Staff Reports
The car wash industry continues to expand and innovate with acquisitions, new openings, and renovations. Here’s a roundup of the latest news from around the industry:
Coinciding with the recent opening of a site in Hickory, North Carolina, Tommy’s Express Car Wash recently announced it has entered into a partnership with Lenoir-Rhyne University to become the exclusive car wash of LR Athletics. The collaboration will provide LR supporters and the Hickory community with promotions and exclusive discounts and the brand will have a strong presence at LR athletic events throughout the year.
Waters CarWash, one of the car wash brands owned by Summit Wash Holdings, has opened a new location in Oviedo, Florida. The location is the 25th for the company. “Our continued growth in the greater Orlando area – now with a new location in Oviedo – aligns perfectly with our strategic vision and commitment to serving our loyal customers,” said Kevin Matthews, COO of Summit. “Oviedo is a vibrant, growing community, and we’re excited to bring our premium car wash experience to even more customers in the area.”
A new Quick Quack Car Wash site is currently under construction on West Valley Mall Blvd. in Union Gap, Washington. The new car wash facility will include drive aisles, vacuum stations, a pay station and office building, according to a city building permit. Quick Quack, founded as a privately owned company in 2004 in Sacramento, Calif., is one of the largest operators in the country with around 275 sites across five states.
A local development group, Benedict Holdings, building two new business on property in Galesburg, Illinois – a Laundry Lounge and Precision Touchless Car Wash. Precision Touchless car wash will offer a 24-hour, two-bay, touchless washing system, including the advanced Petit 360 I XT. It is designed to accommodate a range of vehicles, from standard cars to vans with ladder racks, dually and service trucks.
The Wheeling (West Virginia) Planning Commission recently denied a request for preliminary site approval of a new Wash-Rite Express Car Wash in the city’s Clator neighborhood. The commission cited insufficient information in its decision. Officials noted that numbers from a traffic study – if completed – would likely show that the main access road cannot handle the additional traffic that the car wash would attract. Wash-Rite originally sought a site on Diamond Avenue, but a rezoning request was denied.
A long-planned bridge replacement project in South Palm Springs, California, has raised concerns about the loss of customer traffic for a local business, the Desert Hand Car Wash, according to a report by NBC Palm Springs. The construction on the bridge, which spans Tahquitz Creek, would reduce four traffic lanes down to two and eliminate a center turn lane, making it very difficult for customers to reach the car wash, which is the only business in the immediate area.
