Wooden Nickel Pawn in Kalispell, MT

Extremely rude owner.

This is the shadiest pawn shop I've ever seen. Where to begin? The massive amount of porn? The claustrophobic store space? The layer of grime that covers the shelves? Perhaps I should start with the creepy-as-heck store owner that made inappropriate comments to my wife when we were there. As if that weren't enough, the asking prices are outrageous...$175 for a 10-year-old iPod. Save yourself the trip and skip this one.

Stepping inside for the first time, an initial impression toward this pawn shop is likely to be summarized by the word "cluttered" - this is not a mark against it. The Wooden Nickel is as a pawn shop of the old-school in that it observably disregards the trends of other shops, foregoing "will this sell?" in favor of "is this interesting?" And if you look around a bit, you're bound to find much that is, particularly in terms of decades-old militaria and vintage video games; certainly worth mentioning is the attached Brute Audio shop, which bears a GLORIOUS inventory for vehicle sound systems. All around the prices are standard if not lower than general expectation; my only grievance is the location, which is isolated from nearby commercial centers while lying adjacent to an establishment apparently run by hoarders. A pair of previous comments regarding the proprietor are a little entertaining if disingenuous, for while he does state his opinions quite frankly, his character is true and does not suffer from pretenses. I should probably recommend that if your constitution is oily and favors revenge-reviews over straight-shooting & haggling with dealers, you might consider avoiding pawn shops altogether; otherwise, give this place a shot - it'll probably surprise you.