With the Quad Cities experiencing strong growth in the car wash business (including national brands Mister and Club Car Wash), the question becomes: Do we really need another brand and three new locations?
Silverstar Car Wash, one of the fastest-growing brands in the country, will aggressively expand its presence in the Midwest when it opens its first car wash in the Quad Cities this week.
Team Silverstar has hired new employees for its first location and training is well underway at 306 Avenue of the Cities in East Moline. The grand opening will be Thursday, June 27th, with a grand opening the next day. The location is located at the intersection with Kennedy Drive.
“Drivers in the Midwest know Silverstar as the best car wash experience in the country. And we’re excited to bring that to the Quad Cities,” said Marty Donat, Grand Opening Manager at Silverstar Car Wash. “Our mission is to be the car wash of choice in every market we serve by providing a consistent experience and improving our employees and community.”
Silverstar will host a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce on Friday, June 28 at noon. A free lunch will be available starting at 11 a.m. while supplies last. Silverstar Car Wash will be offering free car washes all weekend as part of the celebration.
Additionally, grand opening attendees can win tickets to a Ben Folds concert at the Capitol Theater in August.
In addition to free washes, new Unlimited Wash Pass members who sign up at the new location this weekend will benefit from special pricing: $10/month for the first four months of their membership.
Unlimited Wash Pass memberships start at $19.99 per month and all membership levels include free vacuums, cleaning cloths, mat cleaners, tire inflation stations and windshield washer fluid stations. Members can use their Unlimited Wash Pass at any of Silverstar’s 29 locations in the Midwest.
Silverstar Car Wash operates in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois and offers Unlimited Wash Pass members access to a Silverstar wherever they live, work or play.
Since opening its first location in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2010, Silverstar Car Wash has been known for offering motorists a fast, clean, convenient and high-quality car wash, the company said.
“Urgent need” for more
Donat said Wednesday they decided to expand into the QC area because “there is a desperate need for a few more car washes there. To be honest, that hasn’t really happened yet compared to the Midwest.”
The Silverstar brand is primarily in the Midwest, so growth in the Midwest has been a long-time goal, he said. They have six stores in the Sioux City area; in about a month they will open a new one in Des Moines.
Silverstar plans to open new locations at 3011 Devils Glen Rd., Bettendorf, and 1914 N. Division St., Davenport, by mid-August, Donat said.
They select locations based on traffic flow, neighborhood residential and retail density, and accessibility.
“It’s similar with hotels and restaurants, which is why they are often overcrowded in the same areas,” said Donat.
The new car wash in East Moline is only a half mile from the Power Wash at 5302 Avenue of the Cities, Moline, which is no problem for Silverstar.
“We have many such markets,” said Donat. “You get your loyalty from your membership base. By increasing our membership, you create your loyalty.”
It also helps customers to give them multiple locations in an area. “We want to be able to offer people three, four locations that surround the area and make it easy for people to get their car washed,” he said. “Some of our competitors don’t do that.”
Competition is good, it either makes you better or makes you stand out, said Donat.
Silverstar differentiates itself from the competition through service and amenities, he said, including windshield washer fluid stations, tire inflators, mat cleaners, vacuum cleaners, multi-surface cleaners, towel racks and special offers.
The company has over 54,000 members at its 29 locations and will also open two new branches in the greater Des Moines area this summer.
The Unlimited Wash Pass has five tiers, ranging from about $20 a month to $43, depending on the number of uses, Donat said. “Bigger packages simply do more for your car.”
“You can go anywhere and get your car washed for $20; you buy one of our memberships for $40, get it washed twice a month and it pays for itself,” he said.
“If you look at people’s investments, their car is one of their two or three most important investments in life after their house or their life investments,” Donat said.
Why build more?
Why is there such a demand for more and more car washes?
“If you look across the country, there are some parts of the country, like South Texas, the Midwest, Charlotte, Atlanta, where the population can only operate 25% of the car washes,” Donat said. “A lot of people were nervous coming to the Midwest because of the climate and not being able to operate car washes.”
“However, we have found that winter is one of the busiest times of the year,” he said. “Most car washes can operate with a population of 15,000 people.”
“The beauty of the car wash business is that we don’t attack each other; we don’t tear each other down,” Donat said. “We want everyone to be successful because that drives growth for the entire company. It’s a commercially driven business.”
A February 2024 article on Bloomberg.com (“Why are there suddenly so many car washes?”) stated that where neighbors expect an oversaturated, overcrowded market for U.S. car washes, investors sense the beginning of a boom.
“From the Snow Belt to the Sunbelt, companies are trying to open new locations and grab a piece of a more than $14 billion industry,” the article says, noting that the car wash business, with 60,000 locations in the U.S., is growing at about 5% annually and that some forecasts predict the market will double by 2030.
In the last decade, more car washes were built than in all previous years combined.
Each Silverstar location employs an average of 10-12 employees, including employees who handle front-end preparation for vehicles going through the automated car washes.
Opening hours are seven days a week from 8am to 8pm. For more information about Silverstar, click HERE.
