Marquis Hot Tubs, based in Independence, Oregon, announced last week that it would be moving the manufacturing of its acrylic hot tubs to Las Vegas, Nevada. Marquis, along with Las Vegas-based Artesian Spas, was purchased by Monomoy Capital in 2021, followed by Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Nordic Hot Tubs in 2022. Artesian and Marquis will now share the manufacturing space currently occupied by Artesian.
Marquis marketing, accounting, product design teams and most administrative staff will remain in Independence to support the greater business of the entire platform (Marquis, Artesian Spas, Tropic Seas and Nordic Hot Tubs).
“Space-wise it makes sense,” says Rick Gallagher, CEO of the hot tub platform, adding that shipping and transportation will be much more cost-efficient for dealers out of Las Vegas versus Independence. “Being able to have one stock of inventory to centralize dealers’ parts shipments is helpful. The freight piece is really a big deal.”
Gallagher says Las Vegas will be the platform’s acrylic manufacturing headquarters and Nordic will continue producing HDPE hot tubs in Michigan.
The transition will start in August and is slated to be completed at the beginning of September. While there will be many changes for the Marquis brand with the move (for instance, it will begin making its swim spas out of acrylic versus the polymer resins currently used), Gallagher says it is committed to keeping the brands separate and unique.
“We are 100% dedicated to maintaining dealer networks that are unique,” he says. “There are no plans to consolidate the line. The sales team for Marquis remains the same and there is no change in dealer assignments, so their salesperson last week is who their salesperson will be next week.”
Gallagher says as many positions as possible were preserved within Marquis and production employees were offered the opportunity to relocate to Nevada or Michigan.
“We’re dedicated to manufacturing in the United States,” Gallagher says. “[This move] a way for us to stay competitive while we remain in the U.S.”