Premium Wholesale Home & Leisure began selling furniture and mattresses in 1997, but when owner Christian Ryan heard his other retailing friends tout the profitability and fun of selling hot tubs, he decided to bring them on in 2003. The company has come a long way from their early spa-selling days of moving the units around by hand; today hot tubs make up about 85 to 90 percent of their business.
One thing that sets Premium Wholesale apart is the sheer size of their showroom. At 14,000 square feet, the Kitchener location offers an almost overwhelming number of choices in all of their product lines. This has both advantages and disadvantages according to Ryan.
“We have a huge selection, so people don’t have to buy from a picture,” he says. “The volume that we do, we’re able to get some of the best pricing…we can really offer consumers the selection and competitive price advantage and they’re not having to worry about losing any service like if they’re buying from a big box store.”
The downside, he explains, is that both customers and salespeople can get bogged-down in all the choices. “Really what it forces us to do is right at the beginning try to establish with the customer what’s important to them,” Ryan says. “Once we figure that information out, we’ll show them what we feel we’re hearing from them is the better tubs to look at.”
The population of the Kitchener area, which is 45 minutes outside of Toronto, is roughly 600,000, which gives them the benefit of a small-town feel with the draw of the big city, according to Ryan. But, for that relatively small population there is plenty of competition, upwards of 12 hot tub stores in Ryan’s estimation. Despite some tough economic times in the area, which is home to large automotive plants, some of which closed, the hot tub retailers have weathered it well.
As to the staying power of Premium Wholesale, Ryan points to their mix of different products to help them through slow hot tub seasons. However, he also says that their work ethic has played a big role in their success.
“One of the reasons that we’ve continued to grow is to not just sit here in the store and wait for people to wander in,” he says. “We’ve constantly been looking for better ways to advertise, better ways for customer retention, direct marketing and things like that. Also, we’ve been doing more show-type events.”