5 Reasons Why Retail Swimming Pool Stores may be Extinct in 10 Years

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This is one of those articles that may not win me many fans in the swimming pool industry, but I'm frankly OK with that. I write about subjects that are on my mind--subjects that I feel are true and have merit, and this is certainly a subject that I've been thinking much about as of late.

A few years ago I was driving through our town with my wife and we passed by a movie rental store called ‘The Movie Gallery', which, at the time, was one of the largest chains of its kind in the country. Notwithstanding, as we passed this particular store I told her with a slight frown that I knew they would be out of businesses within just a few years. And not only would The Movie Gallery be out of business, but so would Blockbuster and every other business that shared such an antiquated business model.

Fast forward a few years. The Movie Gallery has now closed all its stores. And yesterday, I read in the Wall Street Journal that Blockbuster would soon be no more.

I do not mention this little story here to infer that I'm any smarter than the average Joe. I only say it because the movie rental industry, because of innovations like Netflix, The Red Box, and Pay Per View, is no longer viable. It can't work the way it used to and that's just the facts-- which in many ways mirrors the swimming pool industry and brings me to the point of this article.

Times Have Changed

I love the pool industry. I really do. I love what it does for families and I've developed great relationships with many pool builders and retailers all over the country. Notwithstanding, when I take a hard look at the world as we now know it, I have a strong feeling swimming  pool retail stores may soon be practically extinct, and here are five reasons why I've come to this conclusion:

1. Big Box Stores and Wal-Mart

One of the biggest hits swimming pool retailers have taken over the last 10 years has been the shift of consumers to do practically ALL their shopping at stores like Wal-Mart. Yep, despite their lack of service and knowledge, the Big Box stores are able to offer pool chemicals at prices that are often times 30% less than what a normal pool retailer could. For consumers, the choice between Big Box vs Joe's Pool Shop comes down to a debate between spend more and get much better help and service, or spend less and get no service at all. Sadly, especially with the difficult economy, Big Box often wins. Heck, I've had scenarios where customers came in our retail store to have their water tested and then drove directly to Wal-Mart to buy their chemicals....ouch.

2. The Internet

Just like Wal-Mart, online swimming pool stores have the ability to sell chemicals for much, much less than a normal brick and mortar store can. Despite the fact that online companies typically have practically no hands-on service, their growth over these last 10 years has been unbelievable, making it harder and harder for the mom and pop pool stores of the world to survive.

3. Salt

The popularity and rise of salt chlorine generators has scared some pool retailers for many, many years. In fact, there have been quite a few chemical manufacturers that have tried their best to hurt the image of salt water systems by spreading bogus claims regarding their negative impact on swimming pools. But regardless of this, salt chlorine users have almost no need for chemicals other than salt and a few water balance chemicals-hence the major concern of their introduction to the US market a few years back.

Despite all this, salt water systems have had a major positive impact on the swimming pool industry as well. Consumers are spending less time fooling with chemicals and maintaining their pool than ever before, which, in my opinion, is leading to a great and positive image shift for swimming pools throughout the world.

4. Increased Regulation

More and more, chemical manufacturers are having to deal with huge amounts of environmental and safety red tape from government agencies. With such red tape, the overhead for chemical production just keeps going up, forcing retailers to increase their prices and ultimately causing consumers to save money wherever they can.

5. Brick and Mortar Doesn't Equal Sales

When we opened River Pools and Spas almost 10 years ago, it was our goal to have as many retail stores as possible, which we figured would correlate directly with more inground pool sales. But within about 6 years, we realized two very important realities:

1. Inground swimming pool shoppers now do their research online, not by physically going store to store. Just look at the biggest inground pool builders in the country: Anthony Sylvan Pools and Blue Haven Pools. Neither one of these companies has much of a retail division at all, yet they have installed way more pools than any other company over the last few years.

2. It's extremely difficult to turn a profit in retail due to overhead costs, staffing, building expenses, etc

These two realities have forced us at River Pools and Spas to completely change our business model over the past 3 or 4 years. Today, we realize that consumers view a company's ‘store' as its website, not what's found behind actual brick and mortar. Also, our retail division, which once consisted of 2 substantial stores, is now being phased out.

The Future is Still Bright

But I do not write this article with a frown. Although I feel bad for the great mom and pop swimming pool retail stores that may not be around in just a few years, I also see this as a great opportunity for pool companies to make their businesses better, stronger, and more consumer friendly. I envision more and more companies investing the money they used to spend on retail and instead inverting it into their company websites, thus creating better content for consumers and a stronger learning environment for anyone considering ownership of this wonderful product we call a swimming pool.

But those are just my thoughts, and only time can tell us the real answers. Be rest assured though, as the trends in the pool industry make themselves more and more apparent we at River Pools and Spas will continue to discuss their happenings and do our best to keep the market informed.

Marcus Sheridan

Questions? Agree or Disagree? If you're a builder or retailer, feel free to leave your thoughts regarding what you feel the future of retail will be in the swimming pool industry.