I live near Pioneer Park and so I pass by Central Pool Supply quite often in my daily, weekly and monthly travels. It’s a business I’ve been meaning to do a blog on for a quite a little while, not only because they’re a local company that’s been in business here in Peoria for years now, but I have a little question for them. So let’s just head on over there and take a look around and see if I can find someone to answer this question that’s been brewing inside of me ever since I moved back here!
I really love the diving board that they have out in front of their store! I think it’s the only outside diving board without a pool below it in the city and maybe in the country! I also really like the logo in the pink circle on the side of the building, it’s really got a nice vintage look to it!
I was so relieved to see that the pumpkin and spice pools and tubs are back, just in time for Halloween! Check out the giant cell phone and #YOLO in the windows! I like them, but they don’t give a clue as to the question I need to ask, so let’s go inside!
It's very nice in here and there’s a couple guys over at the counter, let’s go say hello to them! That’s Troy on the left and Matt on the right. Troy’s the warehouse manager and Matt is the manager of Central Pool Supply. He told me that this has been a business that his family has ran since the ‘60’s when his grandfather, Richard Gebhardt started the business out of his garage (makes me think of Mike’s Tavern!) The business moved to Hale Avenue in the '70's and was one of the first businesses in that area. They’ve been in this location in Pioneer Park since the ‘80’s and Matt said that business here has been good this year, which is great to hear, but it leads me to the burning question I have to ask Matt and the question is this...
Your business is Central Pool Supply and summer’s over, so why the FUCK are you still open?
Matt, kept his composure in the face of such a hard-hitting journalistic question and took me to the back of the showroom and showed me all the hot tubs on display and he told me that these are sold and worked on all year round. He told me they also do work on indoor pools in the area, including a lot of the hotels.
They also have other items for sale in here including tanning beds, saunas and grills and those are items that can be used and purchased beyond the summer deadline that swimming pools have.
There’s also amusement items for sale in here, like this Tiki Toss game that Matt told me is a fairly new item in the store.
And there’s lots of fun flotation devices for sale in here and I suppose you could have fun with these in the indoor hot tubs or even a bathtub. But I saw something in here that makes it all worthwhile that Central Pool Supply is open the entire year and that something is this...
This giant inflatable public service device that reminds us all that, “Quack Is Wack!” Time for me to duck out of here...oof! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Central Pool Supply
1519 W Pioneer Pkwy
Peoria
309-691-7510
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