Multiple Locations
Owner: Paul Walz
Lincoln and Omaha, NE
Paul Walz started selling Softub in 1991 out of his home and at home shows. As that business began to expand, he started looking for retail opportunities. That’s when he joined forces with Deb Christ.
Christ owned a tanning salon that hundreds of people walked past every day and soon the Softubs were on display in her storefront. Their store, Home Innovations Spas, has two locations, one in Lincoln, Neb., and the other over an hour away in Omaha, Neb., and sells Cal Spas as their main hot tub line.
Christ, who is the general manager, says that having locations in two separate cities has created some interesting challenges.
“If you live in Lincoln and you’ve got a store in Omaha, you’ve got to get someone you can trust [to run the store],” Christ says. But beyond that, they have found the advertising that works in one city, doesn’t necessarily work in the other.
“In Lincoln, that’s where we live, we have really branded ourselves. In Omaha, we have a beautiful store, great prices and great products, but we just aren’t there day to day. Trying to find the right advertising media for the best price, I think that’s been our biggest challenge.”
Christ is known as “The Spa Lady” in Lincoln and has become very recognizable as such in the community. The pair are currently trying to bring that same kind of visibility to the Omaha market but have found that for now, programs like SendOutCards have been helping to get people in the door.