The car wash boom of Fargo-Moorhead

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - As you drive through the streets of Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo, there’s one thing you’ll say to yourself. Man, do these guys love car washes.

And they’re not the car washes Fargo’s been familiar with, as locations for Silver Star, Zip’s and Tommy’s Express are popping up across the metro.

“It just seems like there’s a lot of them going up,” said Jarred Kowalski. “I don’t know how they’re all going to make it with competition the way it is. Every place I go, it seems like there’s another one being built.”

“It seems like we see a new one on every street, every month,” added Bree Hollingshead.

“It varies city by city but the typical total development time is 12 to 15 months,” said Kyle Freier, COO of Christianson Companies.

Leaving some to their best guesses for this new kind of flood hitting the area.

“I’ve just heard that it’s a quick way to make a profit in the first year,” said Hollingshead.

“Maybe there’s a demand since we live in a slush belt in the winter,” speculated Kowalski.

One of these washes, Tommy’s Express, says that this phenomenon is nationwide and that convenience is what drives them.

“The growth in the car wash industry is nationwide, not just in Fargo,” said Freier. “There’s a growing car wash business across the country right now. A lot of what’s driving that is standalone car washes, like ourselves, are designed for efficiency.”

Time will tell as far as how many we’ll see and how many will stick around.

“Every gas station has their own independently and then with all these chains going up, we’ll see how it holds up in a few years if they’re all still making it or not,” said Kowalski.

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