Nearly everyone assumes furniture is something you own.
You buy a sofa, it sits in your living room, and eventually you replace it. That is the whole model and almost nobody questions it.
Now consider the situations where owning is clearly wrong.
A corporate assignment lasting eight months in another city. A house being sold that shows better furnished. A student in an apartment for two years. A family whose home burned and who needs somewhere to live while it is rebuilt.
In each case, buying furniture means purchasing something you will have to dispose of at a loss.
A Virginia company built a substantial business on exactly those situations, and the economics are more interesting than the concept.