Ryan Magazzine was enjoying a quiet dinner with his family last May when the general manager of his carwash called with some disturbing news.
“I could tell by his voice something was terribly wrong,” recalls Magazzine. “He was choked up and said, ‘I just received a call that the carwash is burning down.’ As I walked out of the restaurant I could hear fire trucks and sirens in the distance, and I could see heavy black smoke in the air. At that point I knew this was a big fire. I was crushed.”
Although the facility’s 170-foot carwash tunnel was spared — it is housed in a second structure behind the detail center on the 2.5-acre lot — the fire caused approximately $2 million in damage, with the detail center a total loss.
“All that was left was the brick walls; everything else had burned,” notes Magazzine. “That night was probably one of the hardest I have ever had. I could not sleep and just kept thinking, ‘Why did this happen? What started this fire? What about my employees? What about our customers? How are we going to pay for this?’”
The following morning didn’t do much to boost the Magazzine family’s spirits. As they sifted through the damage, about all they could salvage were a few pictures, signs and the light fixtures from the lobby. Among the losses was a custom-built 1941 Ford truck that took two years to build and was used as a promotional vehicle in advertisements and at parades.
“The environment was surreal,” says Magazzine. “I just could not believe our carwash detailing center was destroyed. Rubble, black dust everywhere. And the worst part was the smell. It was so horrible.”
Customers voted the carwash as best in Loudoun County four consecutive years, from 2005 to 2008, and its architectural design resembling a Victorian train station had been recognized for its beauty, winning the Loudon County Design Excellence Award and the Northern Virginia Community Appearance Award. The buildings’ aesthetics even encouraged other local developers to design buildings that reflected the historic character of Leesburg.
Just two years into operation, Station Auto Wash was honored as the 2006 Loudoun Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year.
Despite all the momentum, it took only three hours for a fire to force a model family business to start over.
A Family Operation
Ryan’s father Tom entered the carwash business in 1999 when he acquired an aging self-serve carwash in Purcellville, Va. The wash had three self-serve bays and an in-bay automatic but had been poorly maintained. Ryan was fresh out of college but went to work for the family business, helping to reinvest in new equipment and infrastructure. In three years, the facility had tripled in revenue.
That whetted the Magazzines’ appetite for something bigger. Tom’s background in process engineering triggered a desire to build a wash capable of washing more than 150 cars per hour while still providing a quality wash, outstanding service and great value.
Together they created Station Auto Wash, which opened on New Year’s Eve in 2004. Other family members involved in the business operation include Ryan’s mother Judy, who handles promotions and design, and his wife Beata, who handles accounting and billing.
“I really enjoy working with my family because we are very close and share the same passion for washing cars and vision to stay at a high level,” Ryan Magazzine says. “We take a lot of pride in our facility and we care about the customers and their experience at the carwash. We are always looking for ways to improve our business and make the environment for our customers and staff an enjoyable and positive experience.”
From the get-go, Station Auto Wash made a splash, integrating an imaginative architectural theme with service and wash precision. In order to handle their aggressive volume goals, the Magazzines have deployed up to three service advisers to assist customers, and the site can stack as many as 30 cars before the tunnel entrance.
“On very busy days we can use up to three handheld devices to process cars quickly,” says Magazzine. “In order to do 150-plus cars per hour, you need to be able to process the customers through every 15 seconds or so.”