Leslie's Pool Supplies Closes 80 Stores, Posts $83 Million Quarterly Loss

A pool supply giant shrinks fast

Leslie's Inc., the largest pool and spa retailer in the United States, closed 80 stores and one distribution center in less than two weeks starting in late November 2025, according to the company's 10-K annual report filed with the SEC for fiscal year 2025. Management committed to the closure plan on November 25, 2025, targeting 80 to 90 underperforming locations. Sixty-four of those stores shut down within seven days of the announcement, according to KTAR News in Phoenix. By January 3, 2026, the closures were substantially complete.

Leslie's, founded in 1963 by Phil Leslie Jr. in Southern California, built the largest direct-to-consumer footprint in the $15 billion U.S. pool and spa care industry, according to the company's Q1 fiscal 2026 10-Q filing. At its peak the chain ran 1,022 physical stores across 39 states, a network the company itself says was larger than its 20 biggest competitors combined. As of April 2026, Leslie's operates roughly 890 locations, according to data compiled by ScrapeHero.

Where the cuts landed

The closures concentrated in markets where Leslie's had opened so many stores they were competing against each other for the same customers. Confirmed closures include locations in Mt. Holly, New Jersey; Palm Springs and Palm Desert, California; Carlsbad and Encinitas in North San Diego County; and Hampton Bays, New York. Most of the shuttered stores sat in smaller or overlapping markets rather than major metro centers.

The numbers behind the decision

The fundamentals explain why management pulled the trigger. Revenue fell 6.6% year-over-year in fiscal 2025, and losses widened sharply after Leslie's recorded a $180.7 million goodwill impairment, according to the 10-K. A goodwill impairment of that size is an accounting admission: the company overpaid when it acquired smaller pool supply chains, and those acquisitions never generated the value Leslie's booked for them on paper.

The first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended January 3, 2026, was worse. Sales dropped 16% year-over-year to $147.1 million, and the company posted a net loss of $83 million for the quarter, according to its Q1 FY2026 10-Q. That quarter alone included $18.5 million in one-time charges tied directly to the store closures: inventory write-offs and employee severance.

Over the trailing 12 months tracked by ValueInvesting.io, Leslie's burned through roughly $237 million in net losses and lost 160,000 customers. The company's stock cratered along with the business. Historical returns data shows shares down 71.15% over 52 weeks, with a 52-week high of $13.57 and a low of $0.87. To avoid delisting from the Nasdaq, Leslie's executed a reverse stock split. Shares recently traded around $2.41, with a market cap of about $56 million, according to ValueInvesting.io.

How shaky is the balance sheet, really

ValueInvesting.io's model puts Leslie's probability of financial distress at 35.75% over the next 24 months, a figure built from the Altman Z-score, Beneish M-score, and current financial position. That's a model estimate, not a rating agency downgrade or a bankruptcy filing, and Leslie's has not filed for bankruptcy protection. No such filing or formal insolvency proceeding has been reported.

A reverse stock split and aggressive store pruning are exactly the moves a management team makes when trying to avoid insolvency, not when already there. Leslie's current ratio sits at 1.45, meaning the company technically has more current assets than current liabilities. That's a real data point in the company's favor even as other metrics flash red. The quick ratio, which strips out inventory, is a much thinner 0.22, underscoring how much of Leslie's short-term liquidity is tied up in pool chemicals and supplies sitting on shelves rather than cash or receivables.

What's next

With roughly 890 stores remaining and the closure plan substantially finished as of early January 2026, whether the smaller footprint stabilizes revenue or the 16% quarterly sales decline reported in the Q1 FY2026 filing continues into future quarters remains to be seen. Leslie's has not announced a second round of closures. Investors and pool service professionals watching the company will get their next real data point when Leslie's reports its next quarterly results.