Car wash chain making splash with multiple new Colorado Springs area locations

Apr. 13—An Arizona-based car wash chain is making a big splash in the Pikes Peak region and the Front Range — opening its first location in the state just outside Colorado Springs last month, planning to open two more in town this year and another eight in 2024.

Super Star Car Wash of Phoenix joins a number of national and regional chains that have targeted the Colorado Springs area in recent years for a variety of reasons, including its strong population growth, changeable weather that makes car washing attractive and desirability of owners to keep their vehicles clean.

"When you think about it, if you don't own a home or if you own a home, either way, your car is either your first or second most valuable possession," said Jonathan Kierman, Super Star's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "And people like to, and want to, take care of their vehicles."

Super Star Car Wash, which was founded in 1993, opened in March at the Falcon Marketplace shopping center, which is being developed in the unincorporated Falcon area northwest of Woodmen and Meridian roads.

A second location will open in about six weeks northeast of Centennial Boulevard and Fillmore Street in northwest Colorado Springs, while a third will open this year near Voyager Parkway and Razorback Road on the north side, Kierman said.

The eight local Super Star Car Washes scheduled to open next year include locations west of Interstate 25 and Woodmen Road in northern Colorado Springs; west of I-25 and Garden of the Gods Road on the northwest side; and east of Academy Boulevard and Pace Drive on the Springs' southeast side, according to proposals the chain has submitted to city government planners.

Super Star Car Wash also is adding locations this year in northern Colorado — two in Denver, one in Parker and another in Brighton, Kierman said. Next year, the chain plans to open a third Denver location and one in Loveland, he said.

While the influx of Super Star locations might appear to represent an aggressive expansion, the chain has eyed Colorado and the Colorado Springs and Denver markets for nearly four years, Kierman said. What's more, it can take 18 months to two years for projects to go through government reviews, and some of those car washes are only now opening or are under construction, he said.

The surge in rooftops in the Springs and Denver was one factor that attracted Super Star, he said. Industry experts also have told The Gazette that Colorado's snow and magnesium chloride-coated roads in the winter and spot-producing monsoon rains in the summer create a demand for frequent car washes.

Surveys by the Chicago-based International Carwash Association, meanwhile, have shown a high percentage of vehicle owners use professional car washes at least once a year and the number of owners who wash vehicles at their homes was shrinking; industry experts have said professional car washes use far less water than homeowners do in their driveways, and many commercial facilities recycle their water.

After its launch 30 years ago and growth in the Phoenix area, Super Star expanded to southern California in markets such as San Diego and Los Angeles, Kierman said.

At the end of 2021, Super Star added a private equity partner whose investment allowed the chain to expand and look for new markets, while it also acquired two Dallas-area car wash companies, Kierman said. Super Star now has more than doubled its locations to 72 in the last 1 1/2 years, he said.

Super Star is adding Colorado Springs locations on vacant parcels, but it's also razing familiar buildings to make way for its facilities.

The Super Star location near Academy and Razorback is under construction on the site of a demolished building that had been the home of the Famous Dave's barbecue restaurant until it relocated in 2020.

Super Star also has contracted to buy a building west of I-25 and Woodmen Road that had been home to a TGI Friday's restaurant and later a Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, which closed sometime in the last few months. The chain plans to complete the building's purchase in the third quarter of this year, then launch demolition and construction of a car wash that will open in 2024, Kierman said.

Car wash rivals such as Mister, Quick Quack, Big Splash and Tommy's Express also have entered the Springs market in recent years or expanded their presence.

Multiple locations in a given market, industry experts have said, allow owners to regularly wash their vehicles while heading to work, driving home or running errands.

Still, Kierman said there's room for Super Star; the chain is the 13th largest nationwide in terms of number of locations. Its 3-minute-or-less express washes; monthly memberships that allow unlimited visits; and free vacuums, high pressure air for tire inflation, microfiber towels and glass cleaners have proven popular with customers, he said.

"What you're seeing is a lot more consolidation. You're seeing car wash companies go into markets that they haven't been in before," Kierman said. "We fall into that same bucket where we believe there's opportunity."