Australian pool and spa franchise, Poolwerx, will open in the US after acquiring Cactus Valley Pool Supplies in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cactus Valley Pool Supplies has been in business for 17 years and has nine company-owned stores, seven franchised stores, and nine mobile service units.

The American pool industry is more than 10 times larger than Australia’s and John O’Brien, Poolwerx founder and CEO, said launching into the American market was the realisation of a vision 22 years in the making.

“We’ve always wanted to take the company to America because of the sheer size and opportunities within the marketplace. This is not the first opportunity that has come up for our American entry, but it was the right one,”O’Brien said.

“It’s not insurmountable to believe Poolwerx could become a major force in the industry in the US, very quickly. In fact, with the great support we have been experiencing, our forecasts have us with a potential of 50 retail stores and mobile units by this time next year and 300 by 2020.”

O’Brien said the state of the American market was similar to what it was in Australia 20 years ago.

“When we first started in Australia 22 years ago, the market was extremely fragmented with lots of independents and small players trying to build critical mass. We worked hard to bring professionalism and order to it to the sector, and offer real career paths and potential for people in this industry. We will bring this expertise to the US as well, introducing our unique hub and spoke model integrating the retail, service and commercial markets.”

O’Brien said the first store to be converted to a Poolwerx branded store would be ready to launch before the American summer season.

“We will convert all our company stores over the next year. These will become our flagship stores for granting franchises across the US.

“This acquisition is just the beginning for our brand overseas and we will eventually see more benefits for local franchise partners transpire particularly through an even stronger buying group, new learnings we can bring back to Australia, sharing of resources and technology and global opportunities for our team.

“It really sets us up to build on our 22 years of foundation building and complete our 2020 global expansion strategy.”