Many americans are jobless, struggling to pay bills and keep food on the table.

Rachel Collier shows how some locals rely on pawn shops to make ends meet.

Not only can pawn shops be great for those looking to make a few quick bucks, you can save money by shopping there.

Ray Cardwell tries to get the motor to kick in on a circular saw... but it doesn't want to cooperate. As desperate as a customer may be for money, Cardwell just can't take a broken item until it's fixed. "Some people they'll try to bring broken stuff and pawn it," said Cardwell, "'cause when they're gone and out the door we're stuck with the broken stuff and they're gone with our money."

Ray and his wife Autumn, the owner's of Shady Ray's Pawn shop off of Gordon Avenue say they've seen more customers as times get tough. "A lot of them they don't care, they pawn it because they need the money," said Autumn Cardwell, "it's more important to feed the kids than have a flat screen tv."

Some needing money so badly, they'll sell personal items--even wedding bands. "There was a wedding band in here, it said 'forever 1959', and they got married in 1959 and they had to pawn that set. And it was pretty bad, it was sad to see that," said Autumn.

Pawn shops aren't just great for cashing in. Johnathan Davidson is a regular customer at Shady Ray's and saves money buying discounted tools for his remodeling business.

He says there hasn't been much work lately. He calls it feast or famine and right now he's hungry for work. "Either you've got too much to do and you can't spend any time to stay home," said Davidson, "or you're starving to try get by"

He says times are tough, and Americans will look for any way to cut corners. "I think the pawn shops keep a lot of people from stealing and stuff like that because they can get something out of it. What would you do to feed your children if there was no other way?" asked Davidson.

The cardwell's opened up Shady Ray's over a year ago, right about the time the economy took a turn for the worse.

They say since then business has been really good as people look for ways to save money.