RENT-A-CENTER ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT
                           TO ACQUIRE RAINBOW RENTALS

PLANO, TEXAS AND CLEVELAND, OHIO, FEBRUARY 4, 2004 - Rent-A-Center, Inc.
(Nasdaq/NNM:RCII) (the "Company" or "Rent-A-Center"), the leading rent-to-own
operator in the United States, and Rainbow Rentals, Inc. (Nasdaq/RBOW)
("Rainbow"), a major rental purchase company operating 124 stores in 15 states,
announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to
which Rent-A-Center will acquire Rainbow for $16.00 in cash per share of Rainbow
common stock. The agreement also provides that each holder of options of
Rainbow, will receive an amount equal to the difference between $16.00 and the
exercise price of the option.

"We are very excited about this acquisition of Rainbow," commented Mark E.
Speese, the Company's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.
"Wayland Russell and his management team have built a successful rent-to-own
operation for which we have a great deal of respect. The operating philosophies
of Rent-A-Center and Rainbow are similar and, given our track record of
successfully integrating acquisitions and our proven business model, we believe
that this transaction will create additional value for our stockholders,"
continued Mr. Speese. "Furthermore, we expect to realize cost savings in
advertising, purchasing of rental merchandise and overhead. As a result,
following an initial transition period, we believe the transaction will be
accretive to our 2004 earnings per share with additional accretion thereafter,"
Mr. Speese said.

Mr. Wayland Russell, Chairman and CEO of Rainbow indicated, "We have a high
regard for Rent-A-Center and its strong senior management team. We believe that
our customers will be well served by this transaction and that it will provide
growth opportunities for our nearly 900 talented associates. As a co-founder of
Rainbow 18 years ago, I have great pride in our collective accomplishments which
have now culminated with the sale of our business to a first-class
industry-leader."

Mr. Russell stated "We are pleased that Rent-A-Center has made this all cash
offer to our shareholders, which has been unanimously approved by our Board of
Directors. Our President, Michael Viveiros, and I have approved the transaction
and have entered into voting agreements with Rent-A-Center under which we have
agreed to vote our shares in favor of this transaction."

Rent-A-Center intends to fund the acquisition primarily with cash on hand, as
well as availability under its senior credit facility. The acquisition, which is
expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2004, is conditioned upon
customary closing conditions for a transaction of this nature, including the
receipt of requisite regulatory approval and approval of Rainbow's shareholders.

Rainbow was advised by NatCity Investments, Inc. in connection with this
transaction.

Rent-A-Center will broadcast its quarterly earnings conference call on Tuesday,
February 10, 2004 at 10:45 AM ET over the Internet. This call will discuss both
the Company's earnings release that will be issued after the close of the market
on Monday, February 9, 2004 and provide further information concerning the
Rainbow acquisition. Audio of the call will be broadcast live



and will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's
website, located at http://investor.rentacenter.com.

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates
approximately 2,651 company-owned stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico. The
stores generally offer high-quality, durable goods such as home electronics,
appliances, computers, and furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible
rental purchase arrangements that generally allow the customer to obtain
ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period.
ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national
franchiser of approximately 327 rent-to-own stores, 315 of which operate under
the trade name of "ColorTyme," and the remaining 12 of which operate under the
"Rent-A-Center" name.

Rainbow offers brand name, full-featured appliances, electronics, computers and
furniture at 124 rental-purchase stores in 15 states - Connecticut, Georgia,
Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Rainbow also accepts product orders by phone and at its website, located at
www.rainbowrentals.com. Established in 1986, Rainbow is headquartered in
Canfield, Ohio, and employs nearly 900 associates.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by
the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect,"
"intend," "could," "estimate," "should," "anticipate," or "believe," or the
negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Although the
Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements will prove to be correct, the Company can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to have been correct. The actual future performance of
the Company could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could
cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the
parties' ability to receive regulatory approval on terms acceptable to them,
(ii) the approval of the transaction by Rainbow's shareholders, (iii) the
ability of the Company to successfully integrate the acquired stores into the
Company's operating system, (iv) the Company's ability to enhance the
performance of the acquired stores, (v) the ability of the parties to close the
transaction in the time period currently anticipated, (vi) the satisfaction of
the closing conditions to the transaction, (vii) the ability to realize the cost
savings anticipated, and (viii) the other risks detailed from time to time in
the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to, its annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and its quarterly reports on Form
10-Q for the three month periods ending March 31, 2003, June 30, 2003 and
September 30, 2003. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press
release. Except as required by law, the Company is not obligated to publicly
release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect the events
or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACTS FOR RENT-A-CENTER, INC.:

David E. Carpenter
Director of Investor Relations
(972) 801-1214
dcarpenter@racenter.com

CONTACTS FOR RAINBOW RENTALS, INC.

Wayland Russell
Chairman and CEO
(330) 553-5363