Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) Share data in Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended														1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended																	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($) segments store	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($) store	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($) store	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Relationships	Dec. 31, 2013 Acquired Franchise Development Rights	Dec. 31, 2013 Non-Compete Agreements	Dec. 31, 2013 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Aarons Office Furniture store	Dec. 31, 2013 Merchandise Not On Lease	Dec. 31, 2013 RIMCO USD ($) store	Dec. 31, 2012 RIMCO store	Dec. 31, 2011 RIMCO store	Jan. 31, 2014 RIMCO Subsequent Event right store	Dec. 31, 2013 Sales and Lease Ownership USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Sales and Lease Ownership USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Sales and Lease Ownership USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 HomeSmart store	Dec. 31, 2012 HomeSmart store	Dec. 31, 2011 HomeSmart store	Dec. 31, 2013 Other USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement One Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement One HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement Two Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement Two HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement Three Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2013 Agreement Three HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum Merchandise On Lease	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum Buildings and Improvements	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum Other depreciable property and equipment	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum Software	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum Merchandise On Lease	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum Buildings and Improvements	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum Other depreciable property and equipment	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum Software	Dec. 31, 2013 Restricted stock units	Oct. 14, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary store	Dec. 31, 2013 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Maximum USD ($)
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of stores sold during period															27
Number of stores closed										14
Franchises granted	940	929	943
Percentage of common stock outstanding																																								11.50%
Number of retail stores	1,370	1,324	1,232									27	19	16					81	78	71																			64
Held to maturity securities	$ 112,391,000	$ 85,861,000																																							$ 20,700,000	£ 12,500,000	$ 18,400,000	£ 11,400,000
Held to maturity securities, face value	112,391,000																																								10,000,000
Investment included in prepaid expenses and other assets																																													1,000
Variable interest entity, reporting entity involvement, maximum loss exposure, amount																																									20,700,000
Period of lease model																							12 months	420 days	18 months	630 days	24 months	840 days
Non-refundable initial franchise fee																													50,000					15,000
Percentage of royalty of gross revenue																													6.00%					5.00%
Franchise agreement fee revenue	1,700,000	2,400,000	2,600,000
Royalty revenue	59,100,000	56,500,000	52,000,000
Finance fee revenue	5,100,000	4,900,000	5,900,000
Deferred franchise and area development agreement fees	3,400,000	3,800,000
Shipping and handling costs	78,600,000	74,900,000	68,100,000
Advertising costs	43,000,000	36,500,000	38,900,000
Amount of cooperative advertising consideration netted against advertising expense	25,000,000	31,100,000	25,400,000
Prepaid advertising asset	2,400,000	3,200,000
Anti-dilutive Securities excluded from the computation of earnings per share assuming dilution		53																																					175
Lease merchandise, useful life											36 months																			24 months					12 months
Lease merchandise, percentage of salvage value	0.00%
Lease merchandise adjustments	58,000,000	54,900,000	46,200,000
Property, plant and equipment, useful life																															40 years	15 years	10 years			5 years	1 year	5 years
Depreciation expense for property, plant and equipment	53,300,000	53,100,000	45,200,000
Amortization expense	3,700,000	3,700,000	2,300,000				3,300,000	2,600,000	1,500,000
Assets Held for Sale	15,840,000	11,104,000										9,700,000										6,200,000
Impairment charge												766,000				3,800,000	1,100,000	453,000
Gains and losses on the disposal of assets held for sale		1,247,000	20,000
Assets held-for-sale, capital leased assets, net												7,200,000
Assets held-for-sale, property, plant and equipment												2,500,000
Operating segments	5
Estimated useful lives of intangibles				2 years	10 years	3 years
Asset retirement obligations	2,400,000	2,300,000
Foreign currency transaction gains and losses	$ (1,000,000)	$ 2,000,000	$ (465,000)
Number of franchise rights sold during period															5