Oasis Pools & Spas opens first retail location in Athol

ATHOL – Oasis Pools & Spas, a service business for the past decade, has opened its first retail location at 56 School St. in Athol.

Owners Christie and Santos Rodriguez recently completed around $100,000 in renovations to the late 1950s building that now houses Oasis, and plan a grand opening on Saturday, May 2, from noon to 3 p.m. Pop’s Sweet-Harts Ice Cream Truck will be on hand, along with a bouncy house, refreshments and family-friendly games.

Santos Rodriguez explained the couple had owned the building at 567 Main St. and operated a service company out of a storefront there, next to the restaurant Kellie’s.

“We lived in Gardner and had a couple of properties here,” he said. “Then we found a house that (Christie) loved, so we bought a home here (in Athol). We’re part of the town’s footprint. When this space became available, that’s when we decided to go into the retail end of the business.”

Santos Rodriguez said the couple sold their Main Street building last year and used money from the sale to purchase Oasis’ new home on School Street. At one time, he said, the building was used by an oil company.

“We did everything to this place, from having the asbestos siding abated to putting in a new parking lot, new HVAC, new electrical,” he said. “Virtually everything is new.”

He added that the COVID-19 pandemic “really increased the demand for pools at that particular time. When COVID happened, nobody went anywhere. People renovated their houses and did backyard renovations and that’s when swimming pools became very popular.”

The majority of the company’s business, said Santos Rodriguez, comes from service calls and contracts.

“We did everything to this place, from having the asbestos siding abated to putting in a new parking lot, new HVAC, new electrical.”

Santos Rodriguez

“We do install in-ground and above-ground pools,” Christie Rodriguez added, “but we have a large customer base where we do openings, closings, routine maintenance, repairs. We do everything.”

Customers can also purchase hot tubs from Oasis. The company services both commercial and residential accounts.

Santos Rodriguez said he first got into the pool business when he was young, when a friend told him of a local business needing some help.

“It was a service company such as ours and I really liked it,” he said. “I liked being outside and working.”

“There are a lot of pool companies around here, but we all work together,” said Christie Rodriguez. “If someone needs some backup, they’ll give Santos a call and say, ‘Hey, do you want to take on this job?’ We’re always working with each other. There’s really no competition. We have our customers, but we work with other people, too.”

Christie Rodriguez said Oasis’ service area runs from Belmont in the east Greenfield in the west. To cover that large area, Santos explained, the business usually has six or seven employees on the road, with another three covering the store. All of the employees, he said, are local residents.

The couple emphasized that their investment in the building and their business illustrates a strong commitment to the community.

“We love our house,” said Christie. “Everyone here has been great. And our children go to school here.”

Regular business hours for Oasis are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.