Regardless of their ambitious-sounding name, the Grows are finding plentiful success in a blend of slow & steady with family business
The Grow family is, by their own description, easygoing. Low-key. Chill. No take-no-prisoners business barracudas to see here. No, the Grows – Brian, wife Misty, and son Eric – are content with their homegrown RTO business and its five south-central Indiana stores built over the past 19 years … until a just-right opportunity comes along.
“I’ve always had a cautious approach to opening up new locations,” says Brian. “I had everything on the line – ten acres with a nice home I had put up as collateral for my loan, and five kids to put through college. I’d never want to jeopardize my family, our home, or the business. So I just needed to go slow and make sure everything was taken care of.
“But if the right location and the right building lease or purchase crosses our path, then we’d definitely pursue it,” he continues. “Whenever the next good opportunity for growth comes along, we want to be ready for it. We just do things a little slower.”
So, funnily enough, growgrowgrow is not the Grows’ family mantra. In fact, if they have a mantra – and they’re likely too laidback to put thought into such a thing – but if one exists, then it may be something like In business and in life – family first.
Let’s begin with Brian, the patriarch of the Grow gang – though it’s hard to imagine him using that grandiose title to describe himself. An Indiana native, Brian Grow grew up in the small town of Mitchell, Indiana, population ~4,000. Not the bookish kind, Brian enjoyed industrial arts like wood shop and metal shop, and he excelled in sports, playing football and baseball all the way through high school. Brian attended Indiana State University for a single semester before his then-girl-friend became pregnant, and the couple decided to marry.
“That took me out of college and into the workforce,” he remembers. “I worked in fast food, at a gas station, in a factory, and in a music shop just trying to make ends meet. In 1988, which was what would have been my college graduation year, I was hired on at [Full-O-Pep Appliances Inc., dba] American Rental in Bedford, [Indiana,] as a delivery guy/ movie-rental specialist.”
In addition to renting furniture, Tvs, and appliances, American Rental’s Bedford location was the only place in town to offer VHS movies for rent, Blockbuster- style. According to Brian, they were extremely busy with the movie-rental side of the business, but he preferred working the rent-to-own side.
“It was never a boring, everyday sort of job,” Brian recalls. “Every day was different. I wasn’t stuck behind a counter or just in a single spot all day long; I got to get out and drive and deliver goods to people who were typically happy to see me. I liked it much better than the long hours of counter work on the movie side.”
Brian worked his way up into accounts management at the Bedford store, while also playing guitar with Redline, a local 80s rock band. But his longer rock’n’roll locks seemed to stymie his career climb.
“[American Rental District Manager] Dennis Adams approached me and convinced me that I could grow along with the company and manage a store,” says Brian. “So I cut my hair, and Dennis put me into a six-month training program in bloomington, Indiana. Then they gave me my first store, in Princeton, Indiana; a year later, they moved me to Jasper, Indiana. And then [the now defunct] PDQ Rentals offered me the opportunity to return to Mitchell and manage a store for them. So I was able to move my kids back home, close to our extended family, and I worked for PDQ for the next dozen years or so.”
Over the years, many people urged Brian to go out on his own, and in 2002, he and a close accountant friend began putting together a business plan to do just that. Growby’s LLC, dba Growby’s RTO opened its first location the following year, in Bedford.
But why the name Growby’s – rather than Grow’s?
“It was my high-school nickname,” explains Brian. “In football, on our lockers, they put your last name first, followed by your first-name initial. So for me, it was Grow, B. – Growby. And every-one just started calling me Growby, and the name just stuck.”
Likewise has Brian’s business namesake stuck. Growby’s has opened up a new location every few years for a slow-growth total of five Hoosier-state stores – Bedford, Mitchell, Salem, Scottsburg, and Columbus.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Brian and his first wife had three children together – Abby, Eric, and Alex – but ultimately divorced. By the time he was preparing to launch his own rent-to-own business, Brian had begun a serious relationship with also-divorced-with-kids Misty Hayes.
