Hartland Shop Owner Will Take on Hard Core Pawn

Taking her unique sense of style and a big piece of Michigan history, Hartland shop owner Elaine Boria is headed down to 8 Mile for her chance to wheel and deal and possibly appear on an episode of the reality TV series, Hard Core Pawn.


The owner of Finders Keepers in Hartland, a high-end consignment store, Boria is also the owner of a large set of original 1962 J.L. Hudson's stuffed bears dressed up in University of Michigan band attire used for the store's Christmas display.

"I just think that these bears are so unique," she said. "They're nostalgic Michigan because not only are they J.L. Hudson's, which was our top store back in the day that no longer exists, but also Michigan."

Boria was contacted by the show's producer to see if she would be interested in attempting to pawn her set of Michigan Bears at the Detroit store and it was an opportunity the interior designer and store owner said she couldn't pass up.

Headed to Detroit for filming on Sept. 20, Boria says while she hopes the show will help with her own shop's advertisement, the fun and excitement of the experience is what she is most looking forward to.

"It's like (Jerry) Springer... I'm going to call it Trash TV and I just think it's kind of fun," she said laughing. "But I also like dealing with collectors, and he's (Leslie "Les" Gold) a collector in a different manner."

While Boria admitted to never having watched the show before, she found herself glued to a Hard Core Pawn marathon over the weekend and said she enjoyed it.

"I did tell them (producers) that I wasn't going to go in and fight though," she said with a grin. "Because some of them do that -- I'm just going to go in and be me."