Lang’s C & L Jewelry

I’ve wandered in here a couple of times over the years, looking for higher-​end watches, but never really noticed anything that caught my eye. In the back of my head, though, I knew that this was the place to go, if you’re a serious buyer.
A few days ago, I took my mom on a tour of the M-​59 pawn shops. She’d never been to one, and it seemed like a fun outing to discover a new treasure. I knew she was interested in jewelry, so I saved Lang’s C&L for last.
Having been to Pontiac Brokers, National Pawn, and American Jewelry & Loan, I had forgotten about just how big their selection was here — which is to say, if you’re just browsing, set aside an hour or more.
The selection is impressive, and there’s a nice blend of new, used, and estate mixed together. One of the employees checked in on us frequently — but not in a hovering «are you going to buy anything?» way. She was incredibly nice to work with, and seemed like she would have taken all the time in the world to help my mom out with a small purchase.
Besides nice employees, the policy seems to be to take a piece, identify, and weigh it before giving you a price. The pricing isn’t dead on par with melt /​spot value, of course, but it’s not «Holy crap! $ 300 for 1 gram 14k studs? Are you nuts?» pricing typical pawn /​broker customers are accustomed to. There wasn’t a single price I heard that didn’t sound fair, and a couple that were actually less than I was anticipating.
So, she picked up a couple of items, kicked around a third, and we ended up leaving. Not too long after, she regretted not getting the third item, and by then, I was kind of regretting not getting an estate piece that caught my eye for my wife. We went back, and there wasn’t the slightest bit of grief over pricing or taking additional time. Every price offered earlier in the day was honored without hesitation.
Meanwhile, I noticed something really unique: people coming in to sell and pawn (and there was a steady stream) were happy, and I don’t think I heard a single person argue price. It was kind of mind blowing, actually. The most honest jewelry store I’ve visited in forever is also the most honest pawn shop. Bravo.
Minor quirks that prevent that fifth star: Parking is kind of crap. A lot of people seem to park on the sidewalk, and from what I can tell, they don’t get ticketed. More law-​abiding customers have to park next to the mattress store, and to be honest, it would be stupidly easy to rob people. It’s not an inherently dangerous area, but I tend to pay more attention to my surroundings there.
Also, I’ve always been kind of disappointed by their watch offerings. I tend to keep on the lookout for interesting automatic Accutron, Bell & Ross, Breitling, and Tag Heuer pieces, but have yet to see one here. By and large, the watch selection is used lower-​end stuff you’d find on an Amazon Lightning Deal. Coins, earrings, pendants, rings, necklaces? They’ve got you covered. Watches, not so much.
If you’re cool with buying outside of a mall (and really, you should be!), and aren’t put off by the layout — which is a simple maze of bulletproof walls, this is the place to be. I’m absolutely coming back more often to buy.