Jamie Nester of Flagstop Car Wash. (Courtesy of Flagstop Car Wash)
Jamie Nester has wasted little time in putting his newly larger war chest to work in his hometown.
His company, locally based Flagstop Car Wash, just closed its first deal after taking on a private equity backing with the purchase of local competitor Hogwash Express Car Wash and its lone location at 4205 W. Broad St.
Hogwash is another notch in Flagstop’s belt, providing a key location and adding to its 13 other outposts around Richmond. Nester said he’s been looking to expand along that stretch for a while.
“We’ve always wanted to be in that midtown area,” said Nester, Flagstop’s president and CEO. “As soon as we heard that their project was up for sale, that Hogwash was up for sale, we jumped on it.”
The deal closed Monday, Feb. 13, and Hogwash shut down the next day for rebranding. That Friday, it reopened as a Flagstop. Nester said the business owners had “run a pretty good shop,” so all that needed to be done was replacing the payment machines, changing the signage and adding Flagstop amenities.
This is Flagstop’s first acquisition since taking on an investment from private equity firm Garnett Station Partners in December 2022. Nester said he hopes this is the first of more deals to come.
“We already had a pot of funding set aside for acquisitions, so it was pretty easy,” Nester said. “We’ve already got funding ready to go to continue to acquire and to continue to build, so Garnett Station was pretty happy with this deal and how quickly we were able to turn it around.”
Financial specifics of the deal were not disclosed. With the sale, Flagstop assumed Hogwash’s lease on West Broad Street. Its landlord is Richmond-based Sauer Properties, which has owned the site for decades. The property had been home to a longtime Aunt Sarah’s restaurant before it was closed and razed to make way for Hogwash.
Hogwash owners Janet and Tom Hogg said they knew even when they opened the Broad Street location in 2021 with investment partner River City Corp. that they’d probably sell it eventually. They said they chose Flagstop as a buyer because it’s local and felt like a good fit for Hogwash customers, and it would give their employees more career opportunities with a larger company.
But they also said the car wash industry has changed since they first got into it with the Hogwash location at 6100 Nine Mile Road, which they sold shortly after opening the second one on Broad.
“We just saw this car wash industry getting really crowded. You had to have a lot of car washes in order to really be a player and to have an impact,” Tom Hogg said, adding that to really expand its customer base, a car wash has to spread all throughout an entire metro area.
“When we got in the car wash business six years ago, it was about getting a good location,” he said. “Today, it’s about having the right number of locations, plural.”
The Hoggs, who have worked in many different places, from airlines to real estate marketing to tech companies to car washes, said they don’t plan to stay on with Flagstop. Instead, it’s time to embark on their next project — whatever that may be.
“Everybody goes, ‘What’s your next adventure?’” Janet said. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, