private industry retail founded 1963 1 founder phil leslie headquarters phoenix arizona number of locations 910 2015 products pool supplies owner leonard green & partners cvc capital partners gso capital partners website www.lesliespool.com leslie s poolmart operating as leslie s swimming pool supplies is the largest retailer of swimming pool supplies and related products globally . leslie s sells the full range of supplies for pool maintenance including chemicals cleaning devices equipment and parts as well as recreational and safety products for swimming pools . leslie s also sells items for the backyard and patio . the company operates over 600 stores in 35 states throughout the u.s. with over 2 400 employees . 1 during its peak season leslie s employs hundreds of seasonal employees bringing its workforce above 3 000 employees . leslie s stocks approximately 700 items in each store with more than 30 000 additional items available through the company s other channels of distribution and special order processes . 2 leslie s also sells its own brand of pool supplies which accounted for 53 % of the company s total sales in 2009 . 2 the company is headquartered in phoenix arizona and has a particularly strong retail presence in arizona california florida georgia and texas . for the year ended october 2009 leslie s had sales of 510 million . 1 history edit leslie s was founded in 1963 by phil leslie in a single location in north hollywood california . leslie together with partner raymond cesmat began the company by opening a chain of swimming pool supply stores in the los angeles area . 3 the two founding partners leslie and cesmat began fighting over the future of the company in the late 1980s and cesmat determined he wanted to sell his stake . in 1987 leslie offered to buy cesmat s stock at a prior agreed upon price but cesmat would not accept . cesmat filed to have the corporation dissolved and in 1988 a california superior court judge ordered the company be sold . the company was acquired in a hostile take over for 23 million by private equity firm hancock park associates . leslie received 10 million from the sale of the company but was vocal that the company had been taken from him as the sale was highly leveraged and court ordered . 3 following the sale of the company managers at most leslie s stores refused to open their stores in an expression of loyalty to mr. leslie . ultimately the new ownership and management were able to replace managers of stores that refused to open . 3 by the early 1990s the company was again generating profits and the company listed its stock on nasdaq . a 1991 initial public offering raised 28 million for the sale of 47 % of the company using the cash to repay debt and fund an expansion of the business . 3 from the beginning of 1989 through the end of 1996 leslie s grew from 66 to 259 company owned and operated stores including 23 stores added through the acquisition of sandy s pool supply inc. in august 1992 which mr. leslie grew from 3 stores to 23 . 4 in 1997 the company was acquired for 140 million by private equity firms leonard green & partners and hancock park associates . 5 in 2010 leonard green explored a sale of the company targeting in excess of 1 billion for the company . 6 7 in lieu of a sale leonard green ultimately sold a substantial stake in the company to cvc capital partners and gso capital partners . 8 as of 2014 leslie s comprises over 750 stores with plans for continued expansion to 1 000 stores . references edit a b c leslie s poolmart company profile yahoo business a b c leslie s poolmart inc. sec form 10 k 2009 annual report . filed with the securities and exchange commission december 23 2009 a b c d leslie s poolmart inc. . funding universe company history leslie s poolmart inc. sec form 10 k 1996 annual report . filed with the securities and exchange commission march 28 1997 leslie s poolmart taken private in 140 million deal . new york times june 13 1997 leslie s poolmart could make 1b splash . phoenix business journal july 14 2010 leonard green seeks 1bn for leslie s poolmart . financier worldwide july 14 2010 cvc capital to invest in leslie s. institutional investor august 30 2010 external links edit leslie s poolmart company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title leslie % 27s poolmart & oldid 727473347 categories retail companies of the united statesswimming pool equipmentcompanies based in phoenix arizonacompanies established in 1963private equity portfolio companiescvc capital partners companieshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 29 june 2016 at 06 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view