Long Description:We have passed this site for years and each time is like seeing it
for the first time.
Web info
(visit link)
Driving along Route 1 in St. Augustine, Fla., many travelers are
pleasantly surprised to see an old-fashioned steamboat off the side
of the busy highway. But this isn’t any ordinary riverboat. It’s
Showboat Car Wash.
Built to look like it’s floating on water, Showboat lets
customers feel like they’re stepping back in time to the days of
Mark Twain and bustling river commerce. Only this river boat can
give you a clean car. Showboat’s offerings include exterior-only
carwashes with free vacuums and full-service washes.
The men behind Showboat are veteran operators Tom Duhon and Dave
Danzeisen. The two teamed up a few years ago to build Showboat and
opened the wash’s doors in 2005.
“There was a lot of curiosity about this place when we were
building it. People thought it was going to be a restaurant,” said
Danzeisen, who owns two other carwashes in Florida. He and Duhon
had planned to build a Showboat location in Jacksonville—known as
the River City. But when Duhon stumbled upon a nice piece of land
in St. Augustine, their plans changed.
Duhon, a 23-year carwash industry veteran, also owns the popular
Bubbles Car Wash, a full-service location in Jacksonville, Fla.
that washes more than 90,000 cars a year.
“Showboat is built on a retention pond,” Duhon says. “You drive
over a bridge to go into the carwash and to exit the wash. People
just love it.”
The “boat” has all the details you would find on a real
steamboat, including smoke stacks and tall staircases. Children and
their parents love the experience of getting their car washed at
Showboat.
While the carwash looks like it’s floating on water, it is
actually surrounded by a 6-foot-deep, 8-foot-wide “moat.” The
water, which is actually runoff from the location, never touches
the building.
Showboat was modeled after Classic Car Wash in Campbell, Calif.
But since Classic was built more than 40 years ago, the blueprints
of the carwash were not available. So Duhon flew to California
several times to photograph the building. He then took his more
than 300 photos to an architect in St. Augustine who drew a set of
plans for Showboat. The 8,000-square-foot wood structure sets on a
one-acre lot. It has two entrances, so getting to the carwash is a
breeze for customers.
Showboat has a 150-foot-long conveyor loaded with washing
equipment from Sonny’s Enterprises and a touch-free dryer from
Proto-Vest that dries the tops of large SUVs. Showboat was
originally going to be an exterior-only carwash, but when a
full-serve wash opened a few miles away just after Showboat opened,
the partners decided to add full service to the offering.
Ironically, the full-serve competitor closed his doors after only
eight months of operation. Despite the failure of that wash, full
service is still a popular choice for Showboat’s customers.
Prices at Showboat are $5, $8 and $10 for the three exterior
wash packages. Customers can choose the full-service wash for an
additional $15. Full service includes vacuuming, window cleaning
and a hand dry.
Showboat is washing approximately 13,000 cars a month, an
impressive number by any standards.
Duhon spends most of his time at Bubbles Car Wash in
Jacksonville, which is 26 miles from St. Augustine. But Duhon was
there almost every day when Showboat was being built. Danzeisen
spends about 20 hours a week at Showboat, spending the rest of the
time at his two other washes. Showboat manager Bradley McQueen runs
the operation full-time.
People can’t help but stare at Showboat Car Wash. That’s part of
the wash’s success, Danzeisen says.
“It’s really self-drawing,” he says. “The theme itself does
work. There’s a lot of curiosity about the location. If you’ve got
the right equipment and you do a good job, once you get them in the
door they seem to come back.”
While the car wash looks like it’s floating on water near a
dock, it was actually built on pilings. A retention wall keeps the
water in place around the building. No part of the structure
actually touches the water, but you can’t tell by looking at
it.
The property, which encompasses an entire city block, is covered
with trees. It is located about one mile from a Target store and
near a major cross street. Its excellent location is a major part
of the wash’s success, Duhon says.
It seems that everybody, including St. Augustine’s city
officials, loves the carwash. The city of St. Augustine was a great
help in getting the carwash built, Danzeisen said. City officials
were willing to do what they could to help the carwash open.
“That’s really unusual,” Danzeisen says. “We were very
lucky.”
Duhon and Danzeisen plan to build other Showboat locations. In
fact, they are close to purchasing two properties and are also
working with The Simon Group, a major mall developer, to build a
Showboat location on a retention pond at one of the company’s Town
Center projects.
The partners have several other theme concepts in the planning
stages but plan to build more Showboat locations as soon as they
can. However, they won’t build a Showboat car wash on just any
site.
“Our philosophy is simple: pay the price for the right site or
don’t build at all,” Duhon says. Danzeisen agrees.
“I once foolishly said I wouldn’t pay more then $750,000 for a
piece of property,” he says. “The two pieces of property we’re
looking at now cost $1 million and $1.5 million.”
The partners paid just over $800,000 for the St. Augustine
property. Building the wash cost just over $1 million. The
projected cost for the next Showboat location is $2.9 million.
That’s money well spent, if you ask Showboat’s happy patrons.
“We feel that coming to this wash should be an enjoyable
experience, so we tie in the nautical theme. That theme is even
carried to our employees’ uniforms, which cost 400 percent more
than the average car wash uniform. We also spend quite a bit of
money on advertising,” Duhon says.
While exterior car washing is enjoying tremendous success these
days, Duhon says full service is still in demand in his region of
the country.
“The trend toward the express car wash has not diminished the
desire and need for full service, at least not in our area. Every
tunnel wash in our area up until now has been full service,” he
says.
But Duhon says they are seeing a resurgence of the rollover car
wash at convenience stores.
“The two major convenience store groups are building extremely
attractive stores using high-end architectural firms that spare no
cost,” he says. “They try to recoup some of these costs by
installing rollovers. Although this is nothing new, the rebirth of
the overall c-store image makes this combination very attractive to
the public and a formidable competition for our exterior wash.”
Duhon says people who want to get into car washing today need to
do their homework, including actually working at a car wash to gain
some experience. Duhon worked at a car wash before he got into the
business 23 years ago. Prior to moving to Florida from Pittsburgh
in the early 1980s, Duhon had been in the restaurant business most
of his life.
Duhon says new operators should also be prepared to work 12 to
14 hours a day for at least the first eight months after their car
wash opens. He also suggests they seek advice on location and
running a car wash from operators, not suppliers. While suppliers
can be helpful with equipment, he says people who are actually
running successful car washes are who newcomers need to talk
to.
When it comes to building a new car wash, Duhon says new
operators need to plan on spending about 25 percent in overrides
above the original budget. They should also plan on being
overcapitalized—$2 million to $3 million for land and the building
is the norm today, he says.
Newcomers would be wise to listen to these two car washing
veterans who are taking themed car washing to new heights. If you
live in Florida, don’t be surprised if a Showboat Car Wash comes
rolling into your town soon.