 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
|
 
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
APRO's Exclusive Rent-to-own Video
| |
Rent to own Video: APRO's 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Mark Speese
This Rent to Own Video brought to you by APRO's RTOHQ.org 
Mark Speese, chairman and CEO of the country's largest rent to own company, Rent-A-Center, had a much more humble beginning as a painter with his brother.
However, it was his passion for the rental industry, dynamic leadership and sound judgment that earned him APRO's highest award Wednesday at the trade association's annual award banquet in Little Rock. Speese entered RTO in 1979 in Michigan with Devlin enterprise where he learned how to rent and collect. In the mid-80’s, he and his partner opened up Vista Rentals with stores in New Jersey, California, and Puerto Rico. When they had 20 stores up and running, Ernie Talley bought a controlling interest in the company. Talley, another lifetime achievement award winner, and Mark, grew Vista rapidly through acquisitions, mainly, absorbing Renter’s Choice, Crown, and Magic chains. In 1995, they took the company public. So, from 1989 to 1997, 12 years, Mark and Ernie grew Vista from 24 stores to 700. In 1998, Vista bought Rent-A-Center from Thorn EMI for a cool $900 million, and quickly turned the whole operation into RAC. Within 90 days of closing, Mark had changed operations and within 6 months all the signs in some 2000 stores were changed over to RAC. "Mark’s unrivaled success as a businessman is a tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit that still drives him and the rest of us in this room," said APRO President Robert Briley. "We do not all play the game at Mark’s level, but we all of us appreciate and, indeed, stand in some awe of what he has done." Upon accepting the award with his family, Speese said, he could have never envisioned the company he now runs today 30 years ago. "I am blessed that I get to do what I love day in and day out," Speese said. "I still believe we've got a lot more to do at Rent-A-Center, at APRO and within the industry. I promise to continue to work hard to improve the quality of life of the people we serve." | |
 |
2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
| |||
|
RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
| |||
|
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |