People sent letters, called and made unannounced visits to Marie Lesiak Haley's Tampa home asking whether she would sell the family's vacant business, Pickford's Sundries, on Hillsborough Avenue. ...more

March 27, 2009

The face of the neighborhood pawnshop is changing. Traditionally, they squatted on the poor sides of town, catering to the desperate and down-and-out, people who slink in with a piece of jewelry or a cheap stereo for needed cash. ...more

February 7, 2009

Some pawnshops around town are noticing a different clientele. They still are desperate, but they come in wearing designer clothes or toting Rolexes or multicarat diamond cufflinks, or even, at one North Tampa pawn shop, a Tiffany ring signifying that the wearer won a recent Super Bowl. Secrets between a guy and his pawnbroker sometimes stay secret, and Capital Pawn owner Joe Cacciatore won't say which player pawned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl ring from 2002-03, but he did say the eventual buyer traded it for a "suitcase full of money." ...more

February 6, 2009

Kathy Maloney, out of work since May, resorted to selling stuff at a nearby pawnshop Monday night to get cash to feed her dogs. Tuesday, she took her plight to the street. ...more

October 8, 2008

Fifty-four-year-old Katherine Maloney, out of work since May and fresh from a trip to the pawnshop last night to get cash to feed her dogs, took her plight to the street this morning. At the break of dawn, she stood at the corner of Humphrey Street and North Dale Mabry Highway and handed out 100 resumes. Her face-to-face style may have paid off. About an hour after she started, she had gotten three bites. ...more

October 7, 2008

Police weren't sure whether an armed robber was still in a pawnshop when they were told of a holdup by an employee calling from inside, but now they have determined that in all likelihood the thief slipped out a side door. ...more

October 3, 2008

Much of Tuesday's pawnshop armed robbery in Pasco was captured on video surveillance, sheriff's officials announced today, and they're hoping the public can help. ...more

September 10, 2008

Pasco deputies are investigating an armed robbery of a pawnshop this morning. Deputies received a call at 11:30 a.m. about three men armed with handguns walking into A Superior Pawn, 12101 State Road 52, tying up the proprietor and stealing cash and gold jewelry. No serious injuries were reported. ...more

September 9, 2008

Capital Pawn is out to shatter stereotypes of the industry: chained rows of rusting bicycles at the entry of a dimly lighted store full of dusty shelves crammed with old power tools and a clientele of shady customers. ...more

January 7, 2008

Clutter Buster Cleaning Up For those who have resolved to get organized in 2008, Jackie Grizzard may be of service. Her new business, Clutter Free Bug, helps clients simplify the way they live. "It's all mental; it makes things calmer," Grizzard says. She has assisted more than a handful of customers to clean up their office/closet/garage and more in the past three months. ...more

January 6, 2008