Everything's for rent these days.
You can rent movies, and the couch you sit on while watching them.On State Street in South Salt Lake, Wasatch Spa and Pool Center owner Joe Barraco has another option for you: hot tubs.
For $9.50 per person, Joe Barraco and his wife Janice offer an hour of uninterrupted tub time. Swirling, jetted water to sooth sore muscles and ease the day's stress. A private room where music plays (or not, depending on your preference) and all your troubles drift away in the 102-degree water.
The Barracos have owned Wasatch Spa and Pool Center, 3955 S. State, for five years. For a decade before, Joe managed the store, which originally opened in 1981.
It used to be called "Soak Your Body," until a drunk guy wandering on State Street took things a little too seriously.
"The sign was posted near the sidewalk, which just happened to be near an irrigation canal," Joe Barraco said, pointing to a now fenced-off area near his business.
"Well, this guy comes staggering down the street, and you could see him squint at the sign. 'Soak Your Body,' he said, and then climbed right in to the canal and sat down. He was up to his chin in water.
"The guy gets up, soaking wet, climbs out of the canal, and starts yelling" the phrase "soak your body" with an expletive.
Joe Barraco laughs, but the store changed its name to better convey his family-friendly philosophy.
"It has been very important for Janice and me to maintain a clean, family image," Joe Barraco said. "In this business it's not always easy to do, but it is always foremost in our minds."
He acknowledges that some may look at businesses like his with suspicion. Parties and hot tubs go hand-in-hand in many people's minds. Including local law enforcement.
"When we first opened, the police watched us quite closely," he said. "Especially for the first six months. They watched us very, very closely. They would come in and ask us questions, like 'Do you rent the girls with the rooms?' and stuff like that. During one summer, we counted 17 different visits."
Vice cops made undercover visits, and once -- years ago under his management, but not under his ownership, he said -- made a drug arrest.
Soon after he took over the business, Joe Barraco instituted stricter rules of conduct. No one younger than 18 years of age is permitted to rent a tub, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, or has written consent from the parent. No alcohol or food is allowed. Beverages are permitted, but not in glass containers. And each person that rents one of his tubs is required to sign a form assuring management that they will abide by all of the laws of the state of Utah.
"Not too often have we ever had a problem," he said. "We tell people what we expect from them."
Sure, he said his business has seen its fair share of toga parties and graduation shindigs. And unless people behave inappropriately, he doesn't turn them away.
But most of his customers are just looking for an hour of peaceful aqua-therapy, he said.
Joan Carter, Sandy, said she and her roommate Julie rented tubs regularly at Wasatch Spa and Pool.
"It's good relief," Carter said. "It's a private room, without a bunch of weirdos. It's a clean place, and a great way to get away from the kids for a minute."
Carter said she and Julie liked it so much that they bought a spa from Wasatch this summer. The company sells about three dozen each year, Joe Barraco said. A good portion of those sales are to former renters.
Even though she now owns her own hot tub, Carter said she occasionally still rents a tub at Wasatch to escape from the excitement at home.
Another reason is because she is impressed with how clean everything seems.
"I've never even gone into a room where there's been garbage in the garbage can. It's that clean. I was very impressed."
Maintaining a sanitary environment is something Joe and Janice Barraco take seriously. Water in each of Wasatch Spa and Pool's four rooms is checked six times daily, and at least once a month by health inspectors. Joe Barraco asserts he's never been cited by the health department, which regulates businesses with public pools or spas.
"We've had a few low readings, but nothing where they've even come close to shutting us down," Joe Barraco said. "We're very big on cleanliness. If we're not comfortable with our water purity, we won't let our customers get in."
"If I wouldn't get in there, I definitely wouldn't let anyone else get in," Janice Barraco echoed.
Joe Barraco said to his knowledge, no one at his business has ever become ill from the water. Between the chemicals used to kill germs, the regular water checks, and the filtration system that cleans and replaces water in each tub every hour, he said customers can be assured they won't be floating in someone else's yuck.
"People ask us all the time, 'Can we get sick from your tubs?' And we tell them no. Not the way we keep them."
The bottom line, according to former store owner Tom Simmons, is that the Barracos' business serves a need. Or at least a want.
"There is a need," Simmons said. "Not everyone has the space to put a hot tub in their backyard. And there's also the expense. Not too many people can afford to pay $4,000 for a tub. But for $9.50, you get an hour in the water. Most people can afford that."