New York Teen Opens World's First Sneaker Pawn Shop

While the idea of offering valuables up for an extra bit of cash at the local pawn shop is still pretty common, 16-year-old Chase Reed will be the first ever to apply that concept to high-end and dead-stock sneakers with his venture Sneaker Pawn.

Starting and running the store with his dad Troy, the idea of a sneaker pawn shop incidentally dawned on the father-son team when Chase asked to borrow another $50 after spending his dad’s money on a new release, for which Troy held the sneakers as collateral. Soon after that, Chase sold off his own collection of around 200 pairs to raise the $30,000 needed to start Sneaker Pawn, which is located at Lenox Avenue and West 120th Street in Harlem.

The shop operates by first assessing a prospective pair of kicks and offering a certain amount for them. When it comes time to repay the loan, the pawner returns the original amount plus some extra for storing the sneakers at the shop. If someone else makes another offer on the sneakers and they end up selling for more, the pawner is entitled to 80 percent of the profit while the rest goes back to Sneaker Pawn.

For more on the shop and the business of pawning sneakers, check out the original article over at the New York Post.