Rent-to-own News - Larry Sutton and his 10 year reflection on RNR

APRO’s RTO Today took the opportunity to speak with RNR franchise owner, Larry Sutton, to reflect on 10 years growing his business into one of the biggest wheel and tire business in the country. Here’s what he had to say.

Tell us about the last 10 years with RNR?

It’s been awesome. Exciting. A learning experience. And, most of all, a challenge. We had to take the traditional RTO model and apply it to a brand new industry and had no idea where it would go. We were confident the model would work, we just didn’t know what direction it would take us. We’ve been very successful but we're not satisfied yet and we love the challenge to take this as far as we can.

Tell us about the challenges you’ve faced in the past decade?

There were two fronts. First, we had to learn a brand new industry then we had to learn the franchise business. I’ve been in traditional RTO as an owner for 25 years and now I’m in the wheel and tire business as a franchisor.

What is the difference between traditional RTO and the wheel and tire business?

There are subtle differences. In RNR, the entire staff gets to see the final results. The car with its brand new rims and tires is brought out and the staff gets to see the wild reaction of the customer seeing his car transformed. The customer is like a father in the waiting room who can’t wait to see his baby. You want to hand out cigars. In traditional RTO, only the delivery guys got to see the final reaction of the customer with their brand new living room suite.

Another difference is the customer base. Many of our customers are brand new to the rent-to-own concept. The demographics are much broader.

You were an owner for years, why a franchisor now?

I just fell into it really. Mike Kent, the industry icon, came down to see my first Rent n Roll store and was interested in the concept. He was so interested he wanted to push my business model and image. After Kent’s interest in the model so then others. After awhile, APRO general counsel, advised me to become a franchise. When I said that I wasn’t that interested, Ed said you have to legally, so there it began.

So what do you see for the next 10 years?

We have grown from one store to 61 stores. Nine are corporate and the others, franchisees. We want to explore the smaller markets as they have great potential. We want to focus on quality of franchisees for our next growth. And, we want to expand the tire end of the business where there are huge opportunities. But, most of all, we want to continue to have fun and break new horizons.

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