Aaron drops Rents from its name

It hasn’t appeared on their retail store signs for years, but Aaron Rents Inc. is finally banishing the “Rents” from its official corporate name.

The Atlanta-based company, now formally known as Aaron’s Inc., also asked the New York Stock Exchange to change its ticker symbol from RNT to AAN.

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Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

Aaron’s is dropping ‘Rents’ from its name and changing its New York Stock Exchange symbol from RNT to AAN.

Enlarge this image

Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

Alvin Strain manages accounts at a Marietta store for the company becoming Aaron’s Inc.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Aaron Rents Inc. is becoming Aaron's Inc. The ticker symbol, RNT, will become AAN. The company has done business under a variety of names since it was founded in 1955. Here's a brief history:

• Mr. Aaron Rents Almost Everything
• Aaron Rents and Sales
• Aaron's Sales
• Aaron's Rent-to-Own
• Aaron's Sales and Lease ownership
• Aaron's Corporate Furnishings
• Aaron's Office Furniture
• Aaron Rents Inc.
• Aaron's Inc.

Source: Aaron's Inc.

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” ‘Rents’ in today’s society is kind of a negative word,” said Robin Loudermilk, Aaron’s president and chief executive officer. “Rent-to-own has a negative stigma, kind of like Kentucky Fried Chicken.”

Said Loudermilk: ” ‘Rents’ is our ‘fried.’ “

Aaron’s planned to announce the change Monday night to 2,000 store managers at an annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Interviewed last week, Chief Financial Officer Gil Danielson said the new corporate name aligns with how the company “operates on the street.”

Aaron’s specializes in doling out furniture, TVs and other gadgets to consumers who don’t have credit.

Consumers, if they complete 12 monthly payments, could end up owning the flat screen TV or laptop computer they paid for and perhaps rebuilding their credit.

If not, the customer will return the item or it could get repossessed.

Loudermilk says Aaron’s has differentiated itself from the weekly rent-to-rent competition by becoming a monthly “lease-to-own” business.

The company also prefers the term “lease” to “rent.”

“Leasing is a more acceptable term than a rent-to-own,” said Loudermilk. “Leasing says monthly.”

One expert agrees the term “leasing” has won cachet, especially with the growth of the luxury car leasing business.

” ‘Rents’ sort of implies people who can’t afford to buy something — there is a stigma related to it,” said Ken Bernhardt, marketing professor at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business. “You wouldn’t want to get a TV and say, ‘I got it from Aaron Rents.’ “

He noted that corporations often change their names, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken’s evolution to KFC and United Parcel Service adopting UPS, because it is “no longer just a parcel service.”

Loudermilk said, “The fact is on the street, people in certain communities don’t want to see the rent-to-own truck delivering furniture — and certainly not picking it up. The Aaron’s truck is becoming, I hope, more acceptable.”

Next up, Loudermilk and the store’s top executives are doing a press tour and meeting with Wall Street analysts to “take the confusion out of it.”

The Aaron’s name has an interesting pedigree. The company was founded in 1955 by Charlie Loudermilk (Robin’s father). The elder Loudermilk borrowed $500 to purchase 300 chairs to rent for 10 cents a day to auction houses. He picked the name Aaron’s so it would be first in the phone book.

Today, the $1.6 billion company has 1,557 stores nationwide. About 500 stores are owned by franchisees.

The company’s board of directors approved the new name, but not before having a debate over to have an apostrophe. The apostrophe won out.

The Web site, currently www.aaronsrents.com, will officially become www.aaronsinc.com.

Said Loudermilk: “We’re pushing Aaron’s, the evolution.”