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open sign

Eric H

Eric H

Well-known member
I just opened my newly remodeled and expanded wash. We added 2 razors to our existing 4 bay SS. Things are looking good so far but I am looking for an "open" sign to put above the exit door to each inbay. I am currently keeping the rollup doors closed because of the cold weather and I think people are assuming that the inbays are closed. I do not want to put open decals on the doors if I can avoid it. My closest competition has decals on his doors and they don't look good for very long.
Does anyone have a source for an outdoor open sign? i am looking for something like they use above bank drive thru's but the best I can find are above $400.
 
We did vinyl lettering on the clear panels of our doors that say "open 24 hours" When the bay is illuminated at night, it lights up the panels and you can read it from the street as well.
 
Good Luck, some people just don't get it!!! i have an LED open sign blinking over the entrance, 30" Brite Red Letters saying "OPEN 24 HOURS" on the clear panels and 24" brite yellow letters on the blue panel of our Airlift XRS door that says "DOOR OPENS AUTOMATICALLY" on them. There is always 2- 4' lights on and 6 more that come on when wash is purchased. People still think the wash is closed when the doors are closed. Its been 3 years and we still chase people down to keep them from leaving.
 
I agree with Pgres ,I too have a 12 inche x 48 inch lighted entry sign plus a 24 inch x 8 foot sign out front on a pole showing hours.I've been @ this location 16 years and the one's that drive in then leave are just plain lazy to get out and open the electric door.I gave up about stopping them as they drive by my office to leave.I'm delighted by the customers that like warm bays to dry off and vaccum.
 
I just added doors this past September to my IBA. I only ran the entrance door during the warm months. I bought one of those big flags that says open 24 hours, and put a sign near the auto cashier that says open. Seems to work.
 
The best, most visible flashing "OPEN" sign I've seen is the Millennium brand. It's bright enough to see a couple miles away. They aren't outdoor rated but it's not hard to build a plexiglass box to fully contain it, and it runs on 12V so you wouldn't need to run conduit to it. I wanted to mount one at the auto entrance facing a nearby intersection and set it to alternating flash red "OPEN" and the blue lines so it would draw attention like an emergency vehicle.

The ones from Sam's would not be visible in sunlight.
 
I've almost finished building my new Open/Closed sign (2 sided). It uses a Quad Relay from ControlByWeb so that I can change the status using my phone from anywhere. I bought the LED signs on eBay for $23 each and the frame from a guy locally on Craigslist for $45. I'm really happy with how it's coming together. I expect it will reinforce that some services are 24/7 and also let people know what options we have. Obviously, the self serve bays will be always be open (barring a major failure of freeze), but I liked the idea of having everything listed together.

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that sign looks great! something like that from a pro sign shop would be $3k all day long. good job!!!!!!!!!!! must copy.
 
Yup, I think those are almost identical to the ones I used. A word of warning: I nearly purchased 6x for my project from an eBay seller and then noticed at the last minute that the colors were the reversed of what you'd expect: Open was red and Closed was green. I knew something didn't look quite right when I saw the photo, but I almost didn't realize it before I placed the order. Of course, you'll also have to figure out a way to weatherproof them. ;)
 
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