entrepreneurial path in 1990 one of his goals was to increase sales by 50 percent each year he was in business.

Sp far, he is four for five.

Mr. Piggott said the slowest year of business was 1991 when sales rose by "only'' 25 percent, but last year's 75 percent increase brought his average back up to his target.

Mr. Piggott started Most Lustre, a porcelain repair and refinishing business, out of his home in Southampton in 1990. But he wanted the business to have a retail side.

In February the business moved to its present 2,500 square foot location on Woodlands Road after being first based in Spanish Point.

Mr. Piggott recognised several Island residents were looking for a repair service for their older cast iron bathtubs. Because of the demand for repair he believed there was a market for newer cast iron claw foot replicas.

"It was obvious they were coming back,'' he said. "Clawfoot tubs started showing up more and more, everywhere from advertisements to music videos, they're certainly very elegant and very stylish. We discovered it was a niche market.'' It is also pricey one. A new cast iron clawfoot tub can run from $2,000 to $4,000.

As well as the conventional cast iron tub, also known as a birthday tub, Conversations offers a high-backed slipper tub as well as a double end cast iron tub. The latter features centred water taps.

Conversations continues to reglaze older cast iron tubs and to sell new ones but Mr. Piggott found the business had to expand its products.

After following the development of California-based Softub Inc.'s spa product for about ten months, Conversations became a Softub dealership in November of 1993.

Softub, incorporated in 1986, is currently ranked 100th on Inc.'s list of the 500 fastest growing privately-held US companies, said Mr. Piggott.

"To be a Softub dealership, we had to undergo training procedures in California on sales and repair,'' he said.

Of the three sizes of soft tubs, the smallest soft tub weighs 45 pounds while the largest tube is 65 pounds. The pump weighs 31 pounds and thermal lids vary from 10 to 15 pounds.

It can be delivered set up filled with water and plugged in on the day of purchase.

The tub has a lining of marine guard vinyl and is very energy efficient. Mr.

Piggott said it costs only 40 cents a day to keep the unit at 104 fahrenheit.

There has been a shift in how the public perceives hot tubs, he said.

For many they stir images of ski resorts but more people are seeing them as a way to relieve the stress or work or the aches and pains of a good workout, he said.

Mr. Piggott, originally from the UK came to Bermuda in 1980.

He and his wife Elizabeth, an executive with XL Insurance Company Ltd., are the principal owners of Most Lustre, which included the store Conversations as well as Bath Magic Bermuda, which sells bathroom tub and wall inserts.

LIGHTWEIGHT AND EFFICIENT -- Mr. Geoff Piggott, general manager of Conversations, tries out a soft tub.