- 1 November, 2006 -

A drawing hangs on the wall of Michael Racine's spacious third-floor office above his WashLand Car Wash. The 10-year-old sketch is evidence of how he wanted his car wash to look and perform. His dreams of car wash ownership actually date back 25 years. Today, he has that dream wash, combining a top-performing automatic and four self-serve bays at 310 Margaret St. in Plattsburgh, NY. The Belanger Vector touch-free automatic has been in operation less than a year and the Carolina Pride self-serve bays opened just last March, but the enterprise already shows the worth of many years of study, planning and teamwork. The satisfaction of area car owners is growing rapidly, even though WashLand is "a little more expensive" than nearby competition. Racine is looking forward to equipping a second automatic bay in one of those self-serve bays. A detail bay is presently used for storage or sheltering one of Michael's prized muscle cars, but further development must wait for now. Michael's wife, Isabel, is marketing manager. WashLand Car Wash has garnered a number of commercial and government accounts to help assure a steady flow of business. Some of those, such as the city police department and some businesses, wash their cars during their own slow times. They frequently use the car wash when its business is also slow, which is a boost to security around the wash Racine invested $8,000 for custom tokens that customers can buy in advance and save money with quantity purchases. He uses tokens himself as a business builder, sometimes giving them as tips at restaurants or a barbershop. WashLand prepaid and gift cards can also be purchased with cash or credit cards and offer as much as 50 percent savings on future washes.

This article has been read 915 times .