Ever wonder how AQUA came to be? Here's a little bit about our history.
In September 1976, Newport Beach, Calif., publisher Stuart Karl launched Spa and Sauna, now known as AQUA. In his early 20s, Karl had already found success with a publication serving the waterbed industry and believed he had discovered a similar niche in the growing spa and sauna movement.
Spa and Sauna had an initial circulation of approximately 3,000 retailers, located mostly in the Western U.S., but would eventually spread to become a national readership.
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Stan Chambers, AQUA's current West Coast sales manager, started with Spa and Sauna in May of '77 and has been involved with the publication and its trade shows ever since. "It was a highly entrepreneurial environment back then," he recalls. "We were filling a vital niche and the magazine took off from there. It was an exciting time."
Over nearly four decades with the magazine, Chambers has seen the portable spa industry mature in many ways. "We've seen the industry elevate itself to the mainstream," he says. "Today we know more about the tremendous benefits our industry provides consumers. It's fun to look back and see how AQUA has been part of that evolution."
