COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW DOES THE COIN-OP STRATEGY WORK? “Speaking of quarter car washes . . . how much money do those things make? There must be 6 of them on Studemont sitting on some pretty valuable real estate. Do they even make enough money to cover the property taxes?” [Walt, commenting on Meanwhile, at the Corner of 11th and Studewood]
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I know the man who owned Soapy Sam’s on Almeda. Imagine a MB trunk full or quarters. And he had more than one.
Trunks full of silver are hard for the IRS man to find :)
I would assume that these car washes were packed back in the day when the demographics of the neighborhood were a little different, hop over to my side of 45 and you will see the quarters flowing.
Money laundering?
The free market side of me says they make enough to pay the bills and turn a profit simply by evidence of their existence. If they were losing money (or doing poorly) then highest-and-best-use rules would kick in.
That carwash is often packed. I’ve used it quite a few times. Mostly because I grew up where there were no such things as Bubbles or hand wash/detailing places – they seem too decadent for me.
BTW, it’s one of the better deals around – 50 cents to start it up and you get a good amount of time. The vacuums suck more money down if you really need to spend time there.