By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
Top Photo: Austin Smith at the location of The Wash, coming soon to Prattville.
Eric Smith, co-owner of the popular establishment “The Wash,” has announced that the franchise will be opening a location in Prattville at the main intersection of Lowes, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Home Place Shopping Center.
This will be the company’s fifth carwash opened since 2012 (Clanton, Millbrook, Montgomery, Calera, Prattville), and will be the fourth built from the ground up.
“We felt good about the future, and we decided that new business was going to give people in the area more options,” Smith said.
Smith, who has been a resident of Prattville since he was child, calls the area home.
“For me, personally, it’s the most excited I’ve been. It’s really close to where I live, so it won’t take very long for me to make my stops there,” Smith said.
Smith explained that he wanted the Prattville location to arrive sooner. His original plan was to start on the project a few months after the Calera location opened in December 2019.
“Covid hit and that really delayed the things that we wanted to do. We came together and decided that we should be financially responsible and operate through the restrictions that were put in place,” Smith said.
Now, The Wash is back in full operation and doing better than ever. But it wasn’t always that way, Smith said.
“We opened our first location in Clanton back in 2012, and we struggled to get off the ground at first. It was tremendously understaffed, and our model just wasn’t working at the time,” Smith explained.
The game changer for The Wash was their implementation of the express model, which offers a low base price, free vacuums, and 3-minute washes. They also have “Wash Club Member Cards” for three different prices that offer different packages from basic car washes to more long-lasting services.
“Our goal behind everything is to provide our customers with the best service possible. We have more people engaged with us now than we ever have before,” Smith said.
Smith accredits much of the success to his hard-working employees. What was once an undermanned staff in Clanton, has now grown to 42 total employees across each of their four locations.
“We have an absolutely fantastic team around us that does a tremendous job on a day-to-day basis. This business would not be where it is today without the efforts that those guys put in,” Smith said.
But what’s next for the Prattville location?
For Prattville residents who go to the Millbrook site, you’re in luck, because the Prattville location will feature all of the same services, plus more.
Smith says that this will be their biggest location yet. On average, their washes contain 21-22 vacuum bays, while the Prattville site will carry 37.
“We knew when we built here that we wanted it to be a bigger location, and that’s what the people can expect,” Smith said.
So far, Smith said the support from the community has been with open arms. The Millbrook location currently has a lot Prattville users location, and Smith said that people are ready for more available options.
There’s currently no definitive timetable for the new location’s opening, but Smith said they would like to try to aim for December 2021.
