Wellness Shop

A 600-square-foot hot tub showroom next to a donut shop was not an auspicious beginning for Trevor Wasney. “It was just a bootstrap deal,” Wasney says.

Wasney was working as a civil engineer, but in his 20s, he was already tired of a cubicle and wanted to have his own business. A family member owned Krevco, a pool and hot tub business in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that also assembled and branded hot tubs. Looking to expand the business, they asked Wasney to do market research in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he lived and worked. What he found was a few businesses halfheartedly selling hot tubs — and Wasney thought he could do better. He got a floor model on credit, a friend’s dad hooked him up with his small location, Don Ridpath from Capo helped him get a few water care products and he was off and running.

“The thing about starting a new business, you do whatever it takes,” Wasney says. “It kept me really busy. I did so much of it myself.” Even the aluminum store sign was something Wasney upcycled after finding it in a salvage yard. “That was a heck of an experience, and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.”

In those early years, he dabbled in other businesses that didn’t work out and picked up a business partner. When the family business stopped supplying tubs, Wasney went to the trade show in Las Vegas and came back an Arctic Spas dealer.

Although the business partnership didn’t work out, Arctic Spas hired him as a sales rep. “It was pretty fun,” Wasney says. “I really enjoyed that part of my life.”

In 2000, he helped a Toronto pool builder at a home show where they sold $600,000 of hot tub product. It opened Wasney’s eyes to the opportunity in that market, and by 2001, he’d started his retail business in the area.

“I came down here with the mindset that we could take one store and create a chain of stores,” Wasney says. “And that’s what I did.”

It was a period of what Wasney calls “hectic growth.” At one point, the business was up to 11 locations throughout the Toronto metro.

“We trained the heck out of salespeople,” Wasney says. “And we were hard closers. There’s no two ways about it. We were probably the most aggressive kids on the block because we had to be. We had to work our tails off.”

Wasney eventually made the transformative decision to carry Jacuzzi — which came with a rebrand.

“There was no option in my mind,” Wasney says. “We have got to use this brand equity from Jacuzzi. We have got to leverage the heck out of it.”

In 2011, Jacuzzi Hot Tubs of Ontario was born.

Now, 13 years and a pandemic later, Wasney’s business is undergoing another rebrand after more than a yearslong process. The Wellness Shop officially launched in February of 2022.

“We did a complete branding analysis,” Wasney says. “We spent a lot of money, time and effort. We came up with a rebranding strategy, still embracing the Jacuzzi brand but adding to it.”

My vision is for the Wellness Shop brand to be associated with the highest quality products and best experience.” Trevor Wasney, Wellness Shop

Wasney says the wellness trend is not going away, and he wants to capitalize. “People want to live better lives; they want to feel better,” he says. “People will spend money on themselves and their families and feeling better.”

The company is hyperfocused on its key performance indicators and net promoter scores, with the hopes that it fulfills Wasney’s ongoing vision.

“We’re trying to create a company that delivers an exceptional experience,” Wasney says. “My vision is for the Wellness Shop brand to be associated with the highest quality products and best experience.”