TV RENTAL COMPANY CHANGING HANDS
By Adnews Staff
RTO Enterprises of Calgary has expansion plans after making a deal to buy Granada Canada Holdings for $17 million. RTO operates outlets in Canada that rent household furniture, appliances and home entertainment products. Granada rents TV sets and other consumer electronics through service centres in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. While continuing to operate its own stores under the Rent to Own name, RTO will increase the number of Granada outlets. In January it will open seven new stores under the Granada banner. At that time it will launch advertising for Granada, using radio, TV, print, flyers and direct mail, all created in-house. Granada's current customer base could generate $38 million in revenue over the next two years, says RTO which itself had $28 million in revenues for the year ending July 31. Late last year Granada closed all its stores in Canada, leaving open only single outlets in three cities and taking orders by by telephone. Granada Canada was bought by its managers in 1991 from the British-based TV rental company, Granada.