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Manzoori and Craig Partner in Connecticut Premier Rental-Purchase
Scott Craig and Ron Manzoori want to give Connecticut rent-to-own customers a higher level of service. The pair recently opened their first Premier Rental-Purchase store in Naugatuck. The location has a larger than average showroom and is open seven days per week but Craig and Manzoori feel their real edge comes from...more

Special Report
Federal Government; Payday Loans Cheaper Than Overdrafts
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) published the results of a two year study on the use of overdraft programs operated by FDIC-supervised banks. The study found that a typical NSF check can result in overdraft fees and interest in excess of 3,500 percent APR...more

Canadian Payday Loan Company Settles Class-Action for $3 Million
The Cash Store, formerly Rentcash, has settled a class-action lawsuit over payday loan fees and interest for $3 million. Canadian courts approved the settlement today...more

No Fear of the Competition; Bud Evans to Open Three Augusta RTO Locations
Evans says that since all the publicly-traded RTO chains reported profits last quarter, he can't think of a better industry than RTO for a new retail store. "In a tough economy, consumers are looking for a range of choices to get the things they need. Rent-to-own stores give people a range of buying options, plus it's a profitable, successful business model for a small businessman...more
 

DSI Unveils 2009 Catalog
DSI Systems, a leading rent-to-own channel distributor, released their 2009 catalog today...more

Texas Rental Dealers Prep for Legislative Conference; Registration Open
Registration is open for the Texas Association of Rental Agencies (TARA) 2009 Legislative Conference scheduled for January 26-27, 2009 at the Omni Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas...more

Economy Presents Rental Dealers With Tax Service Revenue Opportunity
Rent to Own dealer Matt Baker has provided in-store tax services for years, long before he opened his Premier Rental-Purchase store in Covington, Georgia last fall. He says he does it for two reasons: to better serve his rental-purchase clientele and to generate additional revenue for his store...more

RIMCO to Combine Operations With Aaron's in Select Markets
RIMCO, the custom wheel and tire leasing division of Aaron Rents (NYSE:RNT), will combine operations in 20 of its company-owned stores with adjacent Aaron's Sales and Lease Ownership stores...more

DSI Systems Launches New Website
DSI Systems, the nation's largest national distributor of LCD, Plasma and DLP TVs, satellite equipment and accessories and a leading rent-to-own channel distributor, today announced the launch of a new state-of-the-art website...more
 

Kinnear Opens Second Premier Rental Purchase in Dayton
Premier Rental-Purchase franchisee Scott Kinnear opened his second store in Dayton, Ohio on November 22. A 15 year rent-to-own industry veteran, Kinnear said the success of his first location prompted him to open a second store to serve the city's east side...more

Rent-A-Center Responds to Brooklyn Protest
n response to Friday's protest of two Rent-A-Center locations in Brooklyn, CEO Mark Speese issued the following statement...more

Black-Friday Results; Cautious Optimism Among Retailers
"Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again." - Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, National Retail Federation...more

Radio Rentals Reports Increased Same Store Sales and Customer Count
Customer growth for the period was 5.6% (4.2% for comp stores). Average units on rent per customer remained steady at 2.41 for the period and the average revenue per customer increased marginally to $127.57...more

New York Group Plans Friday Rent-A-Center Protest
New York Daily News opinion columnist Errol Louis today encouraged New Yorkers to join a planned Friday protest at two Brooklyn Rent-A-Center locations...more
 

Radio Rentals Goes Retail With Launch of Big Brown Box
Australian rent-to-own operator RR Australia (Radio Rentals Australia - RRA) will give Aussie retailers a run for their money with today's launch of Big Brown Box, a new online consumer electronics store that aims to provide Australian consumers with an innovative retail experience...more

NRC Announces Tri-state Rental Dealer Association
The RentDirect Nationwide Rental Coalition (NRC) announced that the formation of the two states' rental dealers' associations, Connecticut and Massachusetts, has been changed to a new tri-state format to include Rhode Island...more

Specialty Furniture Retailer Jennifer Convertibles Revenue Drops 16%
Specialty furniture retailer Jennifer Convertibles announced that revenue for its the fourth quarter ended August 30, 2008 dropped 16.3% to $30.8 million...more

Video: Construction Wraps on Whirlpool Building Blocks Blitz
On November 21, major rent-to-own industry supplier Whirlpool, Habitat for Humanity International, and Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity officially dedicated new homes built with nine Habitat partner families as part of the third annual Whirlpool Building Blocks community build...more
 

Premier Companies Invites Vendors to Register for 2009 Convention
The Premier Companies will hold its annual convention at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans from January 18 – 22. With its growing number of franchisees and preferred vendor affiliations, Premier is anticipating this to be its biggest event to date and is inviting those who are or wish to be a Premier Preferred Vendor to register online...more

