ROCKINGHAM — A flashy car wash coming to Rockingham next summer will take customers through a sudsy neon tunnel.
Zips Car Wash, ranked the No. 2 car wash in the country on Professional Carwashing and Detailing’s 2018 Top 50 U.S. Conveyer Chain List, will open next to the Bojangles on U.S. 74 in May or June 2019, according to Adam Bartley, developer of the property.
Bartley, who sold Shine Time Express to Zips in February, said the style of the car wash is used by 90 percent of new car washes, calling the design “state of the art.” Bartley boasted Wednesday of Zips’ three-minute car wash and its ability to process 100 cars per hour by having four to five cars in the tunnel at once.
“Zips sees Rockingham as an underserved market, and it wants to be the first to bring this style car wash to the market here,” Bartley said.
What sets this car wash apart from others, he said, is the “experience” of the wash. As a track guides customers down a 105-foot tunnel and through the “Lava Shield,” the carnival-themed car wash adds lighting effects to the water and chemicals creating the effect of lava being poured onto a car and neon streams of water dancing over the hood.
The was options include the “Lava Bath,” Lava Shine” and “Lava Seal.”
The building will be 3,475 square feet, and the project will cost more than $1 million. The car wash will be at 1704 E. Broad Ave.
The superintendent of the construction with Wild Building Construction, who asked to that his name not be used, said his crew were in the process of putting in the footings for the building as of Wednesday afternoon, after beginning last week.
