The Davis Square Community

I've been watching this thread and feeling hesitant to post because I don't want to be misread as anti-small business -- I love our local businesses. But I want to acknowledge Granola_gurl's feelings and say that pawnshops make me sad too. I admit I don't know the business owners of the pawnshop in Davis Square. This is not a condemnation of them personally or their expansion. Maybe they are lovely people. But what seems to be missing from this thread is an acknowledgement that, for the most part, pawnshops are designed to profit from the working poor. People who live paycheck to paycheck are most vulnerable to needing to this form of fast cash. Financial precarity is what keeps pawnshops, payday lenders, and check cashers in business. Do financially secure people pawn things? Sure. Is that the demographic of most pawn shops? No. In general, businesses profiting from urban poverty makes me sad. No matter whose neighborhood it's in.