PORT TOWNSEND – A bad economy means more business for a new car wash at the edge of town.
The generically named business, the carwash, opened this week at 515 Howard St., adjacent to the roundabout.
It is actually two businesses in one — a newly built full-service car wash owned by Brent Shirley and an already existing auto detailing business that has operated out of Paul Lytle’s home for seven years.
As the economy sags, Lytle has seen an increase in business.
“With the poor economy, people want to take better care of what they have,” he said.
“If they treat their car well, it will last a lot longer.”
It is one of the first new businesses on the last commercial corridor to be developed, on a route that city officials hope will one day be a center of activity.
“We are improving Jefferson County one car at a time,” said manager Tom Zmolek.
“A lot of people move up here from the city and are now on dirt roads and gravel roads, and they still want to take care of their cars.”
Both aspects of the business are locally owned, financed and operated.
It has already created six jobs, a number that will increase as the business grows and people realize the joys of a clean car, Shirley said.
It took about three years to build the business, having lost its original investors.
With a new set of investors and completion of construction of the building equipped by an automatic system and a full garage for detail work, everything came together this fall.
It features a MacNeil system, which Lytle calls “the Mercedes-Benz of car wash equipment.”
The car wash isn’t the only place to clean cars locally. The self-service Port Townsend Laundromat and Car Wash is a fixture of the Upper Sims Way neighborhood close to the Thomas Street roundabout.
Lytle is going after a different customer base.
“There a lot of people around here who cannot wash their own cars,” he said.
Detailing is also a different market, since the cost for that begins at under $200, which is less than in the big city, Lytle said.
The average frequency for detailing is once or twice a year, but Lytle said that some customers come in every month.
Lytle expects the business to grow in the same way that his own earned its reputation.
“This town works on word of mouth,” he said.
“If you do a good job, people will hear about it, and come in.”
The carwash is now open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.