To further ease your mind and give you some insight, here is a little history on the behind the scenes of Ellis Aquatics over the past 16+ months. We began looking (again) to PUCHASE a building to expand into in March 2018. By May 2018 we were in the process of purchasing a 5-unit strip mall. By July 2018 we fell out of escrow and lost thousands of dollars on appraisals and mandatory environmental reports (the soil was extremely toxic due to a prior dry cleaner). August 2018, we began escrow, and October 3, 2018 we took OWNERSHIP of our new location. December 24, 2018 Plans for upgrades/improvements finally get approved by the city. During demolition/construction from October 2018 through July 2019 (9+ months due to slow moving city reviews, inspections and approvals, locating/fixing unknown new problems, added construction cost and plans etc) we have now replaced and have 100% new: Electrical, Plumbing, Gas, Sewage, Drywall, Flooring, Roof, Paint, stucco etc, added a Parking Lot and Driveway, (basically we have “a few” studs in the walls that are original but rebuilt 95% of the rest of this building at this point).
Why is all of this information important to you, you may ask? The reason all those details are important is we have had tens of tens of tens of thousands of dollars of extra expenses coming in over the past year plus, and not one price increase. We have been paying for the new location’s bills (water, gas, electric, trash, business loan, insurance etc) since 11/2018 and not one price increase. We have been paying the City and architect over ten thousand throughout the planning and permitting/licensing process with not one price increase. We have paid tens of thousands in construction/materials for the new shop repairs/upgrades and not one price increase. We have spent tens of thousands on the business side expansion and not one price increase along the way. What we are trying to say is we have been fortunate, made some good financial decisions on our end, and have been able to share that with our customers by absorbing all the additional overhead associated with an expansion/purchase of this type.
Long story short is Ellis Aquatics is/has upgraded our Space, Parking, Customer Service, Quality, Selection, etc.. The only thing staying stagnant is our great pricing we became famous for.