ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
The owner of The CPAP Shop in the Betoota Heights Westfield has welcomed news that US weight-loss giant Jenny Craig has collapsed overnight, which he feels will ultimately send more customers his way.
Dennis Pooley is a local entrepreneur who has a number of businesses that range from pool chemicals to CPAP machines. The former, he says, was the first business he ever started with a friend from high school some 30 years ago. The latter, The CPAP Shop, has only been around for a few years but business is good in Betoota.
Betoota Heights is one of the most overweight per capita areas in Queensland, which is part of the reason why Mr Pooley decided a business that sells machines to people with sleep apnea might have a strong yeild.
A Continuous positive airway pressure machine or “CPAP machine”, uses a hose connected to a mask or nosepiece to deliver constant and steady air pressure to help you breathe while you sleep, which helps people with sleep apnea.
“Sleep apnea doesn’t effect every overweight person, nor does it affect every person at a health weight,” he said.
“It’s just more common in people who are overweight. So I literally just googled where people are most overweight in Queensland and I put a CPAP machine shop there. Business is business.”
Across the shopper’s corridor in Westfield from the CPAP Shop is the Jenny Craig storefront. Today, it’s shuttered with a printed A4 page on the rollers saying that the dream is over.
“It was always interesting, having my CPAP shop opposite Jenny Craig. I think I gave them a lot of business but it obviously wasn’t enough in the end. They gave me a fair bit, too, I suspect,” he said.
“Anyway, I’m going to order a new Porsche before June 30. I’m going to get a 911 Turbo in Carmine Red. Yes, business is much better than working for some prick.”
More to come.
