Owners selling fox pool
Business will move to West Sixth
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Ivan and Loetta Fowler will be at Fox Pool & Patio Thursday morning, just as they have most weekday mornings for almost 33 years. This time, though, they’ll be helping the company’s new owners move inventory and equipment from 815 Commercial St. to a new location at 2026 W. Sixth Ave.
The Fowlers sold the business to Scott and Lori Grimmett, effective at 8 a.m. Thursday morning.
The pool and spa operation will be featured — adjacent to trailer grills, four-wheelers and lawnmowers — in a 90’x60’ area of the front showroom at the First Start Rental Co. FSR is one of several businesses owned by the Grimmetts and operated or managed by the couple and their sons.
Scott runs Grimmett Masonry and, with the help of Eric Huggard, FSR. Older son Jeff Grimmett manages Grimmett Construction and younger son Will Grimmett will be in charge of the pool and spa company.
“The main thing we’re going to have right off the bat, we’re going to keep the same service that Ivan and Loetta had,” Scott said. “Any warranty that would come up that they have sold, we will be continuing right along with that.”
The new owners plan to place more emphasis on pool installations, the primary product offered when Fox Pool & Patio originally opened.
The Fowlers became Fox dealers unexpectedly in 1975, after contacting the company about buying another swimming pool. Emporia then had no pool dealer.
The couple already had installed a Fox pool at their home near Olpe and, when they moved, they knew they wanted another. They installed one at their third home, too.
The second time, however, the company representative suggested they become dealers. They agreed, and began selling pools, spas, maintenance equipment and chemicals out of their new home.
Customers dropped in at odd hours and on Sundays and, while working at home was convenient, they realized they needed to have a physical presence in Emporia. In the winter of 1982, the Fowlers remodeled the building at 815 Commercial St., moved the company there that spring and instituted regular business hours.
Since then, they have sold and installed 160 in-ground pools and more than 300 spas.
“I’ve shoveled a lot of dirt,” Ivan remarked.
The pool installations usually took a week and a half to two weeks, with favorable conditions, and longer on at least one occasion when a trucking company lost a 1,600-pound box containing a pool component.
“It took them three days to find it,” he said.
The Fowlers claim they will be retired as of tomorrow, but they’re taking some time to wind down to a leisurely level.
“We don’t have anything to do but get up and help these folks,” Ivan said of their first day of retirement.
He has committed to providing 300 hours of training in water-testing, chemicals and their interactions, repairs, installations, and “little things we’ve learned over the years.”
Still, there will be time to pursue hobbies and maybe develop some new ones.
“I’m going to get some speckled hens and raise those good old brown eggs,” he said.
Loetta plans have a broader range.
“I’ll visit my grandkids in the summertime,” she said. “That’s something we’ve never been able to do.”
And there’s always the possibility that the Grimmetts may have a question or two after the training is done. Ivan will be ready.
“My phone will be in my pocket,” he said, patting his jeans.