Key Indices Report Consumer Confidence Up-tick in November
Two key indices show increased consumer confidence in November. The CEA-CNET Index released data today indicating confidence increased slightly following a record low October. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index also improved moderately in November to 44.9, up from 38.8 in October...more

Bedding Industry Conference Reports Strong Attendance Despite Economy
The International Sleep Products Association's (ISPA) 2008 Industry Conference and Exhibition was held November 12-14 in Orlando, Florida. Association executives report a sold-out exhibit hall and 248 attendees despite the challenging economy...more

Lower Gas Prices to Boost Q4 Sales
For the first time since March 2005, the average price of gasoline is $1.91, leaving shoppers with a little extra padding in their wallets...more

The End of the RTO World as You Know It; Interview With David Ingram and Bud Gates
easyhome CEO David Ingram and Franchisor Bud Gates (easygates) have taken an evolutionary leap toward answering the decades old question - "Why do only a fraction of credit-constrained consumers use rent-to-own stores to acquire furniture, appliances and electronics?" Their observations will surprise you...more

DATATrue's Front-End Alignment for RTO
DATATrue's personal information and banking verification service reduces upfront the majority of risk associated with the customer application and approval process...more

Rent-A-Center Launches New Ad Campaign
Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) launched a multi-media campaign today in which Chief Executive Officer Mark Speese reaches out to the growing number of consumers burdened by the current cash and credit crunch with a message about the benefits of rental-purchase transactions...more

Bud Gates to Open First easyhome Store This Weekend
Bud Gates, Chairman and CEO of easygates, LLC announces the opening of their first store in the U.S. in Olathe, KS. A Grand Opening event has been planned for November 22, 2008 at the store in the West Market Shopping Center at 113 S. Parker Road in Olathe...more

Albert Kohut Named ColorTyme VP Operations
Albert Kohut, who until recently was Vice President of New Business Development for retail furniture giant W.S Badcock, will join ColorTyme as vice president of operations...more

30 Year RTO Industry Vet Opens Premier Wheel Workz in Horn Lake, Mississippi
Pam Hulsey opened her new Premier Wheel Workz store on November 7. A rent-to-own dealer for almost three decades, Hulsey converted half of her large E-Z Rental showroom in Horn Lake, Mississippi to create a free-standing wheel and tire rental location complete with full-service installation...more

Ohio Payday Loan Stores Begin Shutting Down
"Ohio legislators insisted on eliminating credit access for its citizens. In addition, this is putting thousands out of work during a serious economic crisis." - Steve Scoggins, President, Check Into Cash...more

Lack of Business Credit Top Concern Among Small Business Owners
While President-elect Barack Obama's economic agenda aims to help the 27 million small business owners in the United States, restoring confidence among this group won't be easy...more

Economic Slowdown May Intensify
Ken Goldstein, Economist at The Conference Board said today, "The economy is contracting, and the pace of contraction may intensify over the next few months. The economy was very weak, laboring under the weight of a sustained and intense housing downturn and sustained sharp increases in energy prices...more

Americans Feel Insecure in Their Jobs; Over 70% Feel Pressure from Debts
Of those feeling pressure from debt, 57.9% will spend less this Christmas due to their credit concerns. "Consumers have snapped shut their wallets this year and it's difficult to find a bright spot for the Christmas shopping season," said C. Britt Beemer, Chairman of ARG...more

Consumers Shift Buying Behavior; Electronics Still Most Popular
While consumers still yearn for larger screens, smaller flat screens are becoming more desirable. Over half (51%) of television shoppers are considering screens under 40 inches, up approximately 10 percentage points over last year. This data would indicate an opportunity for rent-to-own dealers to market larger screen-sizes with a "no-debt" RTO or lease agreement...more

La-Z-Boy Cuts Credit Backing for Independent Galleries
The company said in a statement Tuesday that, due to the overall tightening of the financial markets, La-Z-Boy will withdraw credit support to certain independent dealers which will likely result in the closure of 15 to 20 dealer owned, La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores over the next 90 to 120 days...more

Weakening Economy Means Less Spending But More Generosity
The weakening U.S. economy will force many U.S. adults to cut back on holiday gift spending this year but will also make some more likely to give a "charitable gift" as a present this holiday season...more

Online Registration Open For PrimeTime! in New Orleans
Nationwide Marketing Group (NMG), parent company of RentDirect, the rent-to-own industry's largest buying group, announced that online registration is now open at www.nationwideprimetime.com for the next PrimeTime! by Nationwide to be held on March 8-11, 2009 at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans...more