PawnGo.com CEO Todd Hills displays his Louis Vuitton traveling bag of pawned jewelry. Hills says the poor economy pushed more upper-income individuals and small-business owners into getting short-term loans by putting up their valuables.

More Americans are turning to pawn shops to get by, hawking jewelry, electronics, tools, and other personal items for quick cash, according to a new report by Marketdata Enterprises.

Twenty-five million Americans used pawn shops last year, according to data from the National Pawnbrokers Association cited by WSAV, the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia. There now are 11,000 pawn shops in the U.S.: 59 percent more than in 1988. Full story.

My kids buy most of their video games at a local pawn shop. Have you ever pawned anything? Did you redeem it?

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