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Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

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Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#22

Did the serie Breaking Bad inspire a trend, showing a seemingly innocent/efficient way to clean money ?

The show was written in eary 2000s - I seriously doubt many people pay cash anymore

But people don't have to pay cash, the "pretend people" pay cash.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#24
Why so many car washes?

Why are there so many cars?

Because our country is ultimately designed and developed by urban sprawl madmen with a highway fetish and zero vision for a better way for humans to live and operate.

I love how we hyper fixate on stupid questions about car washes while pretending like car dependency isn't the problem.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#25

In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass

This is interesting, what you mention.

In the northern foothills here bordering Phoenix, Arizona, to the north, there are an understandable number of automated carwashes.

However, i've found no manual (pressure wash sort) carwashes, which are easy to find in California and Illinois, for two examples. I don't know why this is.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#27

Not joking, Ivy League graduates who might have went into finance, have started raising capital and funding small cash returning businesses. It is now seen as a legitimate career path, sometimes called a "search fund". An HBS graduate might aspire to buy and run a blue collar business as a way to understand the market. There are private equity funds that might aquire 50 of these businesses at 2-5M each, roll them int…

Yeah, "Entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA)", is something I've seen a lot of MBAs study and prioritize.

Is it really entrepreneurship though? Seems like "Buy, squeeze, rinse, and repeat" - which is killing businesses rather than creating them.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#28

In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass

It is mostl due to the oil and other hazardous materials potentially going into the ground or the city sewer.

They can't or won't clean that and it is contaminating in even small amounts. E.g. one drop of oil contaminates 500l of water.

At least for Germany.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#29
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like storage units?

Absolutely. I can think of a few storage units that are in prime real estate locations that make no sense--like right across the street from Oracle Park in San Francisco. Has to be some of the most expensive real estate in the entire city/state and it's being used for storage units...

Could that land have toxic soil, and therefore not be zoned for anything else?

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#30
I have actually briefly considered opening a car wash.

They seem like just about one of the easiest businesses to run. Minimal employees, low variable costs, likely a reasonable long term investment in the actual rental estate.

In many ways, this the same as gas stations, convenience stores, and CVS/rite-aid/walgreens. People don’t want to go out if their way.

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