This momentary exposure, identified by pawnbrokers MoneyMax Financial Services Group (SGX:5WJ
) , would be solved with a drive-through pawnshop, an idea the company piloted in the last quarter of 2022. Lim Chun Seng, group general manager of MoneyMax, readily says the idea was borrowed. “The true inspiration behind it was from McDonald’s,” says Lim in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
In the small industrial town of Bandar Baru Uda, Johor Bahru, a stretch of colourful low-rise shop houses along Skudai highway is packed with rows of pawnshops. The sign pajak gadai (pawn shop) is plastered on nearly every storefront in a font so large that it's hard to miss while driving past on the highway.
It’s well known among locals as the place to visit to trade their valuables for a quick cash turnaround. Unfortunately, it is for that exact reason the activity is all that riskier: they become easy targets for thieves when they exit pawn shops with large amounts of cash.
