Aaron's

Aaron's, Inc. is a lease-to-own retailer. The company focuses on leases and retail sales of furniture, electronics, appliances, and computers. In 2014, Aaron's completed the acquisition of Progressive Finance, increasing their market share in both the traditional rent-to-own (RTO) industry and the emerging virtual rent-to-own (RTO) space. The acquisition supports the Company's strategy to address credit-challenged customers' changing needs for acquiring home furniture, electronics and appliances as the consumer population leans more toward a multi-channel acquisition of goods and services. In April 2016 Aaron's, Inc. set the Guinness World Record for the largest "game" of tumbling mattress dominoes. This game was set up using over 1,000 people and mattresses.

Locations
As of 31 December 2016, Aaron's, Inc. has 1,864 stores: 1,165 Company-operated stores and 699 independently owned and operated franchised stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.

History
Aaron Rents, Inc. was founded by R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. in 1955.

In September 2008, Aaron's announced the sale of its Corporate Furnishings division to CORT Business Services, part of Berkshire Hathaway. Aaron's Corporate Furnishings division, which operated 47 stores, recorded revenues of approximately $99 million in 2007. Within the last quarter of 2012 Aaron's opened its 2000th store. In November 2014 Aaron’s announced that John W. Robinson III will take over the CEO position of the company from Ronald W. Allen.

In 2014, Aaron’s announced plans to reshape its core business by focusing on same store revenue growth, enhancing Aaron's online platform, driving cost efficiencies, moderating new store growth, and strengthening the franchise network. The Company's online strategy included the rollout of an e-commerce platform in 2015.

Controversy
In February 2013, customers sued Aaron's for allegedly using spyware on rented computers to send over 185,000 emails to the rental company, including customers' Social Security numbers, passwords and captured keystrokes, as well as explicit images. Aaron's, Inc. officials had previously said that the company had not installed the spyware, and individual franchisees were responsible. In October 2013, Aaron's agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that limited how it used monitoring technology and ordered it to delete customer information that had been improperly collected.

Sponsorships

 * NASCAR racing: Aaron's sponsors Michael Waltrip in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series on a part-time basis. Aaron's was also the namesake of the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Aaron's 499, along with the Nationwide Series spring race at the track, the Aaron's 312, from 2002 to 2014.
 * National Hot Rod Association racing: Aaron's sponsored Don Schumacher Racing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. They sponsored Funny Car driver Jack Beckman and Top Fuel driver Antron Brown.
 * Aaron's sponsored Clint Bowyer in the No. 15 Chevrolet SS for HScott Motorsports, at Atlanta in 2016. They also sponsored Michael Waltrip in his final career race at Daytona in 2017.