Alternative credit celebs "Pawn Stars" greet guests at Las Vegas shop

Richard, Rick and Corey Harrison, the famed "Pawn Stars" and alternative credit pros featured on The History Channel, have announced several weeks throughout the next three months where they will dedicate a portion of each weekday to meeting with fans, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"Pawn Stars" give back
The source writes the three generations of pawning pros, in addition to giving fans a one-on-one experience, will be making charitable donations based on sales of items customers buy for autographing at the shop.

Rick Harrison, the show's main businessman, thinks prior tests with this kind of marketing will help the company run a successful fan meet-and-greet experience.

"It took some serious planning and trial runs, but we think we now have a system that works to allow more fans to meet us and the experts on the show. That was the one piece missing to a great experience when visiting Gold & Silver Pawn," middle-man Rick said in a press release.

The guys could use some positive energy these days, as Fox News reported in December the show's home network is being sued by agents claiming a previous affiliation with the pawn shop.

Major television players
Thankfully for the guys, by the thousands of hopeful fans waiting outside Gold & Silver Pawn Shop each day, according to the Times, the show's popularity should not dwindle.

The Huffington Posts says in the world of reality television, "Pawn Stars" is second only to MTV's notorious "Jersey Shore," and the crew took quite some time to make it to the spotlight it holds today. The shop hosted PBS for a documentary filming over twelve years ago, according to the source.

It was this exposure that kicked Rick's media-centric brain into high gear, and, The Huffington Post claims, after HBO offered a program with a negative skew to the industry, he knew the positive message sent through the current show was what his business and pawn shops everywhere needed.

Rick's passion for television certainly has accrued the pawn shop more business than the average operation. "Pawn Stars" has made this form of alternative credit mainstream over the past few years, opening watchers eyes to the basics of short-term lending business.