It’s been a tumultuous but rewarding few years for Shandi Evertsen, the general manager at Tropical Spas. When she started at the St. George, Utah, hot tub retailer in November 2022, she helped the growing business organize and implement processes.
“[Bruce Hardy] had grown it from a grassroots effort, and they were doing everything on Post-its and figuring it out,” Evertsen says. “They called it the ‘redneckery’ way of getting things done. It was a little chaotic and disheveled.”
Hardy had a three-to-five-year timeline for selling the business, but five months after Evertsen started, it was sold to Ryan Griffiths in May 2023. Griffiths owned another retail venture in St. George and stumbled across the Tropical Spas opportunity when he was looking to open his third location. “I have always been a big fan of all activities involving water and especially relaxing in a hot tub, so the industry really piqued my interest,” Griffiths says.
For a 40-year-old business with longtime employees, the change was a tough pill to swallow for some.
“I come from an industry where it was college grads and everyone eager to make changes and grow,” Evertsen says. At Tropical Spas, she bumped up against a “this is how we’ve always done it,” mindset, which was challenging.
She tried to be cognizant of people’s feelings and change things slowly, but looking back, she wishes she’d just gone for it. “I didn’t want to rock the boat and upset people,” she explains, saying she now realizes that meant she wasn’t giving enough credit to the employees and it wasn’t the best thing for the business to wait.
The new ownership brought more changes and upgrades. But before Griffiths and Evertsen could implement too many things, they faced a bigger challenge. On July 28, 2023, a fire started in the lot behind the store where they stored hot tubs. It spread rapidly, destroying 70 spas in the yard and soon threatening the showroom. While it didn’t burn to the ground, the damage to the store was extensive, requiring it to be gutted. Fortunately, nearby businesses weren’t burned, though merchandise was lost to smoke damage.
It didn’t take long for the company to rally. “The fire happened on a Friday afternoon, and we were back up and running Monday morning in my living room,” Evertsen says. “It was a crazy time, but it brought us all together.”
Before the fire was even out, Evertsen was on the phone with a realtor trying to lease open space at the property next door. And after over a year, the showroom reopened last October.
“We got through it,” Evertsen says. “Reflecting back, it was fun to figure out the pieces and how to move forward.”
Evertsen credits Griffiths for providing the tenacity and attitude to keep things going.
“He never skipped a beat,” she says. “He’s been creative on figuring out the financial pieces. The poor guy pulled probably two weeks of all-nighters getting everything in [the new showoom].”
Vendors and the community did whatever they could to help as well. “Most vendors were willing to waive minimum requirements so we could get products,” Evertsen says. “And Bullfrog Spas was absolutely fantastic. We were able to get into the front of the production line and get those as quickly as possible. They offered to have crews come down and help get spas delivered.”
Griffiths says the hardest part of the experience for him was making sure the calamity didn’t become their identity.
“It has been quite a traumatic experience that has been emotionally and physically draining,” Griffiths says. A few months after the fire, he realized it was taking over their focus. “We were losing who we were. We were letting the fire define us. The fire is a part of our history, but it’s not who we are. It has taken conscious effort to remember our values and shift our focus away from the fire and back to our customers.”
Being back in the showroom isn’t the end of the journey for Tropical Spas. A warehouse with office space has long been in the works on the lot where the fire started, now only held up by permitting.
“We’re only 80% there,” Evertsen says. “The warehouse is going to be huge. Our goal is to become southern Utah’s largest service center and hot tub dealership. That’s the vision and what we’re working towards.”