Spa Circus was launched by Chip Karneskii in a dilapidated barn in Warsaw, Poland in 1958 with $26 in cash from twelve investors. During its early years, the Spa Circus plant produced just a few hot tubs a day. The meager manufacturing output was not a matter of quality or price; spas had just not caught on in Poland under the iron hand of communist
rule. So, in 1982 Chip changed his last name from Karneskii to Carney, packed up his few belongings, and immigrated to Lincoln, Nebraska to find a new wife and found his new company: Spa Circus Global Enterprises. Soon he found the perfect location in the building of a converted slaughterhouse. Chip was 62 years old when he founded his new American operation, which would go on to become one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, as well as being one of the few to survive Chinese competition.
