Proposed pawn shop draws criticism from neighbors

Store would accept guns without ammo, offer payday loans

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 | 2:03 p.m.

Proposed Pawn Shop Location

A proposed pawn shop attempting to open in a vacant building on Cheyenne Avenue west of Durango Drive has drawn criticism from neighbors who don't want such a business in the area.

Cash America, parent company of SuperPawn, is seeking a business license from the city to relocate one of its stores to that site in the Cheyenne Fairways Business Center, said Jennifer Lazovich, a local attorney representing the company.

The store would offer payday loans and would accept guns without ammunition but will not sell them on site, Lazovich said.

Diane McCarthy, who said she represented a homeowner whose property backed the shopping center, worried the type of business would hurt the neighborhood.

"With foreclosures and property and everything going down, I don't know what will happen to property values. People are already losing so much," she said.

The city also received seven cards protesting the pawn shop and three area residents opposed it at a Jan. 12 neighborhood meeting with company representatives.

The city Planning Commission approved the project, though the property line of the business center abutted residences. The city requires pawn shops to be 200 feet from homes measured between the two property lines. A parking lot separates the homes from the pawn shop building, which will be 203 feet from the residential block wall, Lazovich said.

The pawn shop would be in a 5,000-square-foot pad building on the center's west side. The center includes a two-story office building and another retail pad building.

The company agreed to operating hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays and will not advertise its payday loan business on its signs, Lazovich said.

The City Council is scheduled to review the application at its Feb. 18 meeting.

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or jeff.pope@hbcpub.com.

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By Lenny_V

Feb. 6, 2009

1:23 a.m.

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I can't stand these scumbag payday loans stores. I'd rather see brothels in the valley than these leeches.
By Lenny_V

Feb. 6, 2009

1:24 a.m.

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Same goes for sleazy pawn shops.
By JeffKursman

Feb. 23, 2009

7:17 a.m.

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Research shows payday advance customers to be middle-income, educated, working families, more than half earning between $25,000 and $50,000 annually, 58 percent having attended college, and one in five having a bachelor's degree.

Payday advances are small, unsecured, short-term loans, usually due on the borrower's next payday. The average loan is $300 and the typical fee is $15 per $100 borrowed.