Mike Goch began working at his friend’s hot tub store to fill some free time. When he and his wife, Debbie, saw the need for a hot tub retailer in St. Catharines, they decided to give ownership a shot.
“I’m not one to take chances,” says Debbie Goch. “But we did it and we’ve never looked back.”
Mike has continued with his job, but Debbie quit her banking job to run the store full time and, since it opened in 2000, it has thrived. Her banking background gave her a heart for customer service that carried over to the hot tub business.
“We knew we only wanted to have one store,” Goch says. “So if we were going to do it we were going to treat our customers well, take very good care of them and do it right without getting too big and not be able to give it that personal touch.”
Even though they wanted to keep things small, they still grew, moving to several larger units over the years. In fact, they are expanding by combining the unit they are in with the one next door.
Coming off their two best years yet, Goch says there isn’t one thing she can pinpoint that prompted the success, except for the entire staff’s willingness to go above and beyond for their customers.
“We don’t have a high staff turnover,” she says. “I think customers appreciate the knowledge and the experience that they are getting when they come into our store.”
Goch says customers often will come in and ask for her by name, only to realize the employee standing in front of them is just as knowledgeable as she, the owner.
“[Customers] know that I breathe and sleep this business,” Goch says. “So my heart and soul is going into it. That’s why they are going to want to talk to the owner, but within a couple of minutes they know that they are getting the same customer service and experience they were getting with me [from another employee].”
Referrals are Niagara Hot Tub’s greatest form of advertising, but Goch has found another advertising source that has been successful.
“Every year we put together a flier that offers a preferred discount to employees from big companies in the area, like the fire department, police department, the local casino, GM,” Goch says, adding that she is particularly proud Niagara Hot Tub has grown to the point that they are able to give back to the community.
Not having worked in the hot tub industry before, Goch had to start from scratch when they opened the store, but she learned as much as she could and is still studying.
“I love to read every article I can gather,” she says. “You always have to be up on your game because there are all these things that are going to be changing in the industry.”