“Misty worked at a local car dealership as a service advisor,” Brian relates. “I took my truck there occasionally for an oil change, and we crossed paths through some mutual friends. We just sort of talked here, talked there, and I finally decided to pursue her. Misty was a huge part of getting Growby’s up and running. We did everything kind of DIY with some help – remodeling the space, building walls, putting up drywall, painting, running the electrical and phone lines, everything.”
Misty took care of all kid-related tasks for both Brian’s three and her two, Nic and Jayden – driving everyone wherever they needed to go, feeding them, helping with homework and hygiene, then somehow finding time and energy to help Brian, too.
“The first truck we bought was a Penske truck, because it was yellow, and our colors are yellow and black,” says Brian. “So we peeled all the stickers off of it, and got a buffer to buff out all the faded remnants of the prior lettering and stuff. We’ve got a picture of Misty sitting way up on top of the truck’s cab, just buffing the heck out of it. She was incredibly supportive and confident in my ability to do this and succeed at it.”
Misty and Brian wed in 2006, and in 2008, Misty came to work for Growby’s.
“The mom-and-pop dealership I had been working at eventually sold to a big corporation,” Misty says. “I kept working there for another year, but it was just different, and I wasn’t happy anymore. Brian kept saying, ‘Why don’t you come work for us?’, but even though I had helped him get the first store going, I didn’t really understand much about rent-to-own. Finally, I agreed to try it for a week – and I’ve been at Growby’s ever since.”
Meanwhile, Brian’s son Eric was growing up with all the academic prowess his dad had missed during his schooldays. Eric earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, and began his career as a chemist. But after a year in the lab, Eric’s career chemistry was notably off.
“Working in a lab doing repetitive tasks and not interacting with people all day long – it wasn’t for me,” explains Eric. “It just kind of ate away at my soul. I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do, so I began talking to my dad about coming aboard at Growby’s.”
“I didn’t want to push any of the kids into rent-to-own, and I didn’t want them to fall into it without trying to pursue another work field; I wanted them to have a career they had a passion for.“
“All of our kids have worked at Growby’s at one point or another,” Brian attests. “Mostly part-time summer jobs. And I had always hoped that one of them would want to be involved in the business to carry on the legacy. But I didn’t want to push any of the kids into rent-to-own, and I didn’t want them to fall into it without trying to pursue another work field; I wanted them to have a career they had a passion for. So when Eric came to talk with me about joining Growby’s, I was extremely excited, but also concerned; I wanted him to be 100% sure this is where he wants to be.”
Eric was. So he joined the family business full-time in 2013 as a manager- in-training, helped open the Scottsburg store, and moved to Columbus, where he oversaw the opening of the store there. But Eric’s contributions to the company have gone far beyond just store openings.
“Eric has brought so much to our business,” effuses Brian. “Ten years ago, we were still doing a lot of actual paperwork and faxing; Eric got us into the 21st century with automation and new technologies – which of course has been a huge, huge help to the company as a whole. His knowledge base and his energy have really spurred us to improve what we have and to continue to grow.”
Today, the Grows serve as the company’s C-O trio: Brian is Growby’s Founder and CEO; Eric is COO; and Misty is CFO. The three agree that focusing in on the “family” part of this family business has been key to Growby’s success.
“Everyone who works for us, we call them family, and they know they can come to us with any issue or problem – professional or personal – and we’ll be here to help them through whatever it may be.“
“We really lean into the mom-and-pop feel, and I think our customers pick up on that vibe,” Brian affirms. “Everyone who works for us, we call them family, and they know they can come to us with any issue or problem – professional or personal – and we’ll be here to help them through whatever it may be. It means a lot to them, and it means a lot to us.
“And I’ve got three-generation customers who have been with me since my days at American Rental,” he continues. “We serve as a good friend and sometimes, as a sort of bartender – a listening ear, a shoulder to lean on – for our customers. If they get into a bind financially and are having trouble making their payments, then we try to be as understanding and flexible as we can. We sit down with them and let them know we’re there for them.”
