High-profile retailer Olympic Hot Tub opened its seventh location, this one in Woodinville, Wash.
The showroom displays 16 hot tubs and four saunas, including one custom design. Olympic President Don Riling said he’d wanted to expand for a while. “I felt like we got to the point where we were not serving our market with enough locations based on the traffic and how long it takes to get to different stores,” he said.
When designing the new location, Riling wanted to provide an actual spa experience, to lure people to the showroom rather than shopping online. A mood room houses four soaking tubs and fiberoptic lighting in the ceiling to mimic the stars. Clean swimsuits and towels are available for those who want a test soak.
One thing it doesn’t have are screens of any kind. There are no educational videos or tablets. Olympic Hot Tub relies on its sales people to connect with customers. “I have salespeople for a reason,” Riling said. “I want people to walk in the showroom, get disconnected from screens, look at this product and find out what it can do for them.”
However, the Woodinville location is available for virtual tour on Google Maps, a tool Riling feels also proves valuable in attracting perspective customers.
