Life’s A Beach

By Elaine Foxwell

Not everyone comes to Beaches Car Wash to get his car cleaned. Many come to shop at the wash’s unique gift shop. The store offers such a variety of upscale gift items that customers visiting the Jacksonville, Fla., wash spend so much time shopping they don’t realize their car is waiting for them, says owner George Lindley.

The unique facility arose in 1989 from the ashes of a defunct exterior-only wash that was built in the late 1970s and used predominantly homemade equipment. Even though about 10,000 cars per month visited the site, it ultimately failed. “When the conveyor locked up, the owners closed up,” Lindley says. And that was when he made an offer. Despite difficult times in the financial industry, Lindley says the banks knew him by reputation and loaned him the money.

Lindley says the carwash is in a desirable location, since it is on a main coastal highway with a surrounding population of about 8,000. The wash sits on a 36,000-square-foot corner lot with 225 feet fronting the highway with a stoplight on the corner. The slow, 35-mph traffic speed on both streets allows customers to see the wash and easily turn onto the property. And being less than one mile from the beach means customers come by after a day in the sand to get their cars clean.

Prior to opening, the location needed extensive renovations, including gutting the original tunnel, making it 150 feet long and 24 feet wide. A 150-foot conveyor from Hanna Car Wash Systems was installed. Other equipment includes a presoak arch, front-to-back mitter, chemical tire applicator, tire brush, wraparound washers, a wheel blaster, side washers, three-color foam arch, side-to-side mitter, high-pressure wax arch, sealer/rinse rain arch manufactured by Sonny’s Enterprises Inc. and a 15-hp blower by Proto-Vest.

A large waiting room and gift shop was also added to the facility. The final structure totals 6,600 square feet, which includes 1,200 square feet of gift shop area. The facility’s 6- foot-wide hallway and 15-foot ceiling gives it an airy beach-type ambiance. To complement its location, the buildings are constructed of peach-colored stucco topped with a gray-colored roof with teal accents.

The gift shop idea evolved when Lindley visited a colleague, Nick Smith, who owns a carwash in Greenville, S.C. He saw the wash’s huge gift shop selling upscale gifts and was told by Smith that the carwash was “going crazy selling items.” Using that as a model, Lindley built his own gift shop. His only regret today is that he didn’t build it larger. And despite the fact that a competitor opened only one month before he did, things have gone well for Lindley.

A large menu of services is an attraction that pulls in an average of 60,000 cars per year, Lindley says. Customers can choose from services including regular full service priced at $11.99, a super-wash for $16.95, a deluxe wash for $15.95 and the works for $24.95. Sales of the $6.99 exterior wash seem to be increasing. Express wax, express carpet cleaning and express seat cleaning are offered for $39.95 each for a standard car, $44.95 for sport-utility vehicles and $49.95 for mini-vans. This past year, Beaches washed 10,050 trucks and SUVs at an extra charge of $1, which represented a 30- percent increase over the previous year. In addition, the facility washed 7,365 third-row seat/vans at $3 over standard rates, a 15-percent increase over the past year.

Any carwash owner knows it is important to constantly track what is and is not working at his wash. Last year, Lindley compiled a comparison report of sales from July 2003 to June 2004, and they showed some surprising results. He found that the Works package sold the most during this time, with a 16-percent increase in sales. He also found that one of the á la carte services, the tire shine, is the biggest seller of all extra services. He realized that customers would take advantage of an express service to clean their cars when they were in a hurry.

By the end of summer 2004, Beaches was offering a $5 express wash service lane with an auto teller. Lindley installed Simonize Tire Shine, mirror turbo cleaners and a reverse osmosis water unit for spot-free rinse. The lane is controlled by a DRB Systems Inc. SiteWatch POS management system with auto teller. The only construction change to the wash site was the installation of an arch to cover the auto teller.

Lindley is also installing a digital camera system. Although the wash uses a tape camera system now, Lindley says digital systems make a difference in quality control, recording vandalism, damages, employee theft and many other security incidences.

“I think every carwash ought to have digital,” he says. “It saves headaches when customers complain about things.”

Imagine a harried customer, driving home late for his wife’s birthday. He is planning on taking her out to dinner, but the car’s filthy and, worst of all, he forgot to buy her a gift. But for those in the know, Beaches customers can find a quality gift at the wash’s upscale gift shop while getting their cars spiffied up.

Not only are customers delighted by the gifts they find at the carwash, they are happy to tell their friends about it or tell Lindley how they enjoy visiting the gift shop.

“Between June last year and July this year, the shop did more than $150,000 in sales, netting about $1 per car,” Lindley says. And he is pleased to note that this figure represents a 40-percent increase over the prior year.

