WSTM-TV NBC 3 Story by Lisa Spitz,
January 24, 2009

Customers are piling into Jewelry on James. In the past it was to buy. Now many like Cherr Chrissley are there to sell.

"I had three bracelets I had for a long time and never wear anymore so I figured get some extra cash out of it", Chrissley said.

It's not uncommon considering the price of gold is so high. Owner Tom Marini is seeing something new for the first time in his almost 23 years of business and that's the reason why people are trading in their jewels for cold hard cash.

"In the last two weeks we've seen 80 percent of the people that are selling their jewelry all have a common story and that is they are selling it to pay their utility bills," Marini said.

Marini admits there are not as many buyers as there used to be thanks to the economy. He believes he's turning this into a golden opportunity. If he can ride out this slow time by taking jewelry off people's hands, he'll be able to add customers and make more sales once people are back to buying baubles.

He has this advice for anyone looking to sell:

"When you sell your jewelry you need to leave identification and sign a form stating it’s yours to sell, I hesitate to tell anyone to go anywhere that's not reputable because that information is kept on record," Marini said.