When Tropical Paradise first opened its doors in Jasper, the small startup was focused on providing customer service in every area of their business. Now, 22 years later, the business is located on 5.5 acres on Highway 78, but owner Eddie Young says he remains committed to serving his customers with the products, services and supplies they need to maintain the products they purchase.

“We believe that if we have something then we have parts for it,” Young said. “And we don’t contract anything out, we do it all in-house.”

The store sells above-ground pools, decks, playground equipment, tanning beds, spas, billiards and chemicals and parts for the pools and other products.

Realizing the economy has put many people and organizations into a tough spot, Young said that he can sometimes find a way to keep the costs down when playground equipment wears out.

“If we can refurbish the equipment, it saves them a lot of money,” Young said.

Tropical Paradise has helped local cities, churches and schools with building or refurbishing playground equipment.

“We have done playgrounds in Carbon Hill, Eldridge, Nauvoo and at T.S. Boyd,” Young said. “Pretty much anything you can dream up, we can build.”

The business has undergone difficulties over the last few years, including the loss of three long-term employees.

“One person retired and two died,” Young said. “It was devastating, to us and to the business. We had to regroup.”

That regroup included bringing in his sister to help manage the store and new people to handle the crews outside. Young said he misses those employees who had been with him for so long, but he is excited about the new people and energy.

Tropical Paradise is located at 13196 Highway 78 East in Jasper. The phone number is (205) 221-7866.