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Pawnshops fight 'non-essential' classification

While other states have classified pawnshops as 'essential businesses,' falling under the category of a 'lending institution,' Maine says they're non-essential.

SANFORD, Maine — Amid the coronavirus pandemic, states and cities have had to wrestle with the question: what businesses are truly essential to life? 

While most people would agree grocery stores and pharmacies provide vital services, there's significantly less consensus when it comes to liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries, gun dealers, and pawnshops.

In Maine, pawnshops have been deemed non-essential and ordered to close. However, pawn shops are still open in states like Florida, North Carolina, and Nevada. 

In those states, pawnshops fall under the category of an essential financial institution, specifically a lending institution. 

The owner of Top Dollar Pawn in Sanford Scott Drew says, "In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other pawnshop owners, we should be deemed essential because we are banks for people." 

Drew says his shop is a way for people to make fast cash during a time they may desperately need it.

"100% I've had someone say they were coming to get money because of the COVID-19 shutdown," says Drew. 

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The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development is responsible for determining which businesses are essential during the coronavirus crisis. 

In a statement to NEWS CENTER Maine, the department says: 

The aim of the Executive Order is to reduce the opportunities for people to congregate and to interact with each other so as to reduce the spread of this highly-contagious virus. The Department recognizes that these measures are difficult for Maine people and businesses, but Maine is confronting an unprecedented challenge with COVID-19, and measures like these are necessary to mitigate the spread of the virus, to protect the health of Maine people, and to save lives. Banks and lending institutions are still available to Maine people for financial service needs.

Drew believes his business should qualify as a lending institution.

"I'm a lending institution. Anyone who looks up what the definition of a lending institution, it's a business that lends money to a consumer. That's what I'm doing. I'm lending money to people," says Drew. 

Regarding business appeals, the Department of Economic and Community Development says: 

The Department takes each application it receives seriously, reviews it carefully, and judges it against the Governor’s Executive Order, which is based on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce. Ultimately, the Commissioner makes a designation decision based on whether, in her judgment, the activity of the requesting business aligns with the intent and interest of the Executive Order.

At NEWS CENTER Maine, we're focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the illness. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: /coronavirus

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