Don't be fooled - Myerson is no pushover, no matter how sad the stories customers tell when they come through the door of his shop on 69th Street in Upper Darby, near the Tower Theater and the SEPTA terminal.
In the pawn business, being an emotional wall when confronted with teary tales of woe - or belligerent protests over the price being offered for personal treasures - is critical to success, Myerson maintains.
"If you get sucked in, then you're broke," he said.
He's certainly not that. In this, the 97th year of Lou's Jewelry & Pawn - started by Myerson's father, Louis, in Philadelphia, then headquartered for many years in Chester, and now believed to be the oldest family-owned pawn business in America - annual revenues exceed $2 million.
Myerson, president of the Pennsylvania Pawnbrokers Association and one of 65 licensed pawnbrokers in the state, has noticed an "uptick" in business that he expects will be sustained for at least the next five years.
Along with the surge in gold prices and the financial squeeze many are still feeling, Myerson attributes the influx of new pawnshop visitors to the generally positive exposure the industry - regulated by state banking departments - has been enjoying from such popular cable shows as History's Pawn Stars and truTV's Hardcore Pawn.
"That has catapulted us into the mainstream," Myerson said in his office, one floor above the store. He was seated behind a desk cluttered with paperwork and collectibles, including postcards, inkwells, and a "Stan the Man" nameplate.
On his computer was a letter he recently fired off to state legislators, detailing his concerns about a bill pending in the House that would, Myerson contends, place onerous restrictions and requirements on licensed pawnbrokers, putting them at a competitive disadvantage with businesses such as jewelers and antiques dealers doing some of the same work and not regulated by the state Pawnbrokers Act of 1937.
