APRO member Countryside Rentals Inc., dba Rent-2-Own recently marked a momentous milestone – opening up its 40th store in the company’s 37-year history.
“My father started our business in 1985 on a shoestring budget, with the belief that there were a lot of great people out there who needed, wanted, and deserved a new way to get nice stuff for their homes or businesses,” says Rent-2-Own Owner Mike Tissot, “without interest charges, hidden fees, or other not-so-good things that other companies out there deem necessary.”
Tissot notes the Ohio-based company has historically had a “slow and steady wins the race” approach to growth.
“Our path has been mostly organic growth with a store a year and a few small acquisitions,” he says. “There is no goal number of stores on a wall anywhere here, and there never will be. We have an awesome support team, and we just keep on growing out from the hub geographically. We stay available to opportunities that might present themselves in markets where we have homegrown people who can go in and open it up with our company culture on day one.”
R2O’s Store #40 is located in Bridgeport, Ohio, and will be run by RTO veteran Ryan Bennett. Though today’s mercurial marketplace has spurred many reports of disengaged workers, Tissot says his business is solid because his team members are involved and on-point with their customers every day.
“We are differ-RENT,” he explains. “We have 400 people who are purposefully aligned with what we do for our customers, and that shows in the way we serve them. Customers come to Rent-2-Own and stay with us because our teams have pride of ownership in their particular stores, and that makes a real difference.”
