The image of a pawn shop, however, brings to mind some less-flattering visuals.

Craig McCall believes it doesn't have to be that way and has spent the last 12 years working hard to make sure his Pawn Plus stores dispel the negative images commonly associated with pawn shops.

McCall has 11 Pawn Plus stores in the valley, including one on Eastern Avenue, near Sun City Anthem, which would be hard to identify as a pawn shop if not for the name out front.

On the outside, the store, located near the corner of St. Rose Parkway and Eastern Avenue, looks like a typical retail shop in a suburban strip mall. Inside, glass display cases at one end of the store are filled with ornate watches, rings and other jewelry items. Other cases contain electronics items, such as laptop computers and the wall displays behind the counter hold full sets of brand name golf clubs.

There is no 24-hour window, merchandise of questionable origin or clerks who smell like cigarettes and cheap wine and rotate more often than the stock.

"That's the image people used to have of pawn shops," McCall said. "And there was a time when that reputation was deserved, but not any more. At least not here."

Craig McCall, who owns several Pawn Plus shops in the Las Vegas Valley, stands in the Pawn Plus on South Eastern Avenue in Henderson. Photo by Leila Navidi

Unlike payday loan centers, pawn licenses are strictly regulated in Nevada, so there are only a certain number of them available. In Las Vegas, for example, there can only be one pawn license per 50,000 residents, so someone wishing to open a shop must buy an existing license or enter a lottery when a license becomes available.

McCall has consistently purchased less desirable stores in locations that he would not have chosen, just to obtain the license, and later upgraded or moved to a more preferable site.

The license for his Henderson location, for example, was purchased from a pawn and gun shop on Boulder Highway.

While Henderson may not seem like the ideal location for a pawn shop, McCall said it is the model for what he wants all of his shops to look like.

"Most people think this is not a place a pawn shop would do well," he said. "When I opened it, I anticipated doing well on jewelry sales and was not so sure how much demand there would be for the loan business. The loan base here has been one of the fastest-growing loan bases in any of my stores."

People tend to live at the edge of their means, McCall says. When they have a "financial hiccup" predicated by a family or medical emergency, for, example, and the amount they need is not enough to warrant a traditional loan, they sometimes come to him.

There are still a lot of misconceptions about who the clientele of pawnshops are, the type of merchandise that is sold, and the investment capital it takes to start up a pawnshop.

A pawn license costs $350,000 to $400,000 and it's a privileged license, so if there is not compliance on the part of the license holder it can be revoked. In addition, every item that comes into a pawnshop is reported electronically to the pawn detail at Metro Police, so it can be compared against stolen items.

Golf clubs are for sale at Pawn Plus on South Eastern Avenue in Henderson. Photo by Leila Navidi

If the item is found to be stolen, it is put on police hold and is returned to the owner, and the pawn shop owner is out the money loaned against the item. The owner can try to get restitution from the seller, but that is unlikely.

"It has reached the point where if someone has a stolen item, the last place they are likely to take it is a pawn shop because there is a paper trail that leads back to them," McCall said.

One reason McCall has put so much effort into updating the appearance of the store is because he wants it to reflect the business that takes place inside.

Pawn Shops are regulated by the state and, unlike payday loan centers, have a set interest rate, which is currently 10 percent per month. Pawned items cannot be sold for at least 120 days, so people have a reasonable amount of time to claim items and an item that is stolen can still be recovered, even if it is not listed as such when taken in.

Another misconception is the percentage of items reclaimed by customers, which McCall said is between 80 and 90 percent. He allows customers an additional 30 days, upon request, to reclaim pawned items.

"Most of our customers expect to reclaim their stuff and we want their repeat business," McCall said.

He admits that some of his properties still do payday loans, but it is less than 2 percent of his business and he wouldn't mind if it were zero.

"We do it because some of our locations were doing it when we got them and, quite frankly, customers ask for it," McCall said. "We would much rather convert them to pawn customers."

McCall's biggest challenge is still in the court of public opinion.

He has won over some pretty staunch critics, including Ward 1 Las Vegas Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, who is a vocal opponent of payday loan centers and had reservations about pawn shops as well. After visiting several of McCall's stores, however, Tarkanian threw her support behind a proposed Pawn Plus location that has since opened on Sahara Avenue.

McCall's business model has also been lauded by other Las Vegas city council members, including Ward 2 Councilman Steve Wolfson and Ward 4 Councilman Larry Brown, who credit him for raising the status of the industry in the valley. Despite the recognition, he has also had proposals shot down by the council because of opposition from citizens who appeared to be misinformed about the rules governing the industry.

McCall is now looking outside of Las Vegas, to Arizona and Oregon, states that have even stricter regulations than Nevada, because expansion opportunities here are limited.

He plans to continue upgrading the stores he has here and also hopes to continue dispelling misconceptions about pawn shops.

He is confident that through regulation, responsible ownership and continued public education, the myths that have plagued his industry for so long will one day be gone for good.