NICOLE TRACY
Reporter
NASHVILLE – For Jack Bonds, owner of the new Pawn Kings store in Nashville, a vacation to Murfreesboro started what has become a one of a kind pawn shop experience.
Bonds has been in the pawn business since May 1980. In addition to the shops in Nashville and Murfreesboro, he also owns shops in Texas as well.
While on a vacation in Murfreesboro, Bonds met Sam Johnson, and Pawn Kings was born.
Attributing a lot of his success to his employees, he stated that he “has a great influx of quality young people in the company. Consequently, I’m getting so many people that we had to grow.”
As a boss, Bonds runs Pawn Kings very democratically. When the decision was made to open up a new shop in Nashville, the employees took a vote on location. Bonds had a different location in mind, but the employees felt the location where they ended up was the better choice. “I was outvoted.” Bonds stated, “but, they were right!”
Bonds feels that Nashville was a great choice for the expansion of his business. “Nashville was a great choice, we’ve had a great response. We have had lots of customers who are glad we’re here. Things are going really well for us.”
One thing that really excites Bonds about Nashville is “the music.” “I love guitars”, he said. “I’m going to guess within all of our stores, we have probably 400 guitars. There seems to be quite a music base in Nashville, and it’s something that I’d like to see developed.”
Bonds also operates a second business, Dino Dig in Murfreesboro. Billed as “fun for the whole family”, for $8 a person, both young and older patrons are given a baggie, and can dig around dinosaurs statues and replicas of bones in a climate controlled area, and any treasures that are dug up that fit into the baggie are theirs to keep.
Pawn Kings is located at 1523 S. 4th Street in Nashville, and is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The original Pawn Kings at 1202 N. Washington in Murfreesboro is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m everyday. Dino Dig is located at 1124 N. Washington in Murfreesboro, and is open from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
For more information, one can find Pawn Kings on the internet at http://www.pawnkingsofark.com/, as well as on Facebook under Pawn Kings. The Nashville store can be reached at (870) 200-7428, and the Murfreesboro store at (870) 285-3239.
For more information on Dino Dig, one can visit their website at http://www.dinodigmurfreesboro.com/ or call (870) 285-3466.
