Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended															12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended								1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($) Segment Store	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($) Store	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($) Store	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer relationship intangibles	Dec. 31, 2012 Acquired franchise development rights	Dec. 31, 2012 Non-compete intangibles	Dec. 31, 2012 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Software development USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Aarons Office Furniture USD ($) Store	Dec. 31, 2012 Merchandise Not On Lease	Dec. 31, 2012 Sales and Lease Ownership USD ($) Store	Dec. 31, 2011 Sales and Lease Ownership USD ($) Store	Dec. 31, 2010 Sales and Lease Ownership Store	Dec. 31, 2009 Sales and Lease Ownership Store	Dec. 31, 2012 HomeSmart Store	Dec. 31, 2011 HomeSmart Store	Dec. 31, 2010 HomeSmart Store	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement One Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement One HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement Two Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement Two HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement Three Sales and Lease Ownership	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement Three HomeSmart	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Merchandise On Lease	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Buildings and Improvements	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Other depreciable property and equipment	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Software	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Merchandise On Lease	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Buildings and Improvements	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Other depreciable property and equipment	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Software	Dec. 31, 2012 Restricted stock units	Oct. 14, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Store	Dec. 31, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary Maximum USD ($)
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of stores closed										14		11	51	36		1
Percentage of common stock outstanding																																				11.50%
Number of retail stores	1,324	1,232	1,150									1,246	1,160	1,146	1,082	78	71	3																		55
Held to maturity securities	$ 85,861,000	$ 98,132,000																																			$ 18,400,000	£ 11,400,000	$ 15,900,000	£ 10,200,000
Held to maturity securities, face value	85,861,000																																					10,000,000
Investment included in prepaid expenses and other assets																																									1,000
Maximum exposure to any potential losses associated with VIE																																					18,400,000
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	2,400,000	2,600,000	3,000,000
Royalty Revenue	56,500,000	52,000,000	47,900,000
Deferred franchise and area development agreement fees	3,800,000	4,700,000
Shipping and handling costs	74,900,000	68,100,000	60,600,000
Advertising costs	36,500,000	38,900,000	31,700,000
Amount of cooperative advertising consideration netted against advertising expense	31,100,000	25,400,000	27,200,000
Prepaid advertising asset	3,200,000	1,600,000
Anti-dilutive Securities excluded from the computation of earnings per share assuming dilution	53,000		314,000																																167,000
Lease merchandise, useful life											36 months															24 months					12 months
Lease merchandise, percentage of salvage value	0.00%
Lease merchandise adjustments	54,900,000	46,200,000	46,500,000
Disposal activities amount recorded in lease merchandise write-downs and other miscellaneous expenses										4,700,000
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	53,100,000	45,200,000	41,400,000
Amortization expense	3,700,000	2,300,000	3,100,000				2,600,000	1,500,000	1,200,000
Assets held for sale	11,104,000	9,885,000
Impairment charge												1,060,000	453,000
Operating segments	5
Estimated useful lives of intangibles				2 years	10 years	3 years
Asset retirement obligations	2,300,000	2,100,000
Foreign currency transaction gains and losses	$ 2,000,000	$ (465,000.0)	$ 251,000.0