Decorize Wins American Furniture Award
Each year, Home Magazine hosts the American Furniture Awards to honor the year's most exceptional furniture designers and manufacturers...more

New Customers The Rebate Way
By Lindsey Semon
We are constantly looking for ways to attract new customers and increase revenues with the least amount of expense. One way is to offer PayDay Loans in your existing rent to own stores, but that can be more involved than you think...more

RTO Vet Perry Hand Joins Hoss Power
"Perry's years of experience in the rent to own industry combined with his superior commitment to dealer service will further strengthen Hoss Power's position in the RTO audio market."-Brad Warden, President Hoss Power...more

Chappy's Rent to Own Holding Fundraiser; Donating Half Of Saturday's New Revenue!
Michelle, who's parents are long time customers of Chappy's, is 11 years old and a victim of Muscular Dystrophy...more

Marketing Department Priorities Often Differ From CEO's Agenda
The joint study revealed that the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is poorly defined at an alarming number of companies...more

Cash America Reports 76% Earnings Increase
"Earnings from the quarter were largely due to the strong growth in lending assets in both pawn and cash advances"-Daniel R. Feehan, President and Chief Executive Officer...more

Flexsteel Says Election, War, Oil Prices Causing Consumers To Delay Furniture Purchases
At the same time, many furniture manufacturers, including Flexsteel, are dealing with competition and pricing pressures from imported products...more

HP, Dell, IBM Release Electronics Industry Code of Conduct
The code paves the way for a standards-based approach for monitoring suppliers' performance in, labor and employment practices, health and safety, ethics, and protection of the environment...more

Letter to the Editor
How Did This Happen? Reader Concerned About APRO's Future
One cannot help but ask themselves why both Rent a Center and Rent Way both dropped out at the same time? As many long time supporters of APRO are probably asking; Who dropped the ball...more

Maytag Q3 Sales Down 3%; But Back In Black
"We are taking the right actions to improve Maytag's performance going forward. Our 'One Company' restructuring, which consolidates Hoover floor care, Maytag Appliances and corporate organizations..."-Ralph Hake, Maytag chairman and CEO...more

Rent Way To Continue Relationships With State Rental Associations
Tony Craig, Director of Communications for Rent Way, said, "Absolutely, Rent Way will continue to be involved with state associations where we do business."...more

Texas Association Of Rental Dealers Plans Record 100 Booth Tradeshow In March
The Texas Association of Rental Agencies (TARA) will hold it's annual convention and Tradeshow in San Antonio, Texas March 19-22, 2005...more

Whirlpool Reports Record Third-Quarter Sales; Higher Raw Material and Oil-Related Costs Will Drive Price Increases
"During the third quarter we had record sales on continued strong consumer demand for our brands around the world. Market growth remained positive, although growth rates declined moderately from first-half levels," said Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool's chairman, president and chief executive officer...more

Women In Home Industries Today Names 2004 WOW Award Winners
Announced at WithIt’s Market Party this evening in the Courtyard at Market Square during the International Home Furnishings Market, the WOW winners are Lee Oliver, Jeff Young, Caroline Hipple and Tracey McSherry...more

Long Time APRO Vet Ron Waters Fired; Legislative Budget Axed
Ron Waters, APRO Government Affairs Director, and 15 year employee of the Association, was fired on Friday. This was the first in what may be a series of cutbacks set in motion by the board of directors to cover an $800,000 budget shortfall...more

Rent A Center Q3 Conference Call Scheduled
In September, Rent a Center revised it's projections and warned investors that the company expected -5% same store sales for Q3...more

Aaron Rents To Webcast Q3 Conference Call
Aaron Rents Q3 Earnings Conference call will be held Friday October 29th, 2004...more

ColorTyme Franchisee Pat Hunt Succeeds In Customer Service; Opens Fifth Store
“I like to tell my customers that when they rent or buy a TV from me, they’re not just getting a TV, they’re getting me too"-Pat Hunt...more

