It would be a safe bet to say Pool Mart is the world’s only swimming pool-supply store that also offers cake-decorating classes. Pool cleaning and cake baking may seem an odd concoction for a company, but owners Ray and Lillian Brunton believe they have found the key ingredients to a happy life and a successful business.
Located on Highway 12 (just south of the old sheriff’s substation), Pool Mart has been in business for more than half a century. The storefront has a down-home, country feel, but inside you’ll find the newest in cleaners and other supplies for home spas and swimming pools. The store also sells skimmers and automatic cleaning machines and has a high-tech testing lab. Customers can bring in a sample of their pool water for analysis. In seconds, the Pool Mart testing center will spit out the exact recipe of chemicals customers need to keep their pool healthy, safe and clean.
Located at the rear of the store is the cake and candy-making department known as Cake Corner. Filling the aisles are all manner of baking supplies, such as cake tins, special molds, utensils, tools and confectioner’s condiments.
Besides selling baking supplies, Lillian teaches classes in creating everything from candies and cupcakes to professional-quality wedding cakes. Cake decorating workshops are held throughout the week, with the curriculum ranging from basic cake decorating to advanced techniques for making decorative flowers for special-occasion cakes.
“I give cooking tips and recipes but the students do the baking at home,” explained Lillian. “At the Cake Corner they learn how to create decorative borders, lifelike flowers, figure piping, lacework and much more. Plus we offer children’s classes. Right now I’m teaching a Girl Scout troop how to create panoramic Easter eggs from sugar molds.”
Lillian has no trouble dividing her time between Cake Corner and Pool Mart. Not only is she an accomplished decorator, with a portfolio of magnificent wedding cake creations to her credit, but she also has decades of experience in the pool business.
“Lillian knows more about keeping pools clean than any woman anywhere,” boasted her husband.
“My dad was a pool contractor in Sonoma,” Lillian said. “In 1952 he opened Pool Mart; we were the first pool-cleaning business in the North Bay. I was one of four daughters. As a young girl, I helped dad with the business. We serviced customers in five counties,” she said.
“Dad was German and loved candies and cakes with rich icing. So I became the baker in the family. It was something I loved doing for him and soon I was creating cakes for relatives and friends.”
When Lillian isn’t teaching the intricacies of using fondant for cake decorating, she can often be found explaining how the interaction of organic materials with H2O can upset the chemical equilibrium of a swimming pool’s pH balance or answering questions, such as the time a women came in asking how to get rid of her spa’s ugly black spots.
“This customer kept complaining about the black spots at the bottom of her spa. She thought it was black algae. We tested the water; no problem. We kept trying different chemicals and cleaners,” Lillian explained. “But the spots wouldn’t disappear. I finally went out to see for myself. Turns out it was breaks in the plaster. The black spots she was seeing were the pool’s black steel reinforcement rods.”
Assisting in managing the store is their long-time employee Teresa Castanon. When it comes to the unique nature of Sonoma Valley swimming pool maintenance, the three are a font of knowledge.
“People sometimes forget Sonoma is near sea level,” Ray said. “That means we have a very shallow water table. Dig down three feet and you can hit water, which makes pool construction a lot more difficult here.”
“That’s why you should never drain your pool,” added Lillian. “We have customers thinking that since they aren’t using the pool in the winter, they’ll just drain it. But that’s the worst thing you can do, because then the underground water will seep up and destroy the pool’s plaster.”
According to Lillian, maintaining a swimming pool is as simple as following a recipe.
“If you test regularly and precisely measure the chemicals you use, then keeping a pool’s water safe, healthy and clean is as easy as baking a cake.”
Pool Mart and Cake Corner are located at 16721 Hwy. 12 in Agua Caliente. For information on store hours and cake decorating classes call 707.996.6213.
