Spa Brokers
Veteran Stores
Owner: Don Chandler
5 stores in the Denver metro area
Spa Brokers is well known throughout the hot tub industry as being one of the best retail organizations in the country. A family-owned business, it was started by Don Chandler in 1983, like many a spa store, in his garage. Now, they have five retail locations in the Denver area and his three brothers have joined him in the business.
“My brother always talked me into helping him somehow,” says Scott Chandler, general manager and the youngest of the four brothers. “I guess I was the young, strong guy that could help him for cheap. After college I did my own thing for a year or so, and then I decided I’d jump in because we were growing and it was crazy world.”
Chandler helped Spa Brokers systemize the way they ran things, helping to streamline their multiple locations. Along with hot tubs they also sell fireplaces, saunas, barbecues, fire pits and billiards.
“We diversified years ago, which has made us a stronger company,” Chandler says. “Sometimes when you just rely on hot tubs or you just rely on one product, you’re going to have to go with the flow.
If a competitor moves in next to you and they do a better job, they could take you out. So for us, we’ve been able to weather those storms because we’re diversified.”
Chandler hopes to see some big changes in the industry culture and the way people think about hot tubs to help retailers get through tough times in years to come.
“Spas have hit another fad stage where they’re looked at as being a party thing,” he says. “Right now I think there’s a stigma, to some degree, around the spa category because all you do is see it on MTV and every reality show, and that’s really not what spas are about for the typical spa buyer. They want to feel better and, boy, if they knew what the spas could do for them that would be a game changer. And it will happen.”
As for the current economic storm, Spa Brokers is remaining positive and doing their best to ignore the negative media coverage. Plus Chandler adds, “Americans can only not spend money for so long, it makes them feel good about themselves.”
