But these days, the wealthy are increasingly likely to be wooed by lenders from a place outside the traditional financial realm the local pawnshop.

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The manager of Dongkai Pawnshop says his business has benefited from the crisis.

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Beautiful and brown, the tiny creature lands next in a sleazy pawnshop, then in the cramped Prague apartment of a childless couple, dreamy Mila (Natasa Burger), who has wanted a baby desperately, and her rent-a-cop mate, Franta (Jiri Machacek), who can't adopt because of his criminal past as a soccer hooligan.

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Gamestop has recently suggested that it might start selling more refurbished hardware as well, making the transition from a software retailer to a high-tech pawnshop.

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He bought his first camera in a pawnshop in 1937, and that would set him on the road to becoming a world-renowned photographer.

NPR: Tribute to Photographer, Filmmaker Gordon Parks