Our Story
“In 1995, Earl and his wife, Joyce, wanted to add a gazebo to their property in Marshall, Illinois, which is about 16 miles from Terre Haute. But they were outside of any dealer’s territory, so Earl signed up to become a dealer — which meant he had to order two. He set one gazebo up in the backyard for his family and one in the front to sell. It was a successful enough venture that he kept doing it, eventually adding other products and getting a small retail location in Terre Haute. In 2003 the insurance salesman added hot tubs to the mix and in 2004, Earl resigned from the insurance industry and went full-time in the home resort business. Though it wasn’t easy, by providing good value and exceptional customer service, Backyard Leisure continued to grow. While Earl was a trained salesperson, a small business owner finds himself wearing many hats. He performed his own service calls for some time.
In August of 2007, after working in sales on weekends, Earl’s son Josh was hired as a full time salesperson. Josh is very knowledgeable about all of Backyard Leisure’s products and the hot tub industry as a whole.
In the years since, Earl & Josh have found that they are passionate about helping people live better through hot tubbing. And Backyard Leisure has grown out of a two-car garage into one of the largest hot tub stores in the country with multiple locations in Indiana and Illinois. Thousands of happy hot tubbers now say
“Hot Tub, You Need It!”