We love being a part of this community, and cash giveaways of this magnitude show our customers how much we value their business. It's a great feeling to be able to brag about the grand prize being won right here in our Bolingbrook store.
Chris Tatro, Bolingbrook, Ill. Franchisee, ColorTyme

Photo ColorTyme

L-R ColorTyme Assistant Manager Brian North; Winner Patrick Zabel; Store Manager Jose Hernandez; Patricia Zabel; ColorTyme Franchisee Chris Tatro.

ColorTyme has announced that Patrick Zabel of Bolingbrook, Ill. has won the $10,000 grand prize in its 2008 "ColorTyme BigTyme $10,000 Giveaway" contest. Zabel's name was drawn from thousands of entries received from local ColorTyme stores around the country. Chris Tatro, owner of the Bolingbrook ColorTyme store along with Store Manager Jose Hernandez presented the $10,000 check to Zabel on Saturday, January 31.

Zabel at first couldn't believe his luck. "I've never really won anything other than a couple of hundred dollars in the lottery, so I was very surprised when I learned I really had won all this money." Zabel said. Zabel, a self-employed auto detailer, said he'll use the money to buy a new truck for his business and "a few things for my wife Patricia."

Store Owner Tatro said, "We love being a part of this community, and cash giveaways of this magnitude show our customers how much we value their business. It's a great feeling to be able to brag about the grand prize being won right here in our Bolingbrook store." Tatro said there are other Chicagoland ColorTyme stores in Aurora, Round Lake Beach, Cicero, Joliet and Kankakee.

Store Manager Hernandez said that hundreds of people had come in to enter the contest at his store, and he was ecstatic when he heard Zabel had won. "Patrick is like family to all of us in this store. He is an excellent, long-time customer. It's a thrill to see him win the grand prize out of all those entries from all over the country," Hernandez said. "Most people who entered here in the store said they didn't think they had a chance at the big money, but I reminded them ‘You can't win if you don't enter!'"

The "ColorTyme BigTyme $10,000 Giveaway" is an annual contest held in neighborhood ColorTyme stores around the country. Contest entrants win prizes including a widescreen plasma TV, Blu-Ray player, Wii game system, a digital camera or dollars-off certificates for use at their ColorTyme store. At the conclusion of the local stores' contests, entry forms are sent to an independent contest-judging organization for the random $10,000 Grand Prize drawing held each January.

See recent videocast interviews with ColorTyme franchisees and executives:
Louis Hall, Amy Woods, Larry Hill, Tim Hogan, Ted Schlaack

About ColorTyme
ColorTyme, Inc., founded in 1979, is America's oldest franchisor of independently owned-and-operated rent-to-own stores. ColorTyme franchisees operate 210 rent-to-own stores in 34 states, and the company's custom-wheels-and-tires franchise brand, RimTyme, operates 18 stores in eight states. ColorTyme is headquartered in Plano, Texas, and is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of the largest RTO company in the world, Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII).