Times are tough these days, which leaves more people turning toward pawn shops for much-needed cash and bargain deals.

But that doesn’t mean pawnbrokers will come out as winners in this losing economy.

“Things have gone upside down for me,” said Nancy Robinson, who owns the Cash Company pawn shop, located just outside Bellevue on Bel-Red Road.

Robinson is flooded with new inventory, but the goods aren’t selling like they used to. The result is that her store offers less money for collateral items.

“I feel like the old-fashioned pawnbroker who everyone thinks is trying to lowball you,” she said

Robinson drives a hard bargain these days, but she claims there’s good reason.

Around 40 percent of Cash Company’s clients don’t show up to reclaim their items, whereas 20 percent default is more the norm. That means Robinson has to rely on retail to turn a profit, which isn’t easy during a recession.

Much of Cash Company’s new inventory consists of construction equipment, but few people are looking to buy nail guns during a slowdown in the building industry.

Ron McCully has seen his inventory rise as well at downtown Bellevue’s Diamond Banque. The shop specializes in loans on jewelry and motor vehicles – which can mean anything from half-million-dollar diamonds to helicopters.

“It used to be I couldn’t keep enough 1 carat diamonds in stock,” he said. “Now I have more people wanting to sell them than buy them.”

The same is true of auto sales at McCully’s shop.

“What I see is a lot more people pawning expensive cars,” he said. “But you have to be very conservative on cars because they’re difficult to sell right now”

Many pawnbrokers expand their markets by going online.

Robinson sells rare items from her shop on e-Bay, and she even managed to clear out some construction equipment through a buyer in the Yukon.

Cash Company has a dedicated staff member who specializes in that area, as well as in gun sales.

Diamond Banque does online transactions as well, although the company works with an outside liaison.

“We don’t claim to have the time and expertise to run that kind of business,” McCully said. “It’s actually really helped, though, because we have a lot of rare items.”

Pawn shop dealings vary between economic regions. The average loan at Bellevue’s Cash Company is $200, whereas $60 is the norm in more-depressed areas, according to Robinson.

Volume is also different. Cash Company does about 20 loans per day, whereas the shops in less-affluent areas do between 60 and 100, according to Robinson.

Bellevue might sound like an unlikely destination for pawn shops, but there are actually four brokers within a 4-mile radius of the city’s downtown area.

“A lot of people don’t think of pawn shops as a place to shop, but we have a lot of wealthy bargain hunters who come in here,” Robinson said. “In Bellevue, they have more-marketable items. We get the large diamonds, Rolexes, and big-screen TVs.”