This month The Grapevine spoke to Michael from Timeout Spas in Nerja. Having known him since the magazine started over 100 editions ago I thought it was about time he answered a few of my questions!
Michael is originally from Toronto in Canada and he first visited Spain back in 1975 as part of his travelling expeditions. He then continued to pop back to the Capistrano area of Nerja over the following 4 years whilst also travelling around Canada, The United States, Europe and Africa. Finally, in 1979 he came back to Nerja to settle some roots. He explained that this was an interesting and great time for Nerja, and indeed Spain as a whole, with the death of Franco and the conversion to democracy and mixed amongst all of this he had some great fun!
Michael is “self taught” with his various skills and is extremely entrepreneurial. He initially started a business in Nerja with an Art Gallery. The idea came from the lack of things to do in the early 80’s in Nerja and also that he had started to buy and sell paintings at markets in the area. So he got together with a few artists and opened a gallery. It consisted of 5 rooms each with a different theme and they also held a monthly exhibition for one of the artists. This was a successful business for the following 9 years. However, as Nerja changed so did his idea and he moved on to a different business. Cable TV had just started to develop in Spain in the 90’s so Michael set about designing, installing and developing the Local TV companies into cable TV providers. He had help from Scandinavian and Danish partners, bought hardware from the states and travelled all over Spain to supply, install and design cable TV systems. This business lasted for nearly 13 years until the market changed again and fed up with travelling around so much Michael looked for something more tranquil and more local.
So, in September 2000 Timeout Spas opened initially in Calle Chaparil, Nerja. Then after 5 years Michael moved the business to their present location on the old N340 coast road on the roundabout which enters Nerja. He supplies Spas from all manufacturers and is not tied to one in particular but cherry picks the best from all his suppliers and can display over a dozen spas in his showroom – so you can see what you are buying. You can either buy straight off the shop floor or order the colour or model of your choice. Along with Spas TimeOut supplies saunas, accessories and all the chemicals you will need. Along with the sales they provide a great service both before installation and after and you can even call them to fix a Spa that they haven’t sold to you. Installation is also included in their sale price, although if a crane is needed that isn’t included, however if you aren’t sure whether you can actually get a spa to your home just give them a call and they will come and do a free site survey and tell you.
With the recent difficulties in gaining swimming pool licenses the swim spas have been a great alternative and as they are portable (as long as you keep them like that) they don’t need a license to have them installed in your garden. If you want to know more about all of their spas their website is an excellent source of information from which spa is best for you, how to maintain the spas with a step-by-step fail safe guide and information on accessories you might need i.e. types of covers, steps and chemicals.
Michael has been running this business for over 12 years now and he has no plans to change anything. He is happy in Nerja with a business that has beaten off the competition in recent harder times and he is knowledgeable, credible and provides an extremely professional one stop shop for all your spa sales and service needs
