We’re successful because we don’t just provide LCD and plasma TVs, we build long-term relationships.
Pat Hunt, ColorTyme Franchisee

Pat Hunt (above) started with ColorTyme in 1999 with a store conversion in Thomasville, Ga. He expanded from there, opening stores across Southern Georgia in Valdosta, Moultrie, Bainbridge, Camilla, Albany, and now Eastman.

If the clock was turned back many years, it might have been difficult to put much stock in a young man named Pat Hunt. His life back then was full of stumbles and struggles. But now his future appears to be very bright and Georgians are now putting stock in him as he opens his sixth ColorTyme rent-to-own (RTO) store in Eastman, Ga., just 40 miles southeast of Macon.

Hunt considered himself an “ungovernable” child and his early 20s weren’t much easier. “I got involved in some questionable things, but a manager at a retail store in New York had faith in me and gave me a job in spite of my past,” he said.

That put Hunt on the road to redemption and his appetite for excelling in the retail business soon became insatiable. Hunt worked his way from manager in training, to account manager, to store manager to business owner.

“Three weeks into it, I knew it was something cool,” explains Hunt. “I could relate to my customers then and nearly all of my customers now. We come from the same neighborhoods and experience the same hardships. ColorTyme lets me be my own boss and work with customers on many payment plans to help them when money is tight. Something the big boys in the rent-to-own business can’t do.”

Hunt started with ColorTyme in 1999 with a store conversion in Thomasville, Ga. He expanded from there, opening stores across Southern Georgia in Valdosta, Moultrie, Bainbridge, Camilla, Albany, and now Eastman. He later sold his Bainbridge store to a partner.

His new ColorTyme franchise in Eastman is located at 970 Indian Drive, in the Wal-Mart shopping center. And although Hunt just had a grand opening this month, sales are already brisk in the few weeks he’s been open.

“We’re successful because we don’t just provide LCD and plasma TVs, we build long-term relationships,” explains Hunt. “Our customers love our wide selection of computers and brand name electronics, but it’s also the fact that we work with them on their payment plans, something that separates us from our competitors.”

ColorTyme, Inc. is the oldest franchised rent-to-own or rental purchase company in the United States with nearly 300 stores.