By Alex Taylor 11/10/08 8:16pm

Broke? Pawning Your Jewels Is Easy, Art Not So Much

While most of New York watches as its fortunes sink with Wall Street, at least one city industry is running ahead of the economic course: pawnshops. Pawnshops operate by irregular economic indicators. The worse things look on the outside (foreclosed signs) the nicer they’re apt to look inside (diamond rings, hundred-year-old family heirlooms hocked for Read More

By Lysandra Ohrstrom 11/10/08 1:31pm

The Local: The Shiest Retail Remains Steady in Recession

Gary Gross’ family has operated a pawnshop near Penn Station for more than a century. Though he was not around during the “real depression” in the 1920s, S&G Gross Co. has emerged more or less unscathed from multiple economic downturns in Mr. Gross’ lifetime.

The bursting of the tech bubble in the beginning of Read More