Michael Goldstein, CEO Empire Collateral
To Our Customers, Suppliers, Investors, and Prospectors of Pawn Shop Gold Everywhere, Greetings!
Welcome to the Summer Issue of Pawn Talk. In this issue we have chosen to feature our New Bedford, Massachusetts store, located on the once-and-future historic Acushnet Avenue, and which has been open since 1996. Indeed, our spotlight this issue is more broadly on the city of New Bedford, once the whaling capital of the world, once the wealthiest city with the highest per-capita income in the continental United States, opportunity-magnet for successive waves of people seeking a better life from Portugal, the Azores islands, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Africa, with its textile and seafood processing plants, which for now has seen better days, but which someday we hope will rise again, perhaps as a host to newer knowledge-based industries.
You will glean from the article “Acushnet Avenue Walkabout” that our little corner of New Bedford is “in transition,” with much ethnic and cultural displacement occurring right before our eyes. The older groups of Portuguese, Polish, French, and Haitian settlers are moving out to the suburbs, or moving to other towns altogether, and in their place are moving in new arrivals, primarily from Central and South America. This is a process which started as far back as the 1960’s, and is not unique to New Bedford. Acushnet Avenue looks a lot like Boston’s South End did in the 1970’s. We at Empire Loan are endeavoring to invest in the neighborhood over the long term. Indeed, as we see it, businesses like Empire Loan can serve as anchors in this type of environment, and our commitment to the community is strong, and will remain so.
There is no denying that this summer of 2009 is a tough one for many people. Unemployment nationally is at a 26-year high, gas prices are back on the rise, our young Administration has been making unprecedented bold moves to ameliorate and improve economic conditions for the populace, with the jury still quite a ways out on how effective and salutary these moves will be. For us, however, business remains strong, as more people are realizing the value and benefits of our services. We wish to put this strength back into the communities that are hosting us, and we know better than most that doing good is the best and most reliable way to do well.
We encourage you to take a second and third look at our stores, where you will find great deals and great value, which in these times mean more than ever to those among us who need to make every dollar count.
All the best for a happy and safe summer!