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Why are there so many car washes in the Quad Cities?

News 8 identified nearly 60 car washes in the QC, including those built into gas stations.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Yet another car wash is open in the Quad Cities. It's part of what a Davenport alderman said is a growing trend in the last few years.

News 8 found nearly 60 car washes in the Quad Cities. 32 of those are dedicated car washes, while the rest are attached to gas stations. Davenport has the most at 25, with a majority of those on 53rd Avenue and Kimberly Road.

Davenport Alderman Kyle Gripp said many people have asked him questions about the car washes in the city. 

"Why do we have so many car washes in Davenport, what are they doing here, are they going to keep building?" Gripp said.

If you've driven around Davenport, you've probably asked yourself the same questions. Gripp asked those questions, too. After seeing seven new car washes over five years, he did some research. 

He said this trend is nationwide, and comes down to two main reasons.

One — venture capitalists found out car washes are profitable, especially with subscription models. And two — those venture capitalists did market studies to find out where to put those car washes.

Marty Donat is director of new unit growth at Mammoth Holdings. That's the company that owns Silverstar Car Wash, which opened a new location in Bettendorf on Friday, Nov. 8. It's the 34th location under the Silverstar name and Mammoth Holdings' 150th car wash.

"This part of the Midwest hasn't been integrated with the amount of car washes it can sustain based on the population," Donat said.

He said other car washes may have been scared away by the extreme weather in the Midwest.

"We've found that with the car washes we built, some of our busiest months are in the harsher climates in the winter time," Donat said.

Gripp said a relatively small number of jobs created means cities don't get a huge benefit from car washes. Donat said between the now four Silverstar locations, the car washes have 45 staff members.

"I wouldn't say they're a big contributor to economic development," Gripp said. "But you know, again, they do pay property taxes and they do generate sales tax revenue as well."

When it comes to the future of car washes, Donat said this area isn't quite at capacity.

"With the population around here in the Quad Cities, I mean, you could build a few more car washes for sure," Donat said.

Gripp said people have asked if Davenport has intentionally brought more car washes to the city. He said none of the car washes have received financial incentives — he said they're opening locations because they think they can be profitable.

Gripp also said Davenport doesn't currently have any requests for new car washes in the pipeline.

Drew Coffey contributed reporting to this story.

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