"Pawn shop" and "friendly" don't usually go hand-in-hand. However, The Gift House on Historic 25th…read more-- serving Ogden since 1942 -- is self-proclaimed as the town's "oldest and friendliest pawn shop." And this might be the truth.
First, let's start with the merch. At its heart is -- as stated on their business cards, "guns, gold, and diamonds."
A lot of old-school, pricey rifles. Owner Scott Vanleeuwen is known far and wide for his collection of Browning-designed Winchester rifles. These are collectors items, and the lofty prices reflect that.
As far as the gold and diamonds, I saw an abundance of rings, along with earrings, bracelets, and chains.
Along the wall are several guitars, from acoustic to electric: Peavey, Ibanez, Martin, Dillion, Schecter, etc. At least for the ones I looked at, the prices are in line with what you'll find on eBay. Some really high-quality stuff too. For one, they have a few Breedlove Stage Series guitars ... top of the line, with dovetail neck joints, mahogany neck wood, and a 25.5-inch scale length. The Gif House's great advantage over eBay is you actually get to try 'em out before you buy.
There's also a great mishmash: laptops, tablets, LED TVs, Apple products, cameras, Blu-ray players, tools (Bosch, Hilti, Makita, etc.); Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo game consoles and gears; coin collections, LED TVs, amplifiers, drums, mixers, snowboard and skiing gear, hunting equipment, taxidermied animals, paintball guns, CDs, DVDS, Blu-rays, Blu-ray players ... and that's naming just a few.
And, yes, there's the "friendly" element. A group of locals are sitting ad chatting, you can pet and feed the shop's parakeet, or get a cup of coffee.
I SO want to deduct a star for the Trump sticker on their wall, but I won't.
The gift house is a very good pawn shop and, indeed, the friendliest in town.