Big name businesses - yes. Roof tops - no.

[Peakster]

Hi all,

I have been in the car wash business for 11 years now. But only on the touchless/self serve side.

I am looking at a location to build an express tunnel wash. The lot is great. Large with really good visibility. It is 1/2 mile off of the interstate. Within 1/4 mile is a super Wal-Mart, Lowes, Chick-fil-A, Arbys, McDonalds, Wendy's, Kristal, etc. The traffic count is growing each year as all these big name businesses continue to open. Currently it is 28,000. Obviousely some of this traffic count is off of the interstate. But Wal-mart and Lowes, businesses that pull from local residence, not travelers, are both doing very well. In each direction of the interestate the next large towns both have Wal-Marts, Lowes or Home Depots. So the local Wal-Mart and Lowes are pulling from local, not from the surrounding towns driving down the interstate to get there. Everything is great except there are no houses in the 3 mile radius.

How important is surrounding roof tops within a 3 mile radius in a circumstance such as this one? Again, Wal-Mart and Lowes are both doing very well.

Thanks for all input and comments.

 

[beauman]

Where is the nearsest competitor? Sounds like a rural area to me and typically self servebays and inbay automatics are different competition to a tunnel, but if it is rural, they will be a factor. 28,000 cars at what speed?

Roof tops are critical in a express tunnel model. They will be your loyal customers and wash thier vehicle when running errands. If it is and area that must be passed by the bedroom community down the road and there is no tunnel competition for 10 miles, it could be ok. You need to locate where the people live and how they wash thier cars now.

 

[Peakster]

There is a self serve car wash with touchless about a mile down the road. The property is the fourth from a big intersection with a speed of 40mph. Thanks.

 

[rph9168]

Mike, I think it is a good site. Good visibility and traffic flow with access from both directions. The other self service washes are in bad shape and will offer little competition. Pick a good, well-respected distributor that you have dealt with in the past in the area to help you with the project.