Learn more about The Hot Tub Store
It all started back in 1970, when Bob Wismer and his family moved from the L.A. area to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. He’d learned about this fascinating new thing called the ‘hot tub’ from reading Sunset Magazine.
At that time, hot tubs were simply large redwood barrels filled with hot water. He found there was no way to buy one and, being a handy guy, Bob and his friend Rick built a redwood hot tub and started making hot tubs in the garage on the weekends, thinking it was going to be a fad for a year or two.
Realizing that hot tubbing was more than a passing fad, in 1973, Bob opened a store in downtown Santa Rosa on 4th Street in what is now known as Old Railroad Square. There was a fully functional redwood hot tub on display, plus three or four in stock and ready to be assembled and installed on people’s properties.
As business picked up in 1976, Bob partnered with Danny Matula, who worked building hot tubs on the weekends while teaching school during the week. The old barrel design began to evolve, and the simple redwood barrels were custom-built onsite. Holes were drilled for jets to be installed. External plumbing was installed to jet pumps and gas heaters, and the first hydrotherapy hot tubs were born in Sonoma County. The Hot Tub Store was on the leading edge of relaxation technology.
In 1977, Danny opened a second hot tub store in Sonoma, and in 1979, the two stores were consolidated into one larger complex in North Santa Rosa. As more hands were needed to keep up with the growing demand, kids helped their dads build hot tubs and deliver them to people’s backyards. Some of these kids are adult members of the present-day Hot Tub Store team.
The industry caught on in the early 1980s, realizing that ‘hot tubs’ were popular and desirable. Soon, several companies were manufacturing plastic molded spas in various shapes and sizes, which came in different colors and could have jetting and heaters installed, like their redwood counterparts.
Today, the terms are interchangeable and refer to all manufactured plastic molded hot tubs. The original wooden hot tub with gas heater has now mostly been replaced because of inefficiency when compared with their high-tech electric counterparts. There are still some companies building cedar hot tubs, but they aren’t as recommended for daily hot tub enjoyment now.
In the early days, hot tubs and spas were custom-made, but over the course of time, we ended up selling many manufacturers’ brands. The Hot Tub Store at the old farmhouse in North Santa Rosa is the place where, in 1979, we sold our first Hot Spring® brand spa—a rather unusual-looking dog dish that ran on 110 Volts. It was maybe even a bit on the ugly side, but it worked! It was the first self-contained, fully insulated unit that had all the equipment built into the cabinet.
Hot Spring® spas have always stood out above the rest—even in their early designs. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) did a test of several major hot tubs manufactured at that time and found the only hot tub that was at all energy efficient was the Hot Spring® spa model. It was found to cost about $12 per month, and it held its temperature for four days. In comparison, redwood and other plastic shell models typically lost temperature overnight. The Hot Spring® spa models of today are still designed and built with energy efficiency so they can be used and enjoyed daily.
Today, we are still proud to offer the absolute best option in aquatic fitness systems, the Endless™ Pools line of swim spas. These swim spas offer the most unique and smoothest current to swim against and are perfect for low-impact aquatic exercise.
As The Hot Tub Store grew into a much larger business with 12 stores throughout Northern California, we represented different spa brands. Danny’s wife, Ellen Friedman, joined the family business, providing leadership for more than twenty-five years as the President of the company. Danny continued teaching public school and running the construction arm of the business, while Bob focused on the bookkeeping. The Hot Tub Store team has grown to include several other families who’ve helped it become the successful hot tub dealership it is today.
Some of the key players over the years included Ellen’s brother, Dan Friedman, who joined the business and helped with sales and marketing. Steve Lindsay joined the business and helped with service and technology. Jeremy Haydock joined the business and led the logistics and operations side of things. The business continued to grow and support more than 30,000 happy hot tub customers.
During the recession in 2008, the hot tub business, like so many others, struggled to make ends meet. We kept all our employees in place, adjusted our operations, and consolidated to specialize and represent only the highest quality brand, Hot Spring® spas. Ellen led The Hot Tub Store team to a place of success until her premature loss against a battle with cancer in 2013.
Our passion is bringing wellness and relaxation to all of Northern California. Our sales team, service team, delivery team, and office team are all treasures. Our team of amazing people provides exceptional experiences for our valued customers and continues to win us numerous customer service awards each year, including the prestigious Locksin Thompson award for the world’s top dealer of Hot Spring® spas.
Our hard-working team members take pride in being part of this organization, striving to provide our family of customers with the best hot tub ownership experience possible. We are hot tubbers ourselves and we understand how hot tubbing improves people’s lives. When hot tubbing becomes a part of the daily routine, it becomes one of the best parts of your life, allowing you to relax, let go of stress, and connect with the people who are most important to you.
Hot tubs are a device that helps us to defy aging, a wellness appliance. Soaking in hot water helps to relieve stress, helps our blood to flow better, allows oxygen to get to where our bodies need it, causes our muscles to relax and lengthen, and helps us to sleep more soundly at night. There are many health benefits of hot tubbing, and a daily soak in the hot tub has become routine for most of our valued customers.
Another important aspect of our business is the ways we give back to our community. We donate hot tubs to those who need the wellness benefits but cannot afford the purchase.
Please fill out the form, call 1-800-801-7727 OR send an email to service@hottubstore.com and one of our friendly schedulers will be ready to assist you with your service needs. Our normal service hours Monday through Friday from 10:00am to 4:00pm!
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Locations 
1 800 801 SPAS 