Florida Rental Dealers To Meet In Tampa
FRDA, twice named State Association of the Year by it's parent organization (APRO; 1993 and 2001), is led by Association President Terry Beville. Beville is Vice President and CFO of Florida's largest independent rental company, Buddy's Home Furnishings...more

C-Chip Technologies Going After RTO market; New Tech Offers Remote Access To Rental Property
The system offers credit grantors, using the Internet, the ability to remotely access, monitor and control the use of consumer electronic products that they have leased or financed to consumers...more

Women's Economic Development Outreach To Tour Kentucky; Offer Women Business Owners Free Assistance
"The concept of bringing the resource partners to local women owners during a week long blitz throughout Kentucky is a dynamic way to jump start our economy and provide a catalyst to grow women-owned businesses"- Melanie Beatty, National City small business banking vice president...more

Sealy Reports Record Quarter; Year To Date Still In Red
Net income for the quarter was $20.4 million compared with net income of $8.7 million a year earlier, up 134.5%...more

Leave The BOR, Take the Cannoli
By Rufus Mudsucker
I'm a simple man. I seldom bother with much more than the facts of life and what color door hanger to order. And, like most males, I believe rent to own's most important lessons can be learned by watching "The Godfather."...more

Aaron Rents Shocked At APRO Resignations; Still Sees Value In APRO Membership
"It's pretty shocking both of them would pull out at the same time," said Butler. "I'm surprised they would do that. It's not good for APRO and not good for the industry."...more

ColorTyme's Second Annual Charity Golf Tournament Scheduled; Proceeds To Benefit Juvenile Diabetes Research
"We hope to raise $20,000 to help the kids," said Kogler. The first annual tournament was held in March of 2004 and raised $12,600 for juvenile diabetes research...more

Rent-A-Center And Rent Way Quit APRO
Rent A Center and Rent Way have resigned their memberships to the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations (APRO). The two rental giants account for 50% of the rent to own locations in the United States and nearly half the trade association's reported $2 million budget...more

Stanley Furniture Reports 18% Sales Increase; Imports Now Account For 27% of Sales
While industry sales trends have improved this year, we believe market share gains are driving most of our sales growth"-Jeffrey R. Scheffer, president and chief executive officer...more

RTO Online Announces Partnership With TRIB, The Rental Industry Buying Group
The Rental Industry Buying Group (TRIB) board of directors voted to form a unique partnership with RTOOnline, Inc., the leading source of news and information for the Rent To Own industry...more

Helius Delivers High Definition Video Marketing Platform for Retailers; Enables 'Side by Side' Comparison of Televisions
"A number of retail customers have requested a solution that would enable side by side comparison of their HD televisions with their SD televisions"-Myron Mosbarger, CTO at Helius...more

Bestway Reports Same Store Sales Increased 7.1%; Eight Consecutive Quarters of Increased Same Store Revenue
"People, products and programs continue to be our primary focus"- David A. Kraemer, President and Chief Executive Officer...more

Payday Loan Execs Gather In Puerto Rico For FISCA Conference And Tradeshow
In the last year quite a bit has been written about check cashers and payday loan companies. Unfortunately, misconceptions thrive and little attention has been paid to the real reasons why the industry is so successful...more

Jaton Introduces New 600 Watt Powered Mini Home Theater System; Launches ANV Subsidiary To Serve Rent to Own Industry
"We value the Rent to Own business and are committed to delivering the industry cutting edge technology at affordable prices"-George Cheng, National Sales Manager, Jaton...more

Arkansas Rental Dealers Fall Conference Wraps Up (36 Photos)
ARDA President Alan Frazier announced the group is searching for a lobbyist to represent the interest of rental dealers in the state capitol...more

Auditing Your Rent to Own Stores; A Checklist For Success
By Lindsey Semon, RTO Consulting
When performing an audit, a sampling of the following areas should be reviewed. A problem spotted in any one area may be an indication that an expanded audit is needed in all areas...more

