Rent-to-Own

TRIB Group ‘Meeting of the Minds’ concludes day two, show floor opens

Curt Banigan (Whirlpool) with Frantz Coulanges, Aubre sadler and Dan Singh of Dial Rent to Own at TRIB Group’s ‘Meeting of the Minds’ Buying Show floor Tuesday.

Day two of the popular TRIB Group ‘Meeting of the Minds’ wrapped Tuesday with a focus on leadership, training and recruiting followed by a full blown buying show co-located with retail buying group BrandSource at Bally’s Las Vegas.

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Curt Banigan (Whirlpool) with Frantz Coulanges, Aubre sadler and Dan Singh of Dial Rent to Own.

Day two of the popular TRIB Group ‘Meeting of the Minds’ wrapped Tuesday with a focus on leadership, training and recruiting followed by a full blown buying show co-located with retail buying group BrandSource at Bally’s Las Vegas.

This year’s ‘Meeting of the Minds’ was TRIB’s largest ever, attracting some 200 attendees representing 73 rental companies — a 60 percent member company increase and a 90 percent attendee increase over last year’s attendance figures.

See photos.

Dealers flooded the buying show floor and 62 TRIB approved vendors later in the afternoon and TRIB Group President Lyn Leach said the buy show brought the "Meeting of the Minds’ event to a new level of visibility to its members.

"The timing of this show is absolutely perfect because people are coming in with strong needs," Leach said. "Vendors are reporting excellent sales traffic. There are no tire kickers here; people are buying. The show has exposed a lot of people to the ‘Meeting of the Minds’ who haven’t made it before."

Prior to the opening of the buying show, Trent Agin, David Keen and Mark Williams of Rent One led a provocative discussion of leadership, training, mentorship and recruiting with a special emphasis on managerial assessments.

"You hire someone for their skills, experience and aptitude, but you fire someone for their behaviors," said Rent One President Trent Agin. "So it really counts to take behavioral assessments into account."

The TRIB Group Hotshow, Monday, tallied upwards of $5 million in under two hours.

Bringing together adoptive families, caregivers and members from across the panhandle, the Foster Adoptive Parent Association recently concluded its annual conference in Destin, Fla. ColorTyme Franchisee Richard Pannell showed his support for the organization by donating a laptop computer for the event’s raffle giveaway.

“The Foster Adoptive Parent Association encourages parents to be there for their kids,” said Pannell.  “The organization’s commitment to children, their safety and well-being truly inspires me, so I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

The 2010 conference gathered regional FAPA associations from three circuits that comprise the North West Foster Adoptive Parent Association. Together, these groups strengthen foster and adoptive families through support, training and advocacy. 

Curtis Byrd, president of the North Okaloosa Walton Foster Adoptive Parent Association, was pleased with the conference turnout and grateful for Pannell’s donation.

“This is the third year that we’ve held the conference, and our meeting was a huge success,” said Byrd. “I think everyone had fun with the raffle, and it brought in extra funds for our mission. Donations like Mr. Pannell’s make it possible for us to continue our work and give back to those who support us.”

The winner of the donated laptop was Kimberly Hernandez, president of the Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association.

In challenging economic times when many companies are reducing or curtailing community service initiatives, Rent-A-Center (RAC) is donating $250,000 to food banks across the country in September, national Hunger Action Month. This is part of the national Rent-A-Center Soup to Nuts campaign, designed to help food pantries across the nation continue to meet the increasing demand for their services.

Regional food banks receiving $20,000 donations are located in major cities including Atlanta, Lexington, Ky., Kansas City, Mo., Pittsburgh, Shoreline, Wash., (near Seattle), Phoenix, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. The North Texas Food Bank, located near Rent-A-Center headquarters, received $50,000.

Also during the RAC Soup to Nuts campaign, all 3,000 stores will act as collection points for cans of soup, jars of peanut butter and other canned goods to help local food relief partners such as senior centers, homeless shelters, daycare centers and/or churches.

Food insecurity is defined as a family being uncertain of having, or being unable to acquire, enough food for all household members because they have insufficient money and other resources for food.

According to the latest available statistics from the USDA, 49.1 million people live in food-insecure households, including 16.7 million children. Some other staggering statistics include:

    •    98% have worried that their food would run out before they got money to buy more.
    •    96% report that the food they bought just did not last and they did not have money to get more.
    •    97% say an adult cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there was not enough money for food.
    •    66% of respondents report that they had been hungry but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.

