Page 184 - South Mississippi Living - Ocotber, 2022

FINAL SAY
KEVIN
RILEY
Owner,
Dad’s Super Pawn
My father was always an entrepreneur of sorts. He was very ambitious and always looking to grow our community and en- sure his family was well taken care of. I’ve had some great times working for him in the past, from helping to raise monkeys at his zoo to washing dishes at Mr. Jacks Pizza as a teen.
Almost 40 years ago, we got into the Pawn Business. I worked closely with my father and the rest of my family from that time forward to grow our business and expand to what we have today. Several years after establishing the business, my parents retired, and I was handed the keys and told good luck. They hit the road in an RV for several years for some much needed and well-de- served rest and to enjoy retirement.
At this time we primarily focused on the Pawn side of the industry. I still remember when I started to expand into firearms. My first order was for a total of five firearms, and I felt as though I had hit the big times. Today we have approximately 7,000 fire- arms on hand. We also have the largest inventory of scopes and accessories on the Coast.
At Dad’s we try to support the hunting and sport shooting community as much as possible. We facilitate the transfer of hun- dreds of firearms a year for organizations such as Ducks Unlim- ited and the Mississippi Sportsman’s Alliance to name a few, and we do this at no charge to those organizations. We also partici- pate in the Glock Law Enforcement Program, selling firearms at discounted prices to local police and first responders.
I love being in the firearms industry, however the pawn business is where my heart is. I truly believe we are providing a service to our customers and the community. The majority of our customers are repeat customers, and I feel that says some- thing about the service we provide, seeing the same faces year
after year.
We understand that life is challenging at times, and we see a
wide array of people taking advantage of the services we offer. I think we provide a safety net for those having trouble making ends meet at the end of the month, especially for those on fixed incomes. We provide our customers with a grace period of 10 days on all loans where no additional interest is accrued. We also offer additional services such as title loans, check cash- ing, and jewelry repair. We’ll even replace the batteries in your watch and cut you a new key while you wait.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has always supported us here at Dad’s Super Pawn and we don’t forget that. I try to support our community as much as possible to thank them for what they have done for us. In the past we have sponsored countless events on the Coast, such as the Crawfish Musical Festival and those of the Carnival Association to name a few. We provided support to Hurricane Victims in Mississippi and Louisiana with shipments of food, water, and generators.
My philosophy has always been family, employees and our community first. If you take care of those things, everything else will fall in place.
184 | October 2022
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