Humble Beginnings
Though we now know the Pawn Stars staffers as reality TV stars and bona fide celebs, don’t forget that World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop all started way back in 1989 as a genuine real-life family business. Because it was then that Richard “Old Man” Harrison first opened up the store, where it ran as a 24-hour family business.
Image by Leftfield/History Channel/Kobal/Shutterstock (5883729o)
Even though they are now superstars in their own right, Harrison, his son Rick, grandson Corey, and family friend Austin “Chumlee” Russell were originally just regular guys working the business—before hitting the big time with their TV show.
True Ambition
Even though he originally started up the pawn shop as simply a family business, the truth was that Old Man Harrison always knew that his store was a special place, and that it could in fact one day make them all famous.
Image via Mike Salvucci/Wikipedia
And so it was actually years before the TV show ever started, that Harrison had been regularly pitching the idea of it to various networks. They kept saying no over and over again, until one network finally said yes—but even then it would be a while before they truly hit the big time.
Business Minded
As we discover the truth of Harrison’s ambitions to take his store to the world of TV, there’s also even more behind his decision to aim for fame.
It wasn’t just because he thought it would make a funny of popular show, but also because he thought it would make good business sense—to increase awareness of his pawn shop and hopefully attract more customers.
Image by Leftfield/History Channel/Kobal/Shutterstock (5883729n)
“I figured that a show would mean free publicity and free publicity would mean more business,” he said to the Star-Telegram.
Never Give Up
Even though Harrison was determined to make a success of his shop and the TV gold he knew it could produce, he also knew that the odds were against him. The more he tried to pitch the show, the more people continued to turn him down.
Image by Leftfield/History Channel/Kobal/Shutterstock (5883729l)
“Everyone told me that no one wants to watch a show about four fat guys in a pawnshop,” he said. Little did they know that one day the world would be transfixed by this very thing.
First Look
As the years went on, networks kept turning down Harrison’s idea for a TV show based on his pawn shop, but he never gave up on his idea.
We might know that Pawn Stars airs on History, but originally it had a very different home—two, in fact!
Image via @rick_harrison/IG
The shop first appeared on Comedy Central’s Insomniac, before being aired briefly on HBO. We bet you didn’t know that about its pre-History channel history.
