Krygoske and Wood Open Portage Indiana Premier Rental Purchase

According to Ted Krygoske, the most exciting part of RTO is opening up a store. It’s what he did for a major RTO company until he discovered it was even better to open up his own store. He made that discovery in 2005 as a new Premier Rental-Purchase franchisee in Knox, Indiana. And now once again he’s enjoying that thrill in Portage, Indiana where he opened a second store in August.

Opening up Knox went like clockwork. He and partner Paul Bottomley had researched the best opening strategy and felt Premier would give the most support and not require high start-up costs. He was right. It all came true as if scripted. So he followed that strategy with his second store and this time with partner Jason Wood.

“I was impressed by how easily the store opened in Knox,” says Ted. “Paul and I worked very well together. We wanted to get the first store off the ground then branch out and open other stores. Paul opened his second Premier store with Tim Oakly as his partner within a year. Jason and I make another good pair and are excited about what we already are seeing even after being open only a few weeks. I’ll be busy here in Portage, but I still plan to be in Knox at least once a month.”

While Ted continues to enjoy his partnership with Paul, he is confident that a combined 23 years of RTO industry experience between him and Jason will bring success to the Portage store. For Ted, that experience began at ground level and took him into the position of regional manager. He started out with Rent-A-Center and before leaving the company had doubled the volume of a store from 80,000 to 150,000 within a year. He moved to Rentway to open up another new store and grew that from zero to 600 agreements in six months. He attributes his success to relating well to his customer base and understanding and servicing their needs.

Jason was 18 when he started in the industry. He knew a manager in the business and signed on as a driver. He worked his way up to store manager running a million dollar operation – and reported to Ted. They worked together for six years before the entrepreneurial urge overcame Ted and he moved on.

"Ted left the company to open his own business with Paul,” says Jason. “I saw the success they were having, so when Ted approached me about opening a store with him, I said ‘yes.’ It was something I had always wanted to do. Because of all of Ted’s experience in opening stores, and especially going through opening his own, he could lead me through all that.”

But it was not as easy as Ted’s first time around. There were issues mainly with real estate that proved to be setbacks. Premier’s real estate consultant became an invaluable part of the team helping to resolve the problems connected with new construction they had chosen for their location.

“We went through trying times with the landlord and the city,” explains Ted. “Premier’s real estate consultant had been awesome in negotiating the lease in Knox, and he really helped Jason and me out on negotiating the second lease. He had to go to the owner of the plaza and talk to him about getting long overdue approvals. Somehow they were able to work things out. If it hadn’t been for him, we would not have opened on time. After the deal was done he still helped me out. He’s been watching my back since the beginning.”

As they start out on their Portage adventure, Ted and Jason have decided to take a different approach than either has before. Both know their market inside and out and have discovered that this one is fairly unconventional for RTO. “We get a lot of people in here that aren’t traditional RTO customers. They like to pay cash for what they buy. So we have adapted to that in our advertising and the merchandise we offer,” said Ted. “Our store looks more like a furniture store.” He adds, “That’s one good thing about Premier. It offers flexibility to come up with the programs that will work in a particular area. And we can be part of a buying group if we want to, but we don’t have to be.”

While there were a few bumps along the way in getting Portage open, business has been as expected – fabulous. In addition to having Jason for a partner, Ted is pleased to have brought on board other longtime employees of his who have remained loyal to him and to the type of customer-service oriented business he runs. “I have worked with Leon Hudson for five years and Adam Hall for seven. They are an important part of my operation.”

Jason is pleased to have Ted’s experience and the familiar faces of Leon and Adam as he launches his entrepreneurial career. He makes an observation about going into business for himself:

“There is a lot to running a store without a corporation. But I like that more. I like being more in control of my decisions. I am grateful to have this opportunity to open a store with Ted.”

The national office of Premier Rental Purchase is located in Williamsburg, VA. All Premier stores are independently owned and operated. Visit Premier’s website at www.premierrents.net or call (800) 2Premier and ask for Trooper Earle.

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