Les Gold (born June 20, 1950) is an American pawnbroker, reality TV star, author, and media personality. He is known for his role on

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and

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

's reality series, ''

Hardcore Pawn ''Hardcore Pawn'' is an American reality television series produced by RDF USA (later Zodiak USA) and Richard Dominick Productions for truTV about the day-to-day operations of American Jewelry and Loan, a family-owned and -operated pawn shop ...

''.

Early life and career

Gold is a third generation pawnbroker/salesman, the grandson of a

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pawnbroker who once owned company "Sam's Loans", a now-defunct pawnshop on Michigan Avenue in

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Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Sam's Loans was where Gold made his first sale, at age 7. In 2014, the Sam's Loans building was remodeled into a pawn shop-themed restaurant, named "Gold Cash Gold". The restaurant closed in 2020. Gold began his first business at age 12, buying pizzas and reselling them by the slice to fellow students at Hebrew School. Gold opened his own pawn shop, American Jewelry and Loan, in 1978, at the Green Eight Shopping Center on

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in Oak Park. In 1993, he moved it to its present location on Greenfield Road in Detroit near 8 Mile - a 50,000 square foot building that was formerly a bowling alley. The business now has 5 locations, employs up to 200 people and serves about 1,000 customers a day.

''Hardcore Pawn''

Gold, his family, and his pawn shops are central to the truTV series ''Hardcore Pawn.'' In 1998, independent producer Richard Dominick saw Gold's TV ads which ran during the local commercial breaks of ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'', which Dominick was working on at the time. He saw potential in Les and his business as a reality TV show and approached the Gold family with this idea. Les's son, Seth, was initially reluctant, but Les overruled him and agreed to let the cameras in. The pilot aired in late 2009. Dominick was the series co-executive producer with Mike Gamson. Les and Seth Gold were also credited as executive producers, beginning with the third season. The series premiere (August 16, 2010) attracted two million viewers, thus setting a record as truTV's most-watched premiere. As of June 2013, the viewership exceeded 3 million. Production was halted and show was canceled in 2014.

Publications

Gold's autobiography, ''For What It's Worth: Business Wisdom from a Pawnbroker'', was published on June 1, 2013, by Penguin/Portfolio. The book deals with his personal experience in establishing a successful pawn shop, and gives details on how he did it, and how anyone in any field can "think like a pawnbroker". Writing for Forbes, fellow entrepreneur Josh Linkner explains how he has learned from Gold's advice. The book ranked #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the ''Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous'' category for the week of June 30, 2013, and #8 in the ''Hardcover Business Books'' category for the month of July 2013. Gold, the book, and his "three simple steps to successful negotiation" were featured on

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's '' Good Morning America'' on June 18, 2013.

Personal life

Gold married Lilli Gold in 1975. Together they have two children.

Philanthropy

Gold supports The Heat And Warmth Fund ("THAW Fund"), which helps local families pay their heat and electricity bills. In February 2013, a fund-raising party dubbed "Hardcore THAW" was held after-hours in his store and raised more than $40,000 for the organization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Les 1950 births Living people Participants in American reality television series American businesspeople Writers from Detroit American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews