Semelsberger spent more than 10 years with Comcoa, Inc. in Florida, at the time Rent-A-Center's largest franchisee.

Photo/Premier Companies

Jeff Gibson (left) and Ron Semelsberger.

When Ron Semelsberger decided to join the RTO industry 23 years ago, he had no idea his journey would include three acquisitions, six relocations and eventual ownership of his own rent-to-own franchise - Premier Rental Purchase. Semelsberger and his partner Jeff Gibson recently opened their Premier Rental Purchase store in Coshocton, Ohio.

Semelsberger spent more than 10 years with Comcoa, Inc. in Florida, at the time Rent-A-Center's largest franchisee. He started like most everyone else does in the business - cleaning merchandise, managing a route, delivering and servicing product. During his time with Comcoa he made his first move to Denver, Co. to open a new venture named AdvantEdge Rental Purchase. It was after the fourth store opened in Denver that Rent-A-Center acquired Comcoa.

Semelsberger joined RAC for a short time before he was approached by a former supervisor with an offer to Massillon, Ohio based Rental King, which was looking to expand nationally. He and his team managed to open three stores before RentWay acquired the company and relocated Semelsberger to the Canton, Ohio market. It was in Canton that Ron met the person who would years later become his business partner - Jeff Gibson.

Semelsberger was impressed with the relationships that Gibson was able to build with customers and employees. "We knew that if the opportunity ever presented itself to realize our dream of owning our own business, it would be with Jeff and his totally focused customer service team in Coshocton," Semelsberger said.

After more moves to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Kansas and New York, and seeing first hand that large companies find it increasingly difficult to remain focused on the customer, Semelsberger felt it was time to start looking at his options for ownership. It was also during this time that Gibson shared his feelings with Semelsberger about branching out and breaking away from the large company atmosphere and building a company from the ground up. Gibson's mantra: "If we're going to find new oceans, we must be willing to lose sight of the shore."

Semelsberger looked at all of the franchisers in the industry and ultimately settled on Trooper Earle and his team at Premier Rental-Purchase.

One of the Premier franchisees who played an integral part in Semelsberger's decision to join Premier was John Miller who opened his store in Roanoke, Va. Their friendship dates back twenty years to the Comcoa days. "John was right about a lot of things," Semelsberger said, "especially how Premier's business model works in all aspects of the business. From walking through the model with Trooper and our accountant Dan Whitsell of Whitsell and Company, to establishing our back-of-the-house payroll and human resources concerns with Laura Emerson and her team at PRPMG, to working through the finances with Premier's CFO Nancy Kravitz, to receiving support from everyone at Premier's offices, we have found Premier has given us what we expected and more as we put this business venture together."

The national office of Premier Rental-Purchase is located in Williamsburg, Virginia. All Premier stores are independently owned and operated. Visit Premier's website at www.premierrents.net or call (800) 2-Premier and ask for Trooper Earle.