Does opening of Zippy make Canton ‘Car Wash City, U.S.A.’?
Residents of Canton have zero excuses for not have a sparkling clean car.
That’s because once Zippy Auto Wash opened for business last week at 7575 Michigan Avenue, the township became home to six car washes — three within a two-mile drive along Michigan Avenue.
With so many car washes located within a 36-square-mile township, residents are always only a 10-minute drive from shiny, clean vehicle.
While six seems like a lot, Canton isn’t the only community experiencing an uptick in car-wash sightings.
According to an article published on Bloomberg.com, the $14 billion car-wash industry is expanding at approximately 5% annually, with some forecasts guessing the market to double by 2030.
There are an estimated 60,000 car washes in the United States.
Car-wash method mindset has changed
Patrick Sisson, the author of the Bloomberg.com article, recently told the host of a KCLU.org podcast that people had a different mindset just 20 years ago regarding the method of keeping their vehicles clean than they do now.
“You’ve seen the sort of, ‘I can do it, [but] I want someone to do it for me’ shift that you’ve seen in a lot of other industries,” Sisson said.
“Back in 1996, about half of car washes people did in their own driveways or on the street. Now it’s about 80% are done at car washes. So that shift has created a huge demand for car washes.”
Zippy’s Michigan Avenue opening grew the number of southeast-Michigan locations to seven.
Zippy offers four levels of washes: Platinum ($18.99), Gold ($15.99), Silver ($12.99) and Bronze ($8.99).
Will car-wash boom continue?
The company’s most-popular promotion is its “1st Month Only $1” deal.
Zippy earned a 4.2 (out-of-5) rating from 985 reviewers on a review-based website.
Will the Car Wash Boom continue in Canton, or has it reached the over-saturation level?
Only time will tell.
Communities in several northeast-Ohio cities voted in car wash “saturation bans” due to the industry’s over-expansion, in their opinion, in their cities and townships.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.