Premier Rental Opens 13th Location; Owner Mike Lewis Cites High End Merchandise And New Look As Formula For  Success
Owner Mike Lewis, who has more than a decade of experience in the RTO sector, credits the store’s fresh new look and high-end product lines for the store’s meteoric rise...more

La-Z-Boy Warns; Cuts Projected Earnings 50%
La-Z-Boy President and CEO Kurt Darrow noted, "While we still expect our year-over-year sales for the October quarter to increase in the mid-single digit percentage range, we are reducing our earnings guidance primarily as a result of three factors...more

Aaron’s Breaks Ground for 1,000th Store; Site Chosen For Symbolism
"No other town in the world calls itself Swainsboro. We felt that symbolized the philosophy of Aaron’s, which is to be the world’s most unique retail and lease ownership concept"-R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr., Chairman and CEO...more

Arkansas Rental Dealers Fall Conference Begins (46 Photos)
The Arkansas Rental Dealers Association (ARDA) kicked off its 2004 Fall Conference here Tuesday with a trout fishing tournament sponsored by Woodson & Boozeman, and barbeque sponsored by ADPRO, Jerry BOGO, Welton Techwood, and Zenith...more

Raffo To Open Rent-N-Rolls In South Carolina And Tennessee
Raffo recently sold his 25 store Home Express RTO chain to Aaron Rents...more

PC Replacement Rate Reverses Three-Year Declining Trend
After three years of brutally expanding replacement rates, both homes and workplaces have finally started replacing their personal computers...more

Alabama Mississippi Rental Association Focuses On Education
The Alabama Mississippi Rent to Own Association (ALAMISS) wrapped up its annual convention and tradeshow with a series of educational seminars on subjects ranging from; How to handle customers who are called to active duty, to the proper way to change a bulb in a Philips LCOS TV...more

Rent-Way Reports Record Quarterly Agreement Growth; Same Store Sales Increase 5.2% For Fiscal Year
"The growth and our revenue performance are all the more remarkable in that we achieved them in a quarter that saw four hurricanes impact our 67 stores in Florida..."-William E. Morgenstern...more

Bassett Overall Sales Flat; Company Stores Up 14%
The Bassett Furniture Direct retail store program continues to grow with 109 stores currently in operation...more

Rent to Own Pros Gather In Mississippi For ALAMISS Convention (51 photos)
The Alabama Mississippi Rent to Own Association kicked off it's annual convention and tradeshow Tuesday with a welcome reception at the Golden Moon Hotel and Casino near Philadelphia Mississippi...more

New $50 Bill Begins Circulation Today
The $50 note includes enhanced security features, subtle background colors of blue and red, images of a waving American flag and a small metallic silver-blue star...more

Cash America Enters California Market With 32 Location Acquisition
This is Cash America's first entry into the California market and expands the Company's geographic reach into an important new region...more

Alabama Mississippi Rent to Own Dealers Prepare First Tradeshow
After struggling as separate entities for years, the Alabama and Mississippi Associations joined forces in 2003 to form ALAMISS. Since then, participation has steadily increased and ALAMISS will hold it's first tradeshow this week...more

Texas Rental Association To Host Store Growth Seminar; Frank Mathews To Keynote
The Texas Association of Rental Agencies (TARA) will host a seminar entitled "Sales and Store Growth" October 13th at the Chase Bank Downtown (4th floor) El Paso, Texas from 9:00-12:00...more

Rentcash Named One of Canada's Fastest Growing Companies
This is the fourth time Gordon Reykdal's entrepreneurial ability has been recognized in PROFIT magazine rankings...more

Vendors Mingle With RTO Pro's At Expo Tradeshow (80 Photos)
Sarah Kelly, store manager at Rent Way #54 in Columbus, Ohio attended the show and sees customer service as her number one priority. When asked the most important thing a store manager can do to maintain a good relationship with customers, Sarah immediately responded "Contact them before they contact me."...more