‘It recharges your batteries’: B.C. pawnbroker fundraises as Santa after receiving custom suit

Adam finds out how a pawnbroker was inspired by the unexpected offer of a Santa suit to make his community more merry.

Although his beard has grown big and turned white, Doug Scott started working at this B.C. pawnshop before he could even shave.

“I would come after school and do my homework here,” Doug smiles. “And then I’d end up helping out mom and dad.”

And Doug ended up taking over the Esquimalt Trading Company when his parents retired, with the goal of helping folks make ends meet.

“A lot of people are cheque to cheque and sometimes they need [extra money],” Doug says. “A tire goes out, or they need a new pair of boots for work.”

But at this time of the year, sometimes they need more, which brings us to Doug’s beard, which he says his wife lets him start growing after their anniversary in the spring.

“I was clean-shaven when we got married and that’s how she likes it,” Doug says. “She’s not really a beard fan.”

But a lot of people are, because of who it makes Doug look like.

“People go, ‘Give me a ‘Ho ho ho!’” Doug says. “But for some reason I can’t [laugh like Santa Claus] unless I’m in my suit.”

It’s a red and white fur lined suit, that Doug got after a woman walked into the store one day and offered it to him, but not to pawn.

“She came forward and said she would make me a Santa suit,” Doug says, adding she turned out to be a seamstress.

So, he graciously accepted, before accessorizing it with a pair of military boots and a hand-made belt.

“A friend of mine from Whitehorse made the belt for me,” Doug says, before showing off the brass buckle and a picture of Santa’s face imprinted on the leather. “[Whitehorse] is very close to the North Pole.”

But Doug does dress up as Santa for people close to home—has been for more than 30 years.

“I’m now to the point where little kids who were on my lap [grew-up to] bring their children to me,” Doug smiles.

Although Doug can make more than 20 appearances a season (sometimes twice a day, he never charges a fee. Instead, he requests that a donation be made to the Santa’s Anonymous children’s charity.

“I was always brought up that the community supports us,” Doug says. “So, we support the community.”

And Doug has found that when you focus on giving over getting, “it recharges your batteries.”

You can’t help but feel jolly, he says, before bursting into an infectious “Ho ho ho!,” when you’re making others feel merry.