According to the St. Nicholas Center, “The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey … He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra … The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day, December 6th (December 19 on the Julian Calendar).”

From Biography.com, “Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas, known to them as Sint Nikolaas or by his nickname Sinterklaas, and his gift-giving ways to America in the 1700s.

“Saint Nicholas went through many transformations in America: Sinterklaas became Santa Claus, and instead of giving gifts on December 6, he became a part of the Christmas holiday.”

According to the National Pawnbrokers Association, “Gift Day began when a small group of pawnbrokers were wondering how they could give something back to their community over the holidays. They looked around their shops and noticed several guitars and other great musical instruments that were collecting dust. The answer seemed simple. By donating those instruments to local schools, veterans hospitals, and local charities, they were filled with the spirit of giving and Gift Day was born.

“Gift Day is held on December 6th in celebration of National Pawnbrokers Day, which coincides with St. Nicholas Day.”

Key Stats:

Source: 2012 Economic Census. These are the latest stats available for pawnshops.

NAICS 5222981, Pawnshops: This U.S. Census Bureau NAICS-based industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in lending money at interest in exchange for personal property left as security and selling the merchandise if the property is not reclaimed.

Note: The American FactFinder (AFF) table above was a modified view of the original table. The rows were sorted by the column “Number of establishments” in descending order and cropped at the bottom. The original AFF table is no longer available on census.gov.

Source: 2017 Economic Census. The 7-digit NAICS code 5222981 may be released when the miscellaneous tables are released in the spring of 2021. Meanwhile, only the 6-digit NAICS code 522298 is currently available.

NAICS 522298, All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation: This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing nondepository credit (except credit card issuing, sales financing, consumer lending, real estate credit, international trade financing, and secondary market financing). Examples of types of lending in this industry are short-term inventory credit, agricultural lending (except real estate and sales financing), and consumer cash lending secured by personal property. Illustrative Example: Pawnshops.