| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1963[1] |
| Founder(s) | Phil Leslie |
| Headquarters | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Number of locations | 645(2010) |
| Products | Pool supplies |
| Website | www.lesliespool.com |
Leslie's Poolmart, operating as Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies, is the largest retailer of swimming pool supplies and related products globally. Leslie’s sells the full range of supplies for pool maintenance including chemicals, cleaning devices, equipment and parts as well as recreational and safety products for swimming pools. Leslie's also sells items for the backyard and patio.
The company operates over 600 stores in 35 states throughout the U.S. with over 2,400 employees.[1] During its peak season Leslie's employs hundreds of seasonal employees bringing its workforce above 3,000 employees. Leslie's stocks approximately 700 items in each store, with more than 30,000 additional items available through the company's other channels of distribution and special order processes.[2] Leslie's also sells its own brand of pool supplies which accounted for 53% of the company’s total sales in 2009.[2]
The company is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona and has a particularly strong retail presence in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Texas. For the year ended October 2009, Leslie’s had sales of $510 million.[1]
Leslie's was founded in 1963 by Phil Leslie in a single location in North Hollywood, California. Leslie, together with partner Raymond Cesmat, began the company by opening a chain of swimming pool supply stores in the Los Angeles area. [3]
The two founding partners, Leslie and Cesmat began fighting over the future of the company in the late 1980s and Cesmat determined he wanted to sell his stake. In 1987, Leslie offered to buy Cesmat's stock, but at a price Cesmat would not accept. Cesmat filed to have the corporation dissolved, and in 1988, a California Superior Court judge ordered the company be sold. The company was acquired for $23-million by private equity firm Hancock Park Associates. Leslie received $10 million from the sale of the company but was vocal that the company had been taken from him.[3]
Following the sale of the company, managers at most Leslie's stores refused to open their stores in an expression of loyalty to the company's founder. Ultimately, the new ownership and management were able to replace managers of stores that refused to open.[3] By the early 1990s, the company was again generating profits and the company listed its stock on NASDAQ. A 1991 initial public offering raised $28 million for the sale of 47% of the company, using the cash to repay debt and fund an expansion of the business.[3] From the beginning of 1989 through the end of 1996, Leslie's grew from 66 to 259 company-owned and operated stores, including 14 stores added through the acquisition of Sandy's Pool Supply, Inc. in August, 1992.[4]
In 1997, the company was acquired for $140 million by private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and Hancock Park Associates.[5] Following
In 2010, Leonard Green explored a sale of the company targeting in excess of $1 billion for the company.[6][7] In lieu of a sale, Leonard Green ultimately sold a substantial stake in the company to CVC Capital Partners and GSO Capital Partners.[8]