Conveyor-driven car wash businesses are opening across Northwest Arkansas.
Business permits in Springdale show 16 such car washes operating in the city -- three of which opened in 2022, according to City Clerk Denise Pearce. This does not include self-wash bays or even automatic washers attached to other businesses, she said.
Two more conveyor car wash businesses have started the development process with the city's Planning Department, said Patsy Christie, department director.
Fayetteville and Rogers granted four business permits for car washes in 2022.
Nationally, about 800 conveyor washers open each year, according to a December article on carwash.com, a publication by Car Wash Advisory that supports the industry.
Jeff Cooperstein, senior research assistant for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, said he has seen this trend while researching real estate for the Arvest Skyline report. He referred to this trend as a newer concept for economics: "convenience retail."
"Even with inflation, people are willing to spend money on conveniences," he said. "When was the last time you washed your car yourself?"
With inflation and the shortages of vehicles, people are more likely to take care of their cars, Cooperstein said. He said developers look to how many cars are registered in an area for how many car washes the economy can support.
State records show Benton County has 379,381 cars registered. Washington County has 300,754.
"There are a lot of cars in Northwest Arkansas," Cooperstein said.
Two conveyor car washes are located across the freeway from each other at the interchange of Interstate 49 and Elm Springs Road -- Club Carwash and Tidal Wave Auto Spa. Managers of both said a typical day brings more than 200 cars into each of their locations -- up to more than 500 a day if the area has received significant rainfall or snow.
Club Carwash opened in September on the southeast side of the interchange. Tidal Wave opened in late November on the northwest corner.
Potential
Carwash.com said the numbers of conveyor car washes have come down over the years, as the business shifted from primarily full service to an express service for the exterior of vehicles.
"It used to be that 50,000 people within a 3-mile radius of a proposed full-serve conveyor site was the ideal," the article states. "That number has steadily gone down over the last 15 years. Today, an exterior express car wash is fine with a 20,000 population count within a 3-mile radius."
Carwash.com explained the market potential by using a submarket of 20,000 households. If that market had 70% of the households with at least one membership, 14,000 households remained as potential memberships.
Ricky Doyle, the manager of Tidal Wave, said car wash investors want to see residential development for siting a car wash. But commercial buildings also are important because people will wash their cars when out for lunch, he said.
The Georgia-based chain plans to open 120 locations this year, including one in Rogers, Doyle said.
Membership
Doyle and Anthony Rodriguez, an assistant manager for Club Carwash, agreed their businesses rely on memberships.
Members are granted unlimited free washes per month, depending on the intensity of wash the member chooses at registration.
"People, our members want to come back," Doyle said. "It's easy."
Prices range from the "Rookie" for $20 a month for basic car washes at Club Carwash to $50 a month for the Graph-X4 at Tidal Wave, which applies four layers of shine protection, a promotional flyer from the business promises.
Joe Obenhoffer at Club Carwash said most customers buy the most expensive car washes, while Sarah Bell, assistant manager at Tidal Wave, said her customers usually choose the middle-price car wash.
Developers in rural areas consider a much wider radius for new locations because consumers in those markets travel longer distances for everything, carwash.com reads. The radius can be as much as 10 miles or even farther around a location, depending on the distance to the nearby communities.
Cold weather
Despite the freezing temperature and spitting snow Thursday, Club Carwash had seen seven customers by 11 a.m.
Stan Kaffka, who drives for Good Shepherd Transportation, pulled in to use the vacuum after having his car washed. He said he washes two or three days a week. He said he wants to present a nice vehicle to his riders. He wants to ensure the ride is pleasant for his customers, most of whom are seniors headed to doctor appointments.
Across the interstate, at Tidal Wave, the staff had seen four car wash customers Thursday morning.
Marley Riggins, wearing a winter coat, Ugg fleece-lined boots and shorts, braved the slicing winter wind to vacuum her SUV. She said she can't stand her kids' mess of Fruit Roll-Ups wrappers and leaves they drag into the car from the yard.
Doyle said new technologies have allowed car washes to move into more northern states, a new business area for car wash companies based in the South.
Soaps and chemicals used for washing cars are more resistant to freezing, which makes the cost of heating and insulating a building affordable, he said. Tidal Wave locations farther south don't have the same insulation and heating equipment Springdale's does, he said.
He did admit to some frozen pipes during the recent Arctic blast, however.
Cooperstein considered this.
"I can see car washes being more efficient and probably more environmentally sensitive," he said.
"The icy weather definitely helps our business tremendously," Obenhoffer said.