Live Your Dream at Good Fortune Jewelry & Pawn
The sign above Good Fortune’s door reads, “Live your dream.” These words greet visitors entering the store and also inspire Good Fortune business owners, Roger and Maddie Weinreich.
The couple opened the store more than 28 years ago after moving from Boston to raise their two sons, Adam and Max in New Hampshire. Roger had been working as a Professional Firefighter, Musician and Sculptor. He was excited about moving his family to the Monadnock Region. Maddie left her corporate career behind and went on to establish herself internationally as a Business Relationship Systems Coach.
From Good Fortune’s humble beginnings as the area’s first consignment store, the business has become one of the leading pre-owned jewelry consignment stores in the nation. The Pawn Shop, which operates in association with Good Fortune, provides cash loans for families and individuals living in the tri-state region.
“In the early days, we sold furniture, housewares and almost anything that people brought in,” said Roger. “At one point, people began bringing us their contemporary fine jewelry to sell.”
Even though Good Fortune sold antique and estate jewelry at this time, it was not yet fashionable in 1995 to buy or sell modern used jewelry.
“Our team decided that we were up for the challenge”, shared Roger, “so we rolled up our sleeves and became pioneers in the business of contemporary pre-owned jewelry.” Since then, pre-owned jewelry has become increasingly popular due to the tremendous financial savings and variety it affords.
While the store provided financial sustenance for their young family, Roger and Maddie understood that the business was a unique financial machine. By the time the company had expanded into the jewelry consignment store model, it had already paid out more than twelve million dollars to consignors. “Circulating money within our community has been very important for Good Fortune,” says Roger. “We consider ourselves to be very local, since most of the jewelry and products we sell belong to local residents”.
Specializing in high quality pre-owned jewelry, the store also showcases new designer brands such as Uno de 50 Jewelry from Spain and Royal Jewelry from New York City.
“If you are considering selling jewelry, Good Fortune is happy to perform a free market value appraisal of your item,” explains store Gemologist Richard Ehlenbach. Good Fortune’s team of jewelers offers a full service jewelry repair department, including ring sizing, appraisals, watch batteries and custom design work.
“Each day is an adventure here,” says long time Good Fortune Jeweler Deborah Faucher. “We maintain a high level of positivity”, she says, “and although we are very excited by the variety of exquisite jewelry that we see, it is really the wonderful people from around the world and within our neighborhood that we enjoy meeting!”
Beyond the dozens of jewelry cases that populate the front half of Good Fortune, customers can walk further into the store and meet the Pawnbrokers. “This is the part of our company that grew in direct response to customer requests,” says Roger.
The story goes like this: Back in 1993, one of Good Fortune’s regular customers was a pro musician. He would occasionally use one of his vintage guitars as collateral and borrow money from a Massachusetts pawnshop. He explained that he would rather borrow locally and suggested that Good Fortune consider becoming a pawnshop. It all made sense, so the Weinreich’s built a loan counter inside the store and became licensed as one of the first pawnshops in the state.
To finance this new venture, the Weinreich’s created a community loan fund, which was one of the first local crowd source funding projects. Roger met several people in town who had used pawnshops in their younger days and knew the value of this lending service. “They were happy to partner with us”, said Roger, “and help provide short term loans for our customers.”
Today, the Pawn Shop provides personal cash loans from $50 to $15,000 dollars to assist families with a variety of financial needs. The company also buys and sells quality used merchandise including gold and silver coins, laptops, cell phones, musical instruments, firearms and tools. If you have a question about the value of any item, just stop by, and the Pawnbrokers will gladly share their knowledge with you.
Good Fortune Jewelry & Pawn will continue to grow into the future as it seeks new ways to serve our community. Roger and Maddie, and their entire team, are delighted to be part of the Good Fortune Dream!