 Apollo Pools and Billiards
By Virginia Bruce, Editor
Some people are surprised to think that there are any private swimming
pools in our area, but there are enough around to keep Apollo Pools
in business since 1967 in Cedar Mill.
But because of Washington County zoning and the way new houses
are being built, they’re getting scarcer. “People are building
these big houses on smaller and smaller lots, so there’s no room to
put in a pool,” says
Terry Johnson, Vice President. “There are a lot of spas going in, and
they’re including big ‘bonus’ rooms, so the indoor home
recreation business is doing very well.”
Apollo Pools was started by Norman and Betty Shaw in 1967. The business
was named for the Greek god, who was said to have had a swimming
pool. The original location was on the west side of Murray Road where
the Sunset Highway now runs. When an onramp was constructed on their
site in 1990, they built at the current location at 13306 NW Cornell.
Norman and Betty’s children, Scott Shaw and Dana Shaw Johnson began
working in the store when they were young. Norman passed away in 2001, and
Scott is now President and runs the parts and repair section of the company,
located in a separate, adjacent building to the west. Terry joined the company
in 1972. He used to work for the Forest Service, but when Dana became pregnant
with their first child, “she didn’t want to go out and live in
the woods,” Terry remembers.
 They sell Doughboy above-ground pools, pumps, filters, heating accessories
and parts, along with pool toys and games, and a complete range of
chemicals. They work with an outside installer. They used to maintain
a service staff but found it was hard to retain people they trained.
They added billiard and pool tables in 1982 as a winter business.
It’s
now grown to be an equal split in terms of profit. They also carry a broad
assortment of gaming tables, darts and dart boards, and supplies and accessories
for all types of indoor recreation. “Poker got very big last year, but
it’s tapering off a bit now,” Terry mentions.
The second floor was remodeled in 2001 as a display area for pool
and billiard tables, lighting and accessories. “We were the first store
that Brunswick selected for their Pavilion display,” Terry mentions.
There are still only 19 Pavilion stores around the country. The selection
of pool cues stretches along one whole side of the large area, and
the display includes traditional and high-tech tables which can be ordered
in numerous variations of finishes and colors.
 They used to sell a lot of hot tubs (spas) but only carry one high-end
line now. “There’s so much competition from the discounters and
big-box stores that it’s just not profitable,” Terry says. “But
when people have problems they come to us. We have the expertise and the products
to solve mechanical or chemical problems for people, which the big stores
can’t provide. They don’t really provide any support for their
products.” Apollo’s customers come from all over the Portland
metro area and Vancouver.
Pool and spa owners used to have to maintain a whole chemistry set
of beakers, tubes, reagents and droppers, but now test strips are
available that show chemical balances instantly and without special
equipment. It’s
become a lot easier to maintain proper chemistry because of easier-to-use
test strips. But customers still bring in jars of “problem” water
from their pool or spa for diagnosis and there’s a whole room devoted
to the chemical “prescriptions” for solving these problems.
Because of the wide variety of spas on the market, helping customers
solve mechanical problems can be challenging. “Figuring out what people
have is the difficult part,” Terry explains, because spa and pool manufacturers
have come and gone over the years. The more information the customer
can bring in about their product the better. We can probably help you fix
it as long as we can figure out what you’ve got!”
One of their challenges is letting people know that their products
are competitively priced. “People think that because we’re a
small independent company that our prices will be higher. Check us out -
we may be more competitive than you think!” says Terry.
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