The pawn business has certain seasons, said Gary Pulver, owner of Northside Pawn in Billings.

November and December are busy months as people try to bring in more cash to cover Christmas. Then, January and February are brisk as folks recover from the holidays and return to buy their stuff out of pawn.

But this year, things are different. Pawn shops from around the state report that pawn activity has changed in recent months, coinciding with the national economic crisis. It started last summer, many pawn owners say, when high gas prices drove people to pawn a handful of DVDs to fill up their tank. But it has continued, even as gas prices went down. Now, say some, the concern isn’t just about gasoline or the typical winter concerns of higher utility bills. People are starting to talk about covering their mortgages.

“People are bringing in anything and everything they’ve got,” said Eric Morrow, a broker at Northwest Title and Pawn in Billings.

The business’ title loan business “has about doubled,” he said.

That may hint at deeper economic problems. Title loans, Morrow said, offer about twice as much money as traditional pawn loan and more money than people get for movies.

“We have definitely seen an increase in pawns in the last six months, yes,” Pulver said.

A broker at Dave’s Pawn in Helena put it simply:

“To tell you the truth, harder times are a little better for pawn shops. We’ve got more people coming in trying to get money for gas, for food.”

In Butte, where many pawn owners say the scrappy local economy typically keeps them in inventory, at least one pawn owner said the sustained economic downturn is actually hurting business.

Some people in Butte traditionally rely on pawn shops as a part of their monthly budget, said Bruce Hemphill, owner of Bruce and Bob’s Good Guy Pawn. They pawn stuff to get through to payday, then buy it back when they have money.

But now, fewer people come back.

“Now, they don’t have the money to come back after payday,” Hemphill said. “We have a lot of inventory on the shelves.”

And people are less likely to come in buying it, he said.

Two Montana cities seem to be bucking the trend. Several pawn shop owners in the college towns of Bozeman and Missoula say they haven’t noticed any change even as national economic news grows gloomier.

If anything, they say, people are buying more.

“Our sales have been so good and our inventory so low, we had to start buying TV ads,” to encourage people to pawn things, said Kevin Pfau, owner of Liquid Assets, Corp., a Missoula pawn shop.

People seem to be pawning scrap gold, he said, like broken necklaces. But that seems to be driven more by the high cost of gold more than any need for cash, Pfau said.

Pfau racked that up to a good, local economy and low unemployment rate, although Montana as a whole also has a low unemployment rate.

Brokers in Bozeman told a similar story. Sales are a bit down, but nothing like the global pawning increases in other Montana communities.

“Bozeman is pretty fortunate,” said Shawn Salveson, manager of the Pawn Depot in Bozeman. “We have a pretty stable economy.”

Idle hands are rich hands: Montanans turning to homemade Christmas as times tighten

By JENNIFER McKEE - IR State Bureau - 11/23/2008

Montanans aren’t just pawning stuff to get through an economically dour holiday season, they also seem to be making more of their Christmas presents.

Craft stores, knitting and quilting suppliers from around the state say they’re doing brisk business or at least holding their own at a time when many of the nation’s biggest retailers are sucking air and posting losses.

“We have seen more traffic pretty much generally,” said Betty Flatt, manager of the Ben Franklin Craft Store in Helena. “I think people are definitely going back to making their own.”

Flatt said she’s moving a lot of raw materials for homemade Christmas decorations, along with supplies to make candles, soap and scrap books.

Tammy Campbell, owner of The Yarn Center in Missoula, said learn-to-knit and other classes are full and people seem to buying more yarn for holiday gifts. Usually, she said, knitters come out when the weather gets bad.

“People are just doing it anyway this year,” Campbell said. “They are just busy making things.”

Socks or the yarn to make socks seem to be a hot item. Campbell said she’s selling more sock yarn at her shop; so too is Gail Green, manager of Michael’s Crafts, in Billings.

“People are making crafts to sell at fundraisers; they also seem to be doing a lot of their own gift packaging,” Green said, along with knitting up hats, scarves and making their own Christmas cards and wreaths.

Delynn Johnson, manager of the Silver Thimble, a quilting and fabric shop in Butte, said that while she’s not seeing a major influx of business, her store is holding its own and that says something in this economy.

“Sometimes, it does surprise me,” she said. “Now that gas (prices) have gone down, we’re seeing more business. Before, people had to decide between getting gas or getting fabric.”

Terry Peterson, manager of Joseph’s Coat, a Missoula yarn and fiber store, said the knitting market has “never been better,” and she’s seeing an interesting trend: People aren’t necessarily scrimping.

“They’re buying higher-cost yarn,” she said. “I’m selling a lot of organic yarn, yarn from Montana, as well as bison wool yarn.”

Peterson said she suspected the higher-end sales may be driven by a desire to make a great gift and also because people are staying at home more and knitting for gifts is also a form of entertainment.

Reporter Jennifer McKee: 447-4069 or jennifer.mckee@lee.net