City Introduces Standards, Locations For Future Pawn Shops

Up to seven locations in the city will be available for future pawn shops and gold and silver dealers under a new ordinance presented to the Glendora City Council Tuesday.

“Secondhand dealers cover a wide variety of business types,” said Planning Manager Dianne Walter. “Our goal was to provide clarification for businesses that are considered benign routine retail commercial enterprises such as thrift stores, furniture stores and antique stores, versus businesses that are occasionally associated with criminal activity such as pawn shops and gold buyers.”

City documents point to research that suggest that certain secondhand dealers that buy and sell property attract criminal activity in areas where they are located.

on all secondhand dealers since April of last year to allow time to draft an ordinance that would designate pawn shops and cash for gold-type businesses in certain areas of the city.

The ordinance will put pawn shops in the city’s Commercial Manufacturing Zone. Along with other requirements, including operation hours from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and a minimum distance of 59 feet from residential zones, the city identified up to seven locations within the Commercial Manufacturing Zone where pawn shops may exist.

These included parcels on Arrow Highway, Fleetwood Place near Grand Avenue and on Foothill Boulevard and Valencia Avenue.

Pawn shops would be still required to follow state law, which requires secondhand dealers and pawn shops to obtain licenses from the local police department and report any purchase of personal property to the police chief on a daily basis.

The only businesses in Glendora currently reporting to Glendora Police are and .

However, there are no pawn shops or gold and silver buyers currently in Glendora, according to city officials.

Under the city ordinance, pawn shops are required to supply a security plan to Glendora Police and the Planning Department. 

The council unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance with a second reading scheduled at a future date.