Saturday 21 January 2012

Pawnshops




























One of the most visible aftereffects of the economical crisis in Latvia is the raise of pawshops (called "lombards" in Latvian). Six years ago you could find just a few of them, today - almost on every street. Since most of the people live from salary to salary it is common to run out of money; people hand in mobile phones, gold and other valuables as pawns to get small high interest loans. If they are unable to pay it back, the pawnshop sells their pawns.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

1 comment:

Bronisław W. Gracz said...

Couple of years ago I made a similar collection of "lombard" photos in my hometown, Łódź. Unfortunately I am not able to find them now, to share for reference here.