br />"When you're pawning something I think that the price that they give you is fair," <br />Robinson said. <br />