This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Avenue Pawn & Fine Jewelry is an independent pawnbroker and jewelry counter at Independence Avenue and Chestnut Trafficway in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast — a long-tenured corridor shop that buys gold and diamonds, makes collateral loans, and sells wedding and engagement jewelry from the same storefront.

Description

Avenue Pawn & Fine Jewelry occupies the northeast-Kansas City storefront at 2706 Independence Avenue, one block east of Prospect Avenue at the intersection of Chestnut Trafficway — Historic Northeast Kansas City, Missouri, not the city of Independence.123

The shop’s own directory copy describes a mixed pawn-and-jewelry trade: buying, selling and lending against diamonds, gold, silver, platinum, broken jewelry, rare coins, rare paper money, antiques, electronics and tools; a check-cashing counter; and a utility-bill paysite. The jewelry half of the name is not window dressing — the same copy says the shop sells a wide variety of jewelry, “especially diamond wedding rings, and diamond engagment rings,” and Yellow Pages lists jewelry repair and jewelry sizing among the services.12

A 13 February 2019 Northeast News roundup of Independence Avenue Valentine’s promotions placed “Avenue Pawn and Fine Jewelry on Independence and Chestnut” among the corridor businesses offering holiday deals (half-off selected fine jewelry and free gift wrapping that week). That is the only Northeast News mention located; the paper’s “Just Around the Corner” series has not published a profile of the shop.3

The shop is not related to pawn-and-pint, the downtown board-game bar.

Ownership and history

Owner is not established. The Better Business Bureau profile lists Liz Mason as general manager and Joe Abbott as company contact (principal and customer contact). BBB does not call either person the owner. No press story, chamber listing, or first-party page located during research names a proprietor. “4

Founding year is disputed and is not merged. BBB records “Business Started” and “Business Started Locally” as 13 August 1993, and as of this writing reports 33 years in business — internally consistent with a 1993 start. Fyple, a business directory, prints “Year Established 1986.” Yellow Pages prints a rolling “40 Years in Business” figure that, if taken at face value in 2026, would land near 1986, but that is directory arithmetic, not a dated founding claim. No first-party “about” page is live to resolve the conflict. “452

BBB opened a file on the business on 13 April 2009. The shop is not BBB-accredited; BBB currently declines to issue a letter rating for lack of sufficient information.4

The shop’s former first-party domain, avenuepawnshop.com, does not resolve as of 2026-08-28. Directory listings still print it. Internet Archive’s CDX index records HTTP 200 captures of the domain into 2023; the archive body was offline during this pass and is not quoted here.56

A Kompass directory row names “Joe Porello” as proprietor of this shop. That is treated as a directory collision, not a source: Joseph A. Porrello (1970–2016) is documented as the founder of J’s Pawn Shop, a different Kansas City pawnbroker, and is not cited against Avenue Pawn.

The Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce member directory has no listing under Avenue Pawn / avenue-pawn / avenue-pawn-and-fine-jewelry (404 on those slugs; chamber site search returned no results).

Services

Confirmed from the shop’s MapQuest History/Specialties copy and the Yellow Pages claimed listing — business-provided directory text, not a first-party site:12

  • Collateral (pawn) loans
  • Buy and sell diamonds, gold, silver, platinum, and broken jewelry
  • Buy gold, silver, and platinum coins; U.S. and foreign coins and paper money
  • Retail jewelry, including diamond wedding and engagement rings
  • Jewelry repair and jewelry sizing
  • Check cashing
  • Utility-bill pay site
  • Antiques, electronics, and tools as pawn/buy merchandise

No first-party price list was located. Aggregator prices are not imported.

Yellow Pages also lists the shop as a member of the National Pawnbrokers Association. Whether that membership is current is “.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. “Avenue Pawn,” MapQuest place listing, 2706 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124, accessed 2026-08-28. Live hours widget read “Closed until Sat 10 am.” URL — Asserts: address; phone (816) 483-6767; Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun closed; History/Specialties copy (buy/sell/loan on diamonds, gold, silver, platinum, broken jewelry, rare coins, rare paper money, antiques, electronics, tools; check cashing; utility-bill paysite; diamond wedding and engagement rings). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. “Avenue Pawn And Fine Jewelry,” Yellow Pages claimed listing, accessed 2026-08-28. URL — Asserts: 2706 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124; phone (816) 483-6767; fax (816) 483-6224; Mon–Fri 9:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Sat 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., Sun closed; location one block east of Prospect at Chestnut Trafficway and Independence Avenue, Historic Northeast; emails avenuepawnshop@gmail.com and info@avenuepawnshop.com; “40 Years in Business”; National Pawnbrokers Association member; services including coins, currency, diamonds, gold, jewelry repair, jewelry sizing, loans, silver. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. “Shop the International Marketplace this Valentine’s Day,” Northeast News, 13 February 2019. URL — Asserts: “Avenue Pawn and Fine Jewelry on Independence and Chestnut is offering half-off selected fine jewelry and free gift wrapping for Valentine’s Day.” ↩ ↩2

  4. “Avenue Pawn and Fine Jewelry,” BBB of Midwest Plains business profile, accessed 2026-08-28. URL — Asserts: 2706 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124; phone (816) 483-6767; fax (816) 483-6224; not BBB accredited; no letter rating (insufficient information); Years in Business 33; BBB file opened 13 April 2009; Business Started / Started Locally 13 August 1993; Liz Mason, general manager; Joe Abbott, company contact. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. “AVENUE PAWN & FINE JEWELRY in Kansas City, MO,” Fyple directory listing, accessed 2026-08-28. URL — Asserts: 2706 Independence Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64124-2436; hours matching 1/2; Year Established 1986; website avenuepawnshop.com. ↩ ↩2

  6. “Avenue Pawn & Jewelry in Kansas City, MO,” Pawnshops.net store listing, accessed 2026-08-28. URL — Asserts: 2706 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124-2436; phone (816) 483-6767; email avenuepawnshop@gmail.com; Facebook URL as given in Links; Mon–Fri 9:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Sat 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; shop-provided description of pawn, custom jewelry, jewelry and watch repair, check cashing, and coin buying. ↩

See also

  • Registry
  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/avenue-pawn-and-fine-jewelry · record updated 2026-08-28