“Hardcore Pawn” star Les Gold believes the truTV show is helping change any stigma that pawn shops mainly sell stolen goods.
The first episode of season six, airing Tuesday at 9 p.m., backs that up. When a worker at Gold’s Detroit shop suspects some cordless microphones were stolen, he calls a club to confirm they’re missing, and then calls the cops.
“We don’t like dealing with criminals,” says Gold, owner of American Jewelry and Loan. “One of the things that we’re very happy about having our show on Tru is the change of perception.
” The pawn shop used to have a stigma of everything you buy is stolen — everything you do is, you try to get away from the police. You want to deal with only drug dealers and criminals,” says Gold of that image.
“What we’re trying to show is we’re a legitimate business,” he says. “Just because we can make money [on something stolen], isn’t the issue. If we can do the right thing, that’s what’s important.”
While spotting something fishy is not a regular occurrence, staffers are encouraged to get involved when they notice something out of the ordinary.
“We try to get to the bottom of it, and we help reunite, if it’s a stolen item, the person who it was stolen from and the item,” Gold says. “We enjoy doing that.”
In this case, it’s a win-win for both the club owner and the employee who suspected wrongdoing, Rich.
Rich, who has worked for Gold for more than 20 years, was on the outs with his boss at the end of last season.
“We had a little argument about his inappropriate dealing with customers, with him dropping the ball, and I had to act accordingly as a business owner,” Gold says.
But Rich’s connections and quick thinking helped save the day. As a drummer for a rock band, he happened to work at the club where the microphones were stolen.
“Him stepping up to the plate and realizing that these guys stole these microphones really was a feather in his cap,” Gold says. “So I’m very proud of the way I’ve trained Rich. And it was just too bad that at the end of last season, he dropped the ball. But he picked it up and he’s running pretty good with it now.”
Rich isn’t the only employee Gold has had trouble with on the show. Sometimes he has confrontations with his own kids — Seth and Ashley — who both work at the family business.
“In life, for me, nothing is more important than family,” Gold says. “Even though we argue with each other, when we walk out of the door, we kiss each other. When we come in in the morning, we kiss each other. Knowing that we have each other’s back, that’s the most important thing.
“It’s a double-edged sword, and I couldn’t be happier that my children are involved with me and that they want to be pawnbrokers. The difficulty is that they work together and they have such huge personalities that it kind of gets in the way sometimes.”
Gold looks out for his daughter in Tuesday night’s show, when a regular customer is rude to Ashley, yelling, “Get your a— over here and shut up.” Her dad steps in and escorts him out.
“Whether it’s my daughter, whether it’s an employee, whether it’s another human being, you just shouldn’t treat them with disrespect, Gold says.
But he has since let the offender back in the shop.
“He’s been a customer for a long time; he acted inappropriate,” Gold says. “After that situation, he came back and apologized.”
gsalamone@nydailynews.com
