Aaron's history

Loudermilk rented four tents to civil rights marchers when they made their famous trek from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.

By 1969, Aaron Rents was generating a healthy $2 million annually from an inventory of about $3 million.

The company had started producing its furniture out of necessity in 1971 when Lockheed Corp. brought employees to Atlanta from all over the world to build a new plane.

1982: Aaron rents sells off its party and sick room equipment and goes public.

The overall strategy helped to boost the company's net income to a record $4.7 million in 1983 from sales of $55.4 million.

Realizing that his company was struggling, Loudermilk returned to day-to-day control of the company in 1987.

Early in 1988, in fact, he purchased furniture rental operations in Florida from Furniture Enterprises and Powell Furniture Rental, as well as a Jackson, Mississippi store from competitor Cort Furniture Rental Corp.

In fact, Aaron suffered three consecutive years of declining sales and earnings beginning in 1989.

Throughout the fiscal 1994 year, the second-ranked company on Franchise magazine's Gold 100 list added rental-purchase stores to its chain at a rate of one per week.

Growth continued during 1995.

1998: The company acquires Lamps Forever.

The company fixed its strategic focus on expansion for the years 2000 and beyond.

Aaron's Corporate Furnishings division, which operated 47 stores, recorded revenues of approximately $99 million in 2007.