Kenneth Smith is president of Niagara Pools & Spas, a pool builder and spa retailer with four stores in and around the metro Philadelphia area. His dad started the business in the ’50s, initially building pools, then adding hot tubs in that industry’s infancy 30-odd years ago. In an interview with AQUA, Smith acknowledged recent woes in hot tub retailing, but pointed out that sales have always been cyclical and predicted an eventual return to levels not seen in five or six years.
How do you compare 2009 with what you’ve seen in the 30 years before?
It’s really where you’re coming from. If you’re looking at gross overall numbers, obviously 2004 was kind of the high spot for everyone. Then the next few years, you had a little change in ’05, then the downturn accelerated the next few years. But it really depends on where you’ve been and what your expectations are. It’s different, though. I’ve been the president of the company for about six years, and I’ve been running it for about 15 years, and I really have not seen anything like we saw last year. Read the rest of this entry »
