Gold Nugget owners purchase neighboring fire station

Residents likely won’t notice much from the outside, but one area business is breathing new life into the volunteer fire station on the Hope Town Square.

Jackie and Dan Tallent, owners of the Gold Nugget Pawn Shop, purchased the nearly 5,000-square-foot building when it was put on the market by the fire department last fall.

“We just thought it would be a great opportunity for us to expand our storage space for the pawn shop,” says Jackie Tallent.

Since Tallent’s parents, Bill and Alta Robb, opened the store in 1979, the Gold Nugget has offered Hope area residents easy three-month loan arrangements on items large and small. Once the three month agreement is up, customers return to pick up the item, Jackie says.

After more than 40-years in business and an increasing demand for loans on larger items, like motorcycles and kayaks, the Tallents knew they would eventually need more space and saw the fire station’s sale as a great opportunity to expand.

Its location is ideal as it sets just behind the pawn shop’s current location and it has personality, which offers a unique cool factor.

Tallent and her husband are essentially now the caretakers of the fire station and its rich history that is very deserving of preservation, Tallent says. And that is just the perfect situation as far as Tallent is concerned.

“It’s a 100-year-old building on the Hope Town Square, which definitely draws me in,” Tallent says. “For us to be the caretakers and preserve it for the next generation of Hope, it’s exciting.”

Among the fire station’s many unique characteristics is the large archway that frames the interior’s ceiling, Tallent says.

“It was explained to me that it was that way so the wagons could come through,” Tallent says.

And it is fun, historic facts such as that that make this project all the more exciting, Tallent says. Especially when one considers the benefit of ensuring the building remains preserved for future generations who will likely find their own uses for the space, Tallent says.

For the foreseeable future, the Tallents will set to work making improvements to the property, Tallent says. In the mean time, area residents will likely notice the shop’s ability to take on larger items before they notice any change or sprucing up of the station itself, Tallent says.

“It is going to need some work, of course,” Tallent says. “But we are really excited about the possibilities it has for the Gold Nugget.”