Retailers in other regions of the country might look at dealers located in the West with envy. Beautiful, “year-round” water-weather makes it look like the perfect market. While that is a benefit, Dave McKibben, retail and spa division manager at Patio Pools & Spas in Tucson, Ariz., laughs at the assertion that it’s easy.
“People look at the Tucson area and they say, ‘Man, they must have it great.’ But just like the rest of the country, Tucson is weather driven. We refuse to use that as an excuse to not having sales where they used to be.”
Historically, the West is a hot market for hot tubs and pools, but it’s also been hit the hardest by the recession and housing bust.
“There are more homes foreclosing than there are being built,” McKibben says about some recently released statistics on the Tucson housing market. “The builders have been pounded in our area and a lot of them have gone under, and a lot of our competitors in the pool business and the hot tub business have also gone under. It’s been brutal.”
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. “There’s no doubt about it, 2009 was one of the toughest years that I’ve been through in the last 20 years in the industry,” McKibben says. “The biggest challenge has been that we have been crushed by the loss of the value of homes in our area. Now some of these foreclosures are starting to be bought out, so we’re seeing some of that excess inventory being purchased or repurchased. Which is good for us.” He says that spa sales have started to pick up this spring.
A company with the long history and reputation of Patio Pools has been affected by the economic downturn along with everyone else, but without a doubt they are here to stay and McKibben has a couple of theories as to why they made it through the tough years.
“I’ve got a dynamite team here at Patio Pools,” he says. “I’ve assembled some of the best spa sales people. I’m serious when I say this, I am blessed with having the very best retail people in the country. Right this moment I’ve got about 28 retail staff members and five store managers whom I oversee. Our retail staff combined has over 250 years of experience.” And with that experience comes the ability to develop meaningful connections.
“We don’t push stuff on our customers,” McKibben says. “We’re not pushy salespeople saying, ‘Here take some of that; take some of this.’ We create long-term, truly mutually beneficial relationships with our customers, our vendors and some of the key media outlets the TV stations, radio stations, the newspaper, the home show people, the fair people, all of the people that run all of the various shows and all. We have long term relationships with them.”