Grand Re-Opening Ideas

[whaler23]

Hi All, Been reading plenty but this is my first time posting. I own two washes, one of which I am almost finished completely remodeling in Mid-PA. The wash has been in continuous operation for well over 50 years and probably hasn't had a significant remodel in all that time. I've completely gutted and rebuilt the entire waiting area, tunnel walls, exterior refinished in dryvit, new roof, etc... Equipment upgrades and additions have also been made. It's about a 150' conveyor. Mainly Sonny's equipment including two sets of wraps, 2 mitters, rocker brushes, finish mitters, new soap tubes, triple foam tubes, rain x arch, rinse arches, etc. I'm almost finished thank god. During the rebuild/renovation process we kept the wash open and are just covering our operational costs. Customers keep coming buy asking when we'll be finished and we always emphasize that we've never shut down the wash and we do put out a very nice car. Of course at various times the building looks like it was hit by an airplane but the tunnel was always open. That being said I'm looking for sound ideas that have worked for others in terms of Grand Re-Opening ideas. Live radio broadcasts for a Saturday or two (expensive). Low cost washes on Grand Opening Day? Giveaways? Face Painting and Hot Dogs and Drinks? I'm trying to put together a comprehensive plan that gets me the biggest bank for the buck and welcome your thoughts. I would say our revenue is down by more than 50% since starting renovations in late March. Of course a 3 month remodel is turning out to be more like 6 with the same in terms of cost.

 

[Earl Weiss]

When I took over failing places and fixed them I figured I needed to get people in and then they would be happy and come back. My local Chamber of commerce had a member list in labelized form with 600 local business naames. I sent each a letter with 6 Free wash coupons asking that they share them with customers and employees. Paid my daughter 10 cents a piece to address, stuff and put postage on envelopes. I think I put in 6 coupons in each for minimum postage.

Visited local places with large employee parking lots, went in and asked HR how many employees they had and gave them one coupon per employee. This included Post Offices, Fire stations, schools, libraries etc. (Some city employees could not get them due to ethics rules. ) Coupons had a 2 month expiration. Gave out 18,000 coupons. Got about 3000 back.

Have also used cash register tape coupons - Free sealer wax or $1.00 off any package - in the past but not now.

 

[jprb]

We did a grand opening at two of our "new construction" washes. We gave away hot dog and drinks, lots of advertising; t-shirts, pens, calendars, etc. We did some advertising on radio and newspaper to for the event. We gave away FREE car washes - automatic and self-service all day. They were both a huge hit. Got lots of attention, and repeat customers. People were waiting in line for over an hour for an automatic wash!

JPRB