Rent-to-own News - Buddy's passes 100 mark with acquisition, new openings

Terry Beville and Jamie Slatton of Buddy's.

With the acquisition and conversion of former Rent Max locations in the Tampa Bay area and a new opening this week in Pryor, Oklahoma, Buddy’s Home Furnishings has surpassed the century mark with a total of 103 locations.

“Right now is an exciting time with our franchising efforts for Buddy’s Home Furnishings,” said Joe Gazzo, President of Buddy’s. “Reaching 100 stores has always been a goal of ours, but now our sights are set on growing to 150 locations within the next 18 months.”

Todd Homberger, president of Buddy’s Franchising, opened his 3rd franchise location in Pryor, Oklahoma, acquiring this store which formerly operated as Jacob’s Home Furnishings. “Our focus and goals for Buddy’s is to make sure that we are expanding our brand in areas that can feed off of other current locations we have, while maintaining a consistent image wherever we go.”

Buddy’s Home Furnishings, originally known as Buddy Bi-Rite, was founded in 1961 by Norman "Slat" Slatton Sr. Selling used appliances from his home, Mr. Slatton had a dream that one day he would have an appliance store of his own where he could service the demands of the growing Tampa area.
 
A few year's later, Slatton's dreams were realized when he opened his first appliance showroom. Driven by an intense desire to succeed, he built his business one satisfied customer at a time and soon, the Buddy Bi-Rite name became synonymous with quality appliances, low prices, and old fashioned service.
 
Over the next 15 years, Buddy Bi-Rite prospered and, by the end of the 1970's, had sold more televisions and appliances that any other independent dealer in the Tampa Bay, FL area. In 1979, Slatton recognized that a growing number of young families were not able to purchase a new television or appliance because they either lacked good credit or were unable to come up with a large down payment. It was at this time that Buddy Bi-Rite introduced the "Rent-to-Own" plan.
 
The overwhelming popularity of Buddy Bi-Rite's "Rent-to-Own" plan fueled the company's expansion into other towns throughout Florida, and now many other states. Today, Buddy's is the industry's largest independent RTO franchise company and operates stores in Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina and Tennessee. Future stores being targeted are in Texas, Arkansas & more.