TRAVERSE CITY -- Logan Drake's sweaty hair clung to his forehead as his mother Kristine lifted the toddler from their car parked near Ace Buyers pawn shop.
Logan's father, Shawn, popped the trunk and retrieved a rifle case. Then the family shuffled into Ace Buyers, past rows of second-hand trolling motors and used golf clubs.
Minutes later, the Buckley clan had what they came for: money for food and gas for another week.
The Drakes hocked their wedding ring set for $20 and Shawn's hunting rifle fetched $60.
It's a scene that plays out at pawn shops across the state, as grim customers haul in more expensive and treasured items, said Dan Griffith, who owns the shop on South Airport Road in Traverse City.
It's just another symptom of a failing economy and resulting plant closures, layoffs and skyrocketing energy and food prices.
"For people to give up family heirlooms, you know they have been caught in a desperate situation financially," Griffith said.
The Drakes' wedding ring set "wasn't nothing fancy," Kristine said, but the couple spent about two hours debating what to sell before heading to Traverse City. In the end, they were left with little choice, Shawn said.
"I work full time, five days a week ... and my check is spent before it's even printed," said Shawn, who makes $12.50 an hour as a grounds crewman at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.
"She works at a bar in Buckley and business is so bad he cut her down to two days a week. I just don't make enough to cover the rent, utilities, gas and everything."
It was the family's first trip to Ace Buyers, a last-minute effort to keep themselves afloat amid a mounding pile of past-due bills and monthly utility shut-off notices.
Kristine, who walks a few blocks to work, is looking for another job while the couple tries to fend off another trip to the pawn shop. They already know, though, that they won't be able to pay July's rent.
"It's getting to the point where you're trying to figure out what bills are more important at the time. We let one bill go to pay another," Kristine said. "We try to talk to the people we owe stuff to and finagle it. I am trying to find (another job), but we can only afford one vehicle with the gas prices."
"We are just trying to ... hold off an eviction notice," she said.
The Drakes sold their items outright. It's also common for repeat customers to receive cash for items, then return to the store on payday to buy them back, a service the store offers for roughly 25 percent interest each month.
Griffith's employees also are fielding more calls from residents who are leaving Michigan and want to sell snowblowers, lawn mowers, whatever they don't need.
"You continuously hear people have lost their jobs and are leaving the state. That's often the case," Griffith said as he leaned against a display case crammed with cameras and other assorted electronics.
Behind him, a row of weathered rifles and shotguns lined the wall.
"We do have regulars, and for them we're their financial institution. More than anything, it's needing $20, $30, $40 or whatever can get them through to their next paycheck, and the assurance that they can redeem it," he said.
Florescent orange tags from previous pawn shop trips dangled from Dennis Winek's two small amplifiers as the Traverse City resident hauled them and his red electric guitar into Ace Buyers.
It was the third time he cashed them in since he went on unpaid medical leave last August.
Winek and his wife support five children, but back pain forced the former nursing assistant to seek a new line of work. He plans to attend Northwestern Michigan College in the fall.
In the meantime, Winek said, his financial situation has put a new perspective on his priorities.
"This is helping with a utility bill. They are just extra things that I can do without," Winek said, describing his experience as "mildly depressing."
"When you go from a two-income family, together me and my wife would do $35,000 to $40,000, now you drop that in half. It's ... humbling."
Lori Thompson knows that emotion well, though she hardly has time to dwell on her misfortunes.
Thompson, a state Community of Mental Health patient, was a single mother for 15 years before she suffered a nervous breakdown and subsequently was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she said.
A college graduate with an accounting degree, the Traverse City woman receives a housing voucher and food allowance from the state as long as she isn't working. But she's forced to scramble each month to come up with creative ways to cover her utility bills.
"Neighbors give me their pop cans to turn in to help with the bills. I might see if I can get a baby-sitting job or something I don't have to claim," Thompson said.
Thompson's daughter drove her to Ace Buyers to hawk a laundry basket full of electronics, DVDs, jewelry and other items.
She left without selling any of the goods when she wasn't offered what she believed they were worth.
Thompson wants to work despite her disability, and plans to file her third and final appeal to the state for a permit to do so soon, she said.
And, like most people who stopped at Ace Buyers to pawn their possessions, she remains optimistic her financial struggles are only temporary.
"I can probably work a gas station or Burger King job," she said.
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