Robert Kaplan Bought: Black Pine Spas Robert Kaplan was looking to buy an existing business, but hot tubs were not on his radar. “When hot tubs first came up, my knee-jerk was [that I was] not interested in that,” Kaplan says. Kaplan worked his way up in the television industry starting as a page, then…
Expanding into swim spas pits hot-tub dealers against reduced product familiarity, higher price tags, longer sales cycles and more demanding clientele. Swimming against the current, in fact, is a fitting metaphor. Many of those who take on the risk, however, are learning that swim spas can be a lucrative product line with massive growth potential….
Michael Nekahi, co-owner Black Pine Spas & Leisure Products Seattle, Washington Black Pine Spas has traditionally been a hot tub store that has carried mostly complementary products. Over our 35 years in business, we have supplemented our primary hot tub business with tanning beds, gun safes, wood stoves, billiard and game tables, and saunas. Not…
Chris Ogden, General Manager Time Machine Hot Tubs LLC! Longview, Texas I have participated in a variety of off-site events: parking lot sales, warehouse sales, fairs, festivals, balloon races and home shows. Hands down, the greatest return on investment, surprisingly, have been boat/RV shows. Consumers who attend these shows are coming in with a certain…
The working relationship of Michael Nekahi and his business partner, Khasha Mekanik, goes back to college when a group of business students, with the help of a University of Washington program, started a student travel business, which they sold in 2001. Then Nekahi and Mekanik began working for a new reverse-supply-chain management company, which handled…