Stemming from our recent profile in Coast Magazine Ideal Luxury and owner Mark Schechter continue to garner attention on the national stage for their unique level of service and approach to the age old business of pawnbroking.
This article specifically discusses our company’s dealings with our rich and affluent clientele, although we do have customers from all backgrounds and needs who make appointments. All in all it’s a great article that profiles what we do here at Ideal Luxury.
The article is written by John Aidan Byrne, and can be found on nypost.com, here’s a snippet of the original article:
Mark Schechter is Wall Street’s pawnbroker of exclusive bling — and his business is booming.
Brokers, traders and financial tycoons are some of his super wealthy clients. And these high-rollers are eager to exchange their rare, multimillion-dollar diamonds, Tiffany jewelry and Cartier watches for short-term loans of $2,500 to $1 million, or for quick cash when times are tough — especially when pink-slipped out of a hedge fund, or when a trade has gone seriously wrong.
Schechter is the founder and owner of Tustin, Calif.-based Ideal Luxury, a pawnshop for the rich and famous, and modeled as a “concierge” that buys and sells luxury goods — mostly diamonds, jewelry and watches — through private appointment at his nondescript office at Tustin Financial Plaza. The owner will also meet his clients anywhere, from Silicon Valley and Hollywood to the tony nabes of Greenwich, Conn., and the Hamptons on Long Island. Items for sale on his Web site recently included a $20,500 Rolex watch.
“We have a lot of financial services people out here, too, in Orange County who have the wherewithal to buy a $20,000 or an $80,000 set of diamond earrings,” Schechter, an imposing ironman triathlete, told The Post, describing some of the inquiries he fields.
Most of his clients are not desperate for cash, unlike some customers of more traditional pawn brokers. Peddling family heirlooms when the Social Security or welfare check runs out is not common at these stores.
Still, sometimes a fast infusion of cash is needed by the spouse of a wealthy banker splitting his estate after a nasty divorce, or when the bonus check falls short.
“Servicing your Range Rover or keeping the Country Club membership is expensive,” Schechter said.
Ideal Luxury is one of an emerging group of pawnshops catering to the ultrarich.
