PAWN SHOPS OFFER IMMEDIATE CASH.(BUSINESS)

Byline: ALAN WECHSLER Staff writer

The customer slid $38.20 across the counter. ``I'm here to get my stuff back,'' he said. ``They finally paid me.''

``They finally paid you? I'm glad to hear it,'' said Capital Pawn manager Mike Wistuk. He passed two rings in a manila envelope to the customer. The customer, who is on disability and hadn't gotten his check on time, turned to leave.

``These places are good to be around when you need money,'' he said as he walked out the door. ``That's all I got to say.''

To some, the pawn shop will always belong in the bad parts of towns, between the ``Checks Cashed'' stores and the strip joints -- a place of mystery and vague mistrust. A place from which no good could come.

Wistuk and others in the business don't see it that way. Pawn shops, they say, serve a vital role -- a ``poor man's bank,'' a place for the 75 million people in the United States without a bank account or credit card to get immediate cash.

Popular demand would seem to agree. There are now nearly 14,000 licensed shops around …