Contrary to the perception, pawnbrokers say their customers are not just the down and out. The poor economy is expanding their base to the upscale.

"We're seeing people who have never been in a pawnshop," said Yolanda Walker, public relations director for Cash America International,

Cash America founder Jack Daugherty opened his first shop in 1983 in Irving, Texas, to serve the "underbanked" population unable to obtain traditional loans. He took the company public four years later, growing the business into one of the largest pawn operations in the country, later expanding into the United Kingdom and Sweden. The company now also offers cash advances, prepaid debit cards and other such services.

Walker said the business never catered to just one demographic, but with the credit crunch and the rise in the price of gold, even the affluent are shopping for bargains and scrapping outmoded gold jewelry for cash.

With 65 percent of the shops' business in jewelry, people are taking advantage of the bargains, Walker said.

"People are also going back to the lost art of layaway," Walker said. "Our layaway has gone up considerably in the last quarter."

She predicts even a higher increase in the fourth quarter because of the holidays.

Affluent sellers are no strangers to Bob Ribicki, who co-owns Jack's Loan Office in Gary.

The pawnshop is a fixture at 16th and Broadway, where it was originally opened as Nick's in 1926, becoming Jack's in 1947. It has been family-owned ever since and has grown into one of the largest shops in the area, Ribicki said.

Like others in the industry, Ribicki said pawnshops are no longer the seedy places you might see in the movies. He attracts customers from out-of-state who regularly stop by in their motorhomes to pick up bargains.

"Holidays always bring in more customers because of the jewelry," he said. "We have one of a kind. A lot of affluent people come in looking for specific types of jewelry. If you can save money, it makes sense."

But Ribicki said there are plenty of signs the economy is in bad shape.

"This economy is really hurting people," he said. The shop is not just making more loans. Plenty of customers now are not pawning items for 30 days for a loan but selling them outright for cash.

"That's very unusual," Ribicki said. "Most of these people don't have a heck of a lot left because they're trying to pay everything they can on taxes or something else. So many are laid off now, they're getting down to the nitty gritty."

Greg Engstrom, president of the state chapter of the National Pawnbrokers Association, operates AmeriPawn shops in Valparaiso, Lake Station and LaPorte.

Engstrom said business increased more than a year ago when gas prices hit $3 a gallon.

Some professionals may just have noticed the hard times, but the rank-and-file have been struggling for quite awhile, he said.

"Now the gas is coming down, but there's not as much work so it's a double-edged sword," Engstrom said.

"We've noticed an increase in upscale customers coming in and buying things not because of a need to cut back, but if they can save a few dollars buying second-hand, why not?" he said.