For Rod Brandenburg, owner of Grandpa’s Pawn and Gun in Longmont, the name of his business was something he had to grow into.
Two months ago, Brandenburg’s daughter Sara and her husband had a baby boy – Pryor. That means that at 63 years old, Brandenburg is now a grandpa himself, which is fitting for the title of his shop.
“When she had her baby, everyone kept going, ‘You’re finally a grandpa,’” said Brandenburg, who was proud to share that Pryor is a sixth-generation Coloradan.
Welcoming a new family member isn’t the only exciting development for Brandenburg, however, as this spring also marks the 30th anniversary of Grandpa’s Pawn.
“I don’t know where the time went,” he said. “I’m doing business with people who are grandchildren to people that I’ve dealt with since I started.”
Grandpa’s Pawn was started in April of 1994 by retired police officer John Teeples. Brandenburg bought the shop five years later, and he kept the name.
After moving from its original Main Street location in 2014, Grandpa’s Pawn is now located in a former auto repair shop at 104 Ninth Ave. The massive red building is painted with the shop’s name in letters big enough to catch the attention of drivers or pedestrians.
“Everybody knows where we are,” Brandenburg said.
Plenty of eccentric and exotic items are on display inside the shop. The walls are lined with taxidermy from all over the world, including animals hunted in Alaska, New Zealand and Mongolia. Brandenburg’s two dogs keep watch over the store’s precious collection and will eagerly befriend anyone who stops by.
Brandenburg said guns and jewelry are the most popular things that customers come in for, but both are far from the only items the shop offers. With an assortment of musical instruments, hand tools, vintage coins and clothing, there’s something for practically everyone.
“We have to be a jack of all trades,” he said. “When you’re a pawn broker, you’ve got to know a lot about a lot of things.”
Brandenburg has worn a few different hats in the business world over the years; he previously owned a full-service car wash in Denver and a pizza restaurant in Longmont. The pawn industry, though, is always dynamic – which is one reason why Brandenburg enjoys it so much.
“It’s just an interesting business,” he said. “There is never a carbon copy day in here.”
Brandenburg said his store is the non-corporate pawn shop in Longmont. For him, that means the unique features of Grandpa’s Pawn get to be experienced by the upwards of 3,000 visitors that stop by the store every week. Many of those customers, he said, come back time and again.
“It’s vital in a community that you have a good pawn shop,” he said. “You help people out, and when you help people out, they remember that. That means a lot to people.”
One of Brandenburg’s employees, Brady Taipale, has worked at Grandpa’s Pawn for 17 years. He said the store makes a difference in the Longmont community.
“We’ve kind of become a staple of the city,” Taipale said.
