Celebrating Our 35th Anniversary

Friday, April 3rd, 2015

Our store opened in the summer of 1980, in Simoneau Plaza on Main Street in Nashua – now called Main Street Marketplace.  I was almost there, as the owners had asked me to be the first store manager.  I turned them down because I was tired of being a store manager (for a competitor).

In 1981, Tod was hired as a high school student – by Patrick’s father, the original assistant manager.  I was hired at corporate headquarters in Massachusetts to run marketing for the parent company, and I hired my then girlfriend, Jeanne, to decorate Christmas trees in our newly opened Burlington, Massachusetts store.

If you really care to know more, there is a Company History page on our website.  So here we are today, with so many families that have been a part of our Seasonal family for so long.  Oh, and we do have “Limited Edition” 35^th Anniversary Seasonal pens this year, in emerald green

After a few years, Tod quit and opened his own pool service company, and we sent him business.  Then he became a father (of Katrina), and came back just as Jeanne and I became the owners, so that he could have a more steady income.  Responsibility does that to you.  We celebrated Tod’s 25^th Anniversary with us at our Wrap Party on January 3^rd of this year.  Katrina worked here all the way through high school and college, and another of Tod’s daughters – Kristine has been here for four years – and works for Tod’s Pool Service, too.

This year is actually the Five Year Anniversary for two people:  Corey (in the warehouse), and Rose (in the office).  There will be cake, bonuses, and gifts on the appropriate days – watch the Special Events page on our website.

Stephanie took on an additional responsibility for training and coordinating the salespeople who work out of the Design Center, and she promptly hired two new salespeople:  Bill and Cliff.  Please give them a “welcome” if you run into them.

Mia represented us at the Baquacil Dealer Conference in Costa Rica in January.  While they were there, she and her husband, Robert, spent a day as volunteers to fix up a children’s school.  Pretty impressive to give up a day in paradise when you only have a week to be there.

Stephanie and Paul attended a conference in Connecticut.  Paul studied electronic spa controls.  Stephanie studied diagnosing and curing stains in pools; becoming a Certified Stain Specialist.  She also studied pop-up inground return systems, and she met with several of our vendors.

Paul, Joe, and Patrick went out past Albany for a factory tour and classes on installing and repairing awnings.  They are also going to Connecticut for a factory tour and classes on heat pump repairs.

We actually do a lot more training than that over the winter, but we don’t have to travel for it.  Since we have a classroom in the store, and we encourage vendors to use it, we often host regional vendor training.  We save paying mileage and driving time.  They save on renting a hotel function room.  They invite dealers from throughout New England to attend.  For instance, Maytronics cleaners and Nirvana heat pumps used our classroom this year.