The Only Use

pawn shop
in
Turtles All the Way Down
(Edited)

Our little caravan headed west on Eighty-Sixth Street to Michigan Road, and then followed it down past Walmart, past the pawnshops and payday loan outfits to the gates of Davis's estate across the road from the art museum.
p. 99.3

pawnshops = shops that offer loans to individuals who use their personal property as collateral

Definitions:

(1) (pawn shop)
a shop that either offers loans to individuals who use their personal property as collateral, or that purchases the personal property outright

At a pawn shop, collateral refers to personal property of the borrower that that is left at the pawn shop. If the loan isn't repaid with interest, the pawn shop keeps (the property an sells it to someone else. Otherwise, the property is returned to the borrower.
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)