Victoria Brooks, Brooks Pawn & Jewelry, Modesto, CA

Brooks Jewelry opened for business in 1981 in a one-room office. Their goal was to run a reputable hometown business. They bought and sold estate (used) jewelry. By 1993 Brooks added pawns and second-hand dealing as an option for people that just need a short term loan and did not wish to sell their property. They changed their name to Brooks Pawn & Jewelry and started loaning money on jewelry only; then slowly started accepted other items of value. The store is family owned and operated and, with pride, still serves many of it’s original customers.

When asked how long it takes to process a transaction using PawnMaster software, Victoria said, “It probably takes a minute to scan an ID, and then enter the description, it depends on how fast a typer you are, but it’s basically you just enter the description, you click balance, and you’re done. It prints it out. So as far as the typing part, I would say within a minute. Pick-ups are probably within 30 seconds to a minute. Our store policy is we look everybody up by driver license number and when you pull that up, it brings up the screen to pick-up, rewrite, you click your boxes and you’re done. It comes up with a cash drawer amount, you type in how much money they give you, and they tell you how much change, then it will bring up bin numbers and it’s that simple.”

— Victoria Brooks