 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
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 Rent-to-own News
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Rent-to-own News - Easyhome opens 34th U.S. storeNew easyhome franchisee, easyphoenix, this weekend, opened its first franchise store in Mesa, Arizona. “The owners in easyphoenix are two of the most experienced and most successful business people I know," said Bud Gates, chairman and CEO of easygates -- the company's francising division, "They have extensive history in the rent-to-own business and bring tremendous business knowledge to the easyhome brand. We are very pleased to partner with them to bring the easyhome concept to Mesa. The easyhome concept has proven to be very successful and Steve Riedl, Vice President – Operations for easyphoenix, has put together an outstanding team led by Felipe Garcia, the Mesa Store Manager.” Bud Gates was formerly Chairman and CEO at Rent-A-Center and THORN Americas, Inc. easygates, LLC, was established in 2007 by Bud Gates to create a platform to develop both corporate and franchise stores in the U.S. $6 billon rent-to-own industry. “We are excited to bring the easyhome brand to our 8th state," said David Ingram, president and CEO of easyhome, "I look forward to bringing our unique service offering to the customers of Arizona as we have successfully done to date in all of our markets.” easygates, LLC through easyhome U.S. Ltd. has the exclusive rights to franchise or operate easyhome stores in the 36 states in the U.S., not bordering Canada. Easyhome (parent company of easyhome U.S. Ltd), is Canada’s largest merchandise leasing company and the third largest in North America, offering top quality, name brand household furnishings, appliances and electronics to consumers. As of July 31, 2010, easyhome had 244 stores, including 204 Canadian corporate stores, 14 US corporate stores, 20 US franchised stores, 7 Canadian franchised stores and 1 licensed Canadian store. easyhome is Canada’s largest merchandise leasing company and the third largest in North America. For more information contact: 316/685-3893 bgates@gatesent.com
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2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |