Club Carwash

Photos by Emma Highfill, Rose Wheat Photography

Drive around Topeka and you will likely see cars lined up to enter a Club Carwash, automated car washes with futuristic looking vacuum arms lining the parking lot. Customers can either pay by the wash or purchase a monthly membership for unlimited washes. 

Club Carwash opened four Topeka locations in 2019, strategically placed to serve different areas of the city. The first location to open was off of highway 24 in the Dillons Plaza at 831 NW 25th St. Within just a few months other locations opened at 6017 SW 30th Terrace, 1834 SW Topeka Boulevard and 2524 SE California.  

Club Carwash actually originated in Columbia, Missouri. Rollie Bartels was working in heavy highway construction in 2006 when he purchased his first car wash and named it Tiger Express Wash. Bartels slowly started to open more car washes in other Missouri cities, turning it into a family-run business that included two of his children, Emeri Burgher and Collin Bartels, their spouses, as well as other family members.  

When the company decided to branch out to other states, they decided a name change was in order. 

“We originated where the University of Missouri is, so that’s where the name Tiger Express Wash came from.” said Emeri Burgher, marketing director for Club Carwash. “We decided it was not a very fitting name for other states, however. We wanted our name to represent our brand and who we are nationwide.”  

Burgher said the company picked Topeka as the first city in Kansas in which to bring the Club Carwash business because the market had a lot of potential. 

“When we did research we found that Topeka was an underserved market. There wasn’t a ton of car washes in Topeka, especially like what we do,” Burgher said. “We also found that Topeka was big enough to handle more than one location, which lets us support a local management staff.” 

The Club Carwash business model is a subscription based membership that offers unlimited washes for a monthly fee. The club membership, which also includes skip the line privileges, is valid at any location without a long-term contract, so the membership can be canceled at any time. 

“It’s convenient. It’s kind of similar to a Netflix membership. People don’t want to deal with the hassle, they just want a low cost option for washing their car, and they want it to be easy. You pay once a month and you can wash whenever you want as many times as you want. It’s convenient and simple,” Burgher said.  

Burgher notes that even though the majority of Club Carwash customers are members, membership is not required to use the services. 

“We are not like a Sam’s Club,” Burgher said. “You don’t have to have a membership to wash your car here, but we love our membership concept. We want everybody to be able to take advantage of the perks of being part of our club.” 

Club Carwash emphasizes a clean appearance and well maintained equipment, something the company hopes will set them apart from the competition.  

“Carwashes don’t have the best reputation for being state-of-the-art and clean, so we tried to change that,” Burgher said. “We take pride in the fact that everything at every location works good, looks good and is well taken care of. We know that a vehicle is one of people’s biggest assets, so we want them to trust us to take care of that vehicle and keep that asset looking great.”  

Keeping a carwash that handles more than 1,000 cars per day and up to 75 cars per hour, in tip top shape is not an easy task.   

“As you can image, our water bill is not for the faint at heart!” Burgher said. “Equipment and chemicals are certainly a large expense for us, but we want every wash to be the highest quality.”  

Just maintaining the vacuum systems can be a chore—considering all of the weird items that can clog up the system.   

“We had a diamond ring sucked up one time,” Burgher said. “Another was a thumb drive on a lanyard. The customer was on his way to a presentation and his presentation was on this thumb drive.” 

Even though the business model is the same for each location, the challenges can be vastly different.  

“One location, finding employees may be rather easy, where the next is extremely difficult,” Burgher said. “At some locations, our customer base takes off quicker than others.” 

The biggest challenge the company has found during its first year in Topeka is hiring, Burgher says. Even though they offer competitive pay, they find it hard to compete with some of the larger factories and companies in town.  

Club Carwash has 30 locations located in three states: Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. Most of the expansion has taken place just within the past four years. The rapid expansion of Club Carwash locations isn’t finished yet. The company hopes to open 10 new locations this year. 

“We plan on expanding to Wichita and possibly Derby and Lansing, Kansas. We also will be going to Iowa and Nebraska,” Burgher said, “We feel that these locations are untapped markets, so we are ready to provide our services and make happy new customers.”