Letter from the General Manager

We have ended another hot month! I can’t wait for fall to arrive. Now that August is here, school is about to start and now is a great time to move those electronic items. As you know, we have a competitive layaway promotion. This is a great time to secure electronic items and jewelry on layaway. This layaway promotion is especially advantageous for the soon-to-come holiday.

As always, we like to highlight the top salesman for the month. In July, the first-place salesman was Paul M. Second place goes to Dominic T., and third place goes to Norma B. Great job, everyone. July was a softer month in sales, but we expect an increase in the next few months.

As we were anticipating, our loan growth continues to be aggressive. We are not seeing a slowdown in lending but are seeing nicer, higher-end items come in for evaluation. Compared to previous months, we are also experiencing an uptick in new customers at each location. This is an excellent opportunity to build our want lists at each store. This can be a great tool to build repeat/ referral business.

I wanted to take a moment and speak about the last NPA convention in Atlanta Ga. This event was awesome! They had a great turnout, including many jewelry, diamond, and purse vendors. This convention compared to some in the past felt very lively. The National Pawnbrokers Association also had many seminars that included How AI will be integrated into the pawn world the impact of lab-grown diamonds in the marketplace as well as lending for pawnbrokers. What I have specifically learned was that change is constant in this industry. It's amazing that all the ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence are starting to pick up ground within the industry! However, this convention wasn’t 100% work. One evening, we were able to meet up with Lauren and friends to see the Braves face off with the Diamondbacks. Sadly, the Braves couldn’t pull through but that certainly didn’t ruin a good time! The experience was pretty cool on the other side of the map, and I would recommend going if you have never been to Atlanta!

Lastly, in the ordinary course of business, we often get sucked into the daily rituals and routines of the store process. We are goal-oriented and client-focused. We like to take time to celebrate our successes. Managers often schedule offsite meeting spots such as dining, golf, bowling, or the downtown arena. We sure don’t want to stop celebrating. If anyone would like to share ideas for future team rewards or celebrations, please email Wayne or Javier.

Sincerely,

Wayne Silliman General Manager

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” -Zig Ziglar