The wash features a variety of upscale gifts including home décor items such as bird feeders and pictures frames, gift books, women’s handbags, jewelry, reading sunglasses, T-shirts and collegiate team merchandise. Baby boomers who shop for grandchildren appreciate the large selection of child and baby merchandise. Special merchandise is stocked during the various holiday seasons. Lindley has steered away from selling traditional carwash impulse items and automobile merchandise.

Clever architectural planning allows Beaches to use its 6-foot-wide hallway to display seven different greeting card lines. Many of the wash’s clientele are women in the middle- to high-income bracket who spend as much time looking over and laughing at the huge variety of cards as shopping for gifts.

Lindley says the Recycled Greeting Card line is one of the wash’s best sellers. “Sometimes people come in just to buy gifts and then think about getting their car washed,” he says with a chuckle.

Terri Parsons, who has been with the company seven years, is the gift shop manager. She and Pam Lagosh, the office manager, maintain the shop’s layout and do all the buying. They attend gift shows and seminars and get ideas from gift merchandisers.

“They have done very well,” Lindley says, crediting them with the shop’s success. Parsons has a creative flair for arranging merchandise, and if items are not moving she knows how to rearrange them to attract customers. Lindley does have some advice for carwash owners considering adding a gift section.

“Consider how much space, time and investment you want to devote,” he says.

It is important to evaluate customers to see if they would purchase gifts. Beaches attracts clients who buy gifts, but Lindley’s other wash is located where customers are not likely to buy gifts, so he sells only the small vendor items found in many washes. Appeal to the senses, sound, smell and sight Lindley suggests. Play a CD that is sold in the shop, have candles or fragranced oil in the room and arrange merchandise in colorful displays to draw the eye. People in Jacksonville tell Lindley it’s a pleasure to come to his wash because of the experience of browsing in the gift shop.

Lindley recommends that the person who is doing the buying for a carwash should attend gift shows such as The New York International Gift Fair, or any one of dozens of shows held around the United States. “Buyers need to talk to gift distributors, but be careful,” he cautions. “Ease into giftbuying by making minimum orders until you know what your customers will buy.”

In addition to its thoughtful selection of gifts, the shop should have a pleasant ambiance that encourages browsing.

“It is important to get in on the beginning of a trend but also to get out before the saturation point happens and you are left with merchandise that won’t sell,” he says. “You have to watch your seasonal stuff.”

Most of Lindley’s customers are women, so his inventory reflects that. For example, he recently bought some leather purses that are so popular they are “walking out the door.” Some items can be sold year-round, but some, such as calendars, have a short sales window.

Some people are surprised when customers show friends an item they got at the carwash gift shop. But Lindley is appreciative each time someone he meets around town or at the beach says she loves his gift shop.

The Lindley family got into the carwash industry in 1952 when Lindley’s father built the first carwash in Jacksonville, followed by three more.

Perhaps because he is a second-generation carwash owner and can understand the challenges faced by everyone in carwashing, Lindley appreciates the people in his industry whether they are his customers or his employees. Lindley has 32 employees and is quick to point out that the reason he is successful is that he has a wonderful staff. The longevity of service of many of his employees attests to that attitude. Manager Greg Johns started working for Lindley 25 years ago as a teenager. “He is like a son to me,” Lindley says. “We work as a team.” One of the most critical issues facing the carwash industry is labor, Lindley says. “It is getting harder and harder to find quality employees that will do things right.”

Lindley believes that by rewarding his employees, they feel successful and will do the job right. Employees start at $1 per hour over minimum wage, and after six months they receive health insurance. After one year of employment, they participate in a profit-sharing plan and receive five days’ vacation. After two years, employees get two weeks’ vacation; and after five years they get three weeks.

“People think this is an easy business and there is a lot of money to be made. Yes, there is a lot of money to be made, but it takes hard work,” Lindley says.

Although there is demand for all types of washes, Lindley says the most money to be made is in full-service washing. He recommends serious research into the demographics of the area, paying attention to population mix and income, especially the higher income. Of course, location is also critical. Find a site on streets with slow traffic speed and in an area that is going to grow, he says.

“Joining associations is critical,” Lindley says.

Like his father before him, he has been active in several associations, including being president of the Southeastern Carwash Association, which he describes as one of best groups of people who are always willing to help. Lindley served on the International Carwash Association (ICA) board of directors and was vice-president of the ICA in 1977. For his service, he received the ICA Award of Merit in 1977, and his carwash was voted one of the Top Five Best Carwashes in Jacksonville in 1977 and 1978.