“We also stress with our team that if a customer wants something special, something a little different, let’s do our very best to make that happen,” adds Eric. “We like to do special orders, and we’re happy to price match. We want to communicate to customers, ‘Shop at this family-run business, get exactly what you want, and get it for the best price.’ What’s not to like about that?”
Additionally, the Grows pride themselves on the state of their showrooms. Brian has always sought to buy slightly higher levels of product than many RTO competitors and to display it all in an especially attractive manner.
“We run a tight ship and we get a lot of compliments when it comes to what our showrooms look like,” confesses Brian. “Not only from customers, but also from our reps – they consistently give us kudos on our store and product appearance.”
“Our stores are all within about an hour of each other, so our employees and customers frequently see our faces, and we see what the stores look like,” Misty echoes. “We see whether they’re kept clean and well-organized. Brian always says, ‘Inspect what you expect,’ and we expect our showrooms to shine, so we pop in and check them out often.”
Also within a few hours of Brian and Misty’s Bedford home are all but one of their kids (now 27-36 years old), as well as all five of their grandkids (ages almost 2-7 years). As you might expect from this close-knit crew, the extended Grow family gets together fairly regularly, “just hanging out,” naturally. They also try to go together every year to Misty and Brian’s vacation home in Port Charlotte, Florida, where they enjoy an outdoor kitchen and pool, and boating in Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico – activities they refer to, in true relaxed Grow style, as “grill-n-chill.”
Brian, having regrown his rock’n’roll hair, still plays guitar and sings with friends – now with a group called (ironically?) The OCD Band. And you might have caught his recent performance with rent-to-own colleagues at the 2022 RTO World Indy Experience Party, where he shared vocals on Styx’s Come Sail Away and fellow Hoosier John Mellencamp’s Jack & Diane.
Misty and Brian spend a lot of their non-work time together riding Harley Davidsons, both vacationing and participating in memorial-ride fundraisers. Along with two other couples, the Grows also help organize the Dumon McCain Memorial Ride each year in Bedford, which benefits a child and family in need.
This year, the ride raised over $13,000 for Brian and Misty’s youngest grandchild, Archer. Archer, daughter Abby’s son who will turn two in January, was diagnosed at just ten months with infant leukemia.
“Infant leukemia is very rare,” explains Misty. “And when the patient is a baby, it makes treatment much more difficult. He doesn’t understand what all the lines going into and coming out of his body are or why he can’t just take them out.”
Archer received a bone-marrow transplant this past summer, and will be hospitalized for further treatment until early next year at least. And because his immune system is so weak, extended family can’t visit him.
“It’s been scary and sad,” Misty says. “Archer’s older sister, Aria, is four and she gets depressed because her whole family can’t be together. And Archer isn’t out of the woods yet – but we hope we’re going down the right path.”
The Grows have gotten a lot of emotional support from their RTO peers, employees, customers, and communities. “People have come together for our grandson like we can’t believe. Every single person has been like, ‘Your family does so much for so many people, it’s our turn to do for you.’ It’s been very touching.”
It’s just one example of how, for the Grows, the impact of rent-to-own is more layered than just a successful family business. To paraphrase, Zen waters run deep.
“I’ve got a great relationship with Dennis [Adams] and [American Rental President] David David still today,” Brian offers. “I’m really grateful to Dennis for showing me the ins and outs of RTO, for believing in me, and for giving me the chance to manage stores for them. His mentorship and confidence in me have helped me become who I am today.”
Eric, who along with his wife Courtney and their three young children are very involved in their church, also finds more to his RTO work than simple sales.
“I get a lot of opportunities in this industry to connect with people with needs,” concludes Eric. “Whether physical, financial, or more mental/spiritual – needing someone to pay attention and listen to them. And from a leadership standpoint, I get to connect with our employees, hiring people who need work, helping them through tough times. My rent-to-own job is more rewarding than I ever imagined; it’s nothing short of amazing in terms of helping me develop a sense of meaning and purpose – in both my work and my life.”
“My rent-to-own job is more rewarding than I ever imagined; it’s nothing short of amazing in terms of helping me develop a sense of meaning and purpose.”
Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for more than 15 years.
If you want to help support baby Archer & his family . . .
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