Backyards oasis from busy life
IT’S THE JAMES BOND OF POOLS.
At first glance, just a cloud-shaped, turquoise-coloured in-ground. Flip a switch and you’ll activate two waterfalls hidden beneath slabs of stone. Flip another and streams of water arc from nozzles, built into the deck, to the centre of the pool.
There are lights, bubblers, fountains and more. So many more that Bob Simpson, owner of the Pool Shoppe on Rymal Road East, can’t keep up. He calls his daughter to program the pool’s features, which have become increasingly computerized since he opened his business in 1972.
That’s not the only thing that’s changed. Today backyards are viewed as additional rooms. Homeowners are willing to invest in those spaces the same way they would in a gourmet kitchen or a deluxe rec room. It’s an even closer kind of staycation. “Everybody’s running out of time,” says Simpson, 67. “Your leisure time seems less and less. We’re so active and so involved.”
He compares the schedules of his own kids with those of his grandkids and wonders how his family gets it all done in a day. There’s just no time anymore for a four-hour drive to the cottage on Friday night.
“That’s where your backyard becomes your oasis and it’s there for you and it relieves the stress of trying to go somewhere.”
During peak season, The Pool Shoppe employs 70. Some work in retail, some in the repair shop, and some installing pools.
Simpson says the company only does in-grounds by referral now. The $40,000 projects are time-consuming. Lots of customers will go for the cheaper $3,000 above-ground pool, then put $6,000 into surrounding decks and landscaping. Those with smaller yards opt for spas, which have the added benefit of being enjoyable year-round.
Spas are just one of the ways Simpson has been able to liven the winter lull that used to characterize winters. Years ago, in an effort to increase off-season business, Simpson brought in bars and bar chairs. They sold out quickly. Come spring, customers wanted to know where they were. Simpson explained they were only winter items.
“But we worked on the basement all winter,” they told him. Now they were ready to decorate inside.
Today, half the retail floor space at The Pool Shoppe has been converted into games rooms. There are jukeboxes and leather-upholstered bars. Pool tables and air hockey. Ping pong and beer mirrors. Neon signs glow in the dim lighting.
On the surface, pools and pool tables have little in common, but it’s all in the same wheelhouse. It’s bringing recreation home.