While the express concept has become ubiquitous across the industry, some areas of the country have yet to experience the model. Regions, especially in rural zones, are untouched by the segment and ripe for express exterior development.
When Drew Green first moved to Marshall, MO, he was struck by the relative unsophistication of the car wash market in town. Consisting primarily of self-service and in-bay options, the community was in need of a modern tunnel wash solution.
“When I moved here from Kansas City 12 years ago, I heard a lot of complaints from the community about the lack of a top-notch car wash,” says Wild Blue Car Wash managing partner Drew Green. “It got me thinking that this place needed a tunnel wash.”
While Drew didn’t have a car wash background — he is a nurse anesthetist — his brother Aaron had been in the industry for decades and shared his view that a tunnel wash could do quite well in Marshall. Aaron owned some car washes in the past and founded Focused Car Wash Solutions, an equipment and chemical distributor and service company. In addition, Focused invests in car washes, lending their expertise to help their partners build express exterior sites.
With Aaron on board, the brothers began doing research into small-town express locations. “This was before everyone started looking into smaller communities,” said Green. “Operators were only looking at the big markets for development at that time, but we were going to take a different approach.”
Once the partners decided that an express wash could be a winner in Marshall, they began searching for a prime location. Luckily, the town’s McDonald’s had relocated to a new site, leaving its previous location in the center of town vacant, which the partners quickly acquired. The 90-foot building had potential as a car wash, but major alternations, including raising the roof and tearing down two sides of the building, had to be completed before it could function properly as a car wash.
“If you know what it was before, you can definitely see the old remnants of a McDonald’s,” says Green. “If you don’t know the history, you would never suspect it was ever anything but a car wash.”
The Greens, along with partner David Begin, purchased the property in January 2023. After months of renovations, Wild Blue Car Wash opened in July 2023, with a grand opening celebration in September. Former ICA president and board member Begin, was in the car wash business in Colorado under the name Wild Blue in the past. He sold his business in 2020, and when the new partners decided to bring an express tunnel to Marshall, they agreed to resurrect the Wild Blue brand.
Since launching Wild Blue in Marshall over a year ago, the brand has taken the market by storm, establishing itself as not only a go-to location for car care but also as a vital member of the Marshall community. Like all successful express exteriors, Wild Blue offers an unlimited wash club option for its loyal customers. But unlike many expresses throughout the country, Wild Blue opted to go with a simple 1.5x multiplier for its three available menu options.
“We believe in a one-and-a-half multiplier,” says Green. “If you wash more than once a month, it’s cheaper to buy the membership. We like to be able to tell our customers that if they wash twice a month, they are saving money.”
The response to the membership plans has been overwhelmingly positive. Currently, more than 2,200 customers are members of one of three available unlimited wash plans. The most popular is the top-of-the-line First Class wash. For $20 retail or $30 unlimited, customers receive rainbow foam, wheel cleaner, underbody rinse, pre-power blast, ceramic sealant, and hot wax.
Interestingly, Wild Blue reached 2,000 members of its unlimited plan in less than six months after opening its doors, but when its first winter in business approached, it started to see customers opt out of the service. “A lot of customers backed out because they didn’t think they would wash their car in the winter because they weren’t used to having a tunnel wash in town,” says Green. “But they quickly came back once they realized they could wash their cars even when the temperature was below freezing.”
As the previously self-serve and in-bay customers were getting used to the advantages of a do-it-for-me tunnel wash experience, Wild Blue was solidifying its place as a valued member of the community through its charitable fundraising efforts. “We are growing our charity car wash platform and getting involved with churches and schools, helping them raise money for various programs,” says Green.
One example of Wild Blue’s fundraising success was the work it did this past summer with the Marshall High School football team. To help the team raise money to provide food to its players prior to their games — which, in many cases, is the players’ only meal of the day — the wash invited the team onsite for a well-received fundraising day.
The team was at the wash for five hours, helping customers vacuum their interiors and give their cars the finishing touches. All the wash’s revenue during the event went to the football team. Overall, Wild Blue helped the team raise more than $3,000 and secured its place as a valuable member of the Marshall community.
As its Marshall location continues to capture a large piece of the local car wash market, Wild Blue is expanding its presence in the state. This fall, the wash opened its second location in the vibrant city of Branson, taking over a struggling full-serve location and converting it to a Wild Blue site.
“We want to continue to grow,” Green says about the wash’s expansion into Branson. “We don’t really have a certain number of sites we want to own. We are just taking things as they come and have our eyes open for future opportunities.”
Whether in an urban center like Branson or a smaller community like Marshall, Wild Blue’s focus on providing a clean car quickly and affordably should serve it well wherever it goes next.
