Winter2021_SSCWN_web

INDUSTRY DIRT
Belanger’s Cube® Soft-Touch In-Bay Automatic Wash System
wins Best New Product Contest
Belanger, of De Pere, Wisconsin, a leading manufacturer
of tunnel and in-bay automatic vehicle
wash systems, and a product brand of OPW Vehicle
Wash Solutions, is proud to announce its Cube®
Soft-Touch In-Bay Automatic Wash System has
been named the winner in the Car Wash/Forecourt
category of CSP magazine’s 17th Annual Retailer
Choice Best New Product Contest. According to
a November 2, 2020, press release, the winners of
the contest, which honors the convenience-store
industry’s most successful product launches from
the past year, are chosen via an online poll of c-store
retailers. The Cube’s victory was celebrated during
a Virtual Best New Product Happy Hour that was
hosted by CSP on Oct. 14, and it was honored in
print in the December issue of CSP magazine.
“We were incredibly excited to learn that our
Cube vehicle wash system had been chosen as the
winner of CSP’s contest by the retailers,” Gary
Campbell, General Manager for OPW Vehicle
Wash Solutions, stated in the press release. “The
needs of any vehicle-wash customer are simple –
provide customers with a cleaner car and do so
efficiently. But the Cube’s capabilities go well beyond
that. The Cube is a truly unique IBA wash
system, one that checks every box for a high-quality,
reliable, cost-effective, safe and enjoyable vehicle-washing
experience.”
In addition to providing a cleaner vehicle, the
Cube does its job quietly and without the commotion
that can come from brushes beating against
the surfaces of the vehicle. The Cube utilizes
slow-spinning friction wheels and Belanger’s ShineMitt
foam media to reduce noise levels and thoroughly
clean the vehicle with gentle brush passes.
The Cube also features a host of “smart” technology
systems, allowing it to be precise, intuitive and
flexible while providing the best possible cleaning
result for each customer.
The Cube also offers remote-access capabilities,
patented LED-enhanced wheels and spray arms
that cycle through six colors to provide Active
Site Marketing, and an innovative scissor-arm
top wheel that precisely lowers to the vehicle and
covers more area along the front, top and rear of
the vehicle. The Cube’s LED lights also provide
navigational assistance to move customers in and
out of the bay quickly, increasing throughput.
EXTRA!
EXTRA!
Presenting the news stories
featuring self serve car washes
NOW
OPEN
New wash opens in Iowa
JQS Deluxe Car Wash of Vinton,
Iowa, is open for business.
A November Iowa News story
quoted owner John Ketchen who
said the new car wash features two
self-service bays, a brush automatic
bay, and a brushless automatic--with
each offering the option to pay with cash, credit,
or by app.
“All machines [are] able to scan your phone for
payment. [We offer] a mobile app with push notifications,
discounts, and club promotions,” Ketchen said.
The cement in and around the car wash is heated,
including the exits. Ketchen said in the story, “Snow
and ice should never get in the exits and freeze the
bay doors...The boiler continually pumps all the
water under the heated cement and in storage.”
Ketchen contracted with Washworld for the car
wash system itself but used local contractors for
everything else. Ketchen has owned and operated
John’s Qwik Stop since purchasing the business
from John and Bev Anderson in the fall of 1995,
the story said.
Ketchen estimated that between the convenience
store construction in 2016 and the car wash this
year, JQS has spent more than $2.5 million locally.
His Vinton store employs 35 full- and part-time
employees, one of whom will be present at the car
wash to answer questions and keep the bays clean a
majority of the time, Ketchen said in the story.
Daytona business tycoon hopes car wash will revitalize area
Back in 2004, businessman Chuck Duva transformed
the LPGA Boulevard of Daytona, Florida,
from a sleepy rural road into a magnet for commercial
development, according to a January 24, 2021,
Daytona Beach News-Journal story.
Now Duva hopes to help spark the revitalization
of the "Gateway to the World's Most Famous
Beach" on the city's beachside that leads to the Atlantic
Ocean, by including new businesses including
a self serve car wash.
40 • FALL 2020
Duva recently paid approximately $1.4 million
to acquire three commercial properties with a goal
is to redevelop them, starting with renovating the
5,000-square-foot former Shell gas station/convenience
store/car wash. The car wash is a much
needed amenity that is currently lacking on Daytona
Beach's beachside, Duva said in the story.
The Shell station and car wash closed more than a
decade ago and are surrounded by a chain link fence
with "No Trespassing" signs on it. The property has become
an eyesore on a
stretch of road that
Duva describes as
"an embarrassment"
and one of the most visible examples
of blight because of its prime location along the
city's busiest east-west corridor, the story said.
Duva said he currently expects to spend at least
$3.5 million to $4 million on improvements to his
newly purchased properties.