"In the midst of this economic downturn, it is critical that we continue our commitment to supporting the communities where our co-workers and customers live through the outstanding work of food banks," said Mitch Fadel, president and COO of Rent-A-Center. "This effort enables our co-workers to be engaged in a meaningful and important way in supporting our neighbors and our community."

Through national and local partnerships, hunger relief has been an area of involvement for Rent-A-Center since 2002.

Rent-n-Roll Custom Wheels and Tires out of Pascagoula, MS was named Inc. 5000’s list of growing businesses according to GulfLive.com. The business is part of the Baber’s Rent to Own chain owned by Shannon and Cynthia Baber-Strunk. The Rent-n-Roll franchise stores which span the southeast were named amongst eight other MS companies. According to Inc., the Pascagoula-based Rent-n-Roll franchise saw revenue grow from $1.2 million in 2006 to $4.8 million in 2009, a rise of 281 percent and has grown from four to 10 stores in the last two years.

Shannon Strunk (l) takes an order from Premier dealer Wally Landmesser (#28) while Tony Battaglia of Blue Ribbon Rentals looks on at TRIB’s Hotshow auction Monday. The show generated just under $5 million in sales in under two hours.

Close to 200 rent to own operators are in Las Vegas this week for TRIB Group’s annual ‘Meeting of the Minds’ — a one of a kind RTO brainstorming and educational event –  that kicked off today at Bally’s Las Vegas with a day long series of dealer-led information and training sessions that have become staples for today’s independent RTO operator.

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TRIB Boardmember Shannon Strunk (l) takes an order from Premier dealer Wally Landmesser (#28) while Tony Battaglia of Blue Ribbon Rentals looks on at TRIB’s Hotshow auction Monday.

Close to 200 rent to own operators are in Las Vegas this week for TRIB Group’s annual ‘Meeting of the Minds’ — a one of a kind RTO brainstorming and educational event –  that kicked off today at Bally’s Las Vegas with a day long series of dealer-led information and training sessions that have become staples for today’s independent RTO operator.

The event is co-located with Brand’s Source’s National Convention at the Paris/Bally’s Resorts in Las Vegas August 29 – Sept. 1.

TRIB Group Executive Director Dennis Shields reported attendance at the ‘Meeting of the Minds’ is up significantly over last year with close to 200 registered attendees representing 73 member companies. That represents a 60 percent member company increase and a 90 percent attendee increase.

Mike Tissot of Countryside Rent to Own opened ‘Meeting of the MInds 2010′  to a packed house leading a two hour discussion dedicated to renting and collecting including promos, contests, pricing, calling, hard accounts, and legal issues.

The second roundtable focused on generating new business including online sales, fee collection, new products and pakaging led by Seth Weisblatt of Sam’s Appliace and Furniture.

Other topics included "cutting costs and improving gross margins" led by Terry Beville of Buddy’s Home Furnishings and "human resources" led by Trent Agin of Rent One.

The day rounded out with the TRIB Group Hotshow which generated just over $4 million in sales of specially priced items offered by participating TRIB Group member vendors.

Al Benson of Central File Marketing — a first year participant in the Hotshow — said the fast paced rent to own micro-show was a great opportunity to build name recognition among rental dealers. Benson and Central File sold 100,000 direct mail promo packages in under a minute at the show.

"It’s fun to be able to sell our services here, but its really more important to show our support for the show and for TRIB," Benson said. "We generated a lot of interest here and hope that spills over onto the show floor tomorrow." The TRIB Buy show opens Tuesday at 12:30 at Bally’s and runs through Wednesday.

Brownie Calvin, who operates three Option Rentals stores, said the excitement was especially evident at the Hotshow.

"People get really worked up and you can feel the excitement," Calvin said. "It’s fun to get caught up in it and the vendors who really brought out there best deals you can tell because they sold out. Those who didn’t didn’t. But it’s all part of the show and part of building vendor dealer relationships and that’s something TRIB is really good at."

See photo gallery.

APRO Executive Director Bill Keese leads an RTO industry update Tuesday Aug. 31.

August 29-31, TRIB Group 2010 Meeting of the Minds & Buy Fair, Paris & Bally’s Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada.
For more information, contact Dennis Shields at 770/451-4302

August 29-September 2, BrandSource 2010 Convention and Buy Fair, Paris and Bally’s, Las Vegas, Nevada.
For more information, contact Wendy Johnson

Cincy is top U.S. bedbug city

Online news magazine, the Daily Beast recently published its list of America’s top 10 "Most Bedbug Infested Cities" with Ohio cities claiming three spots on the list.

The list is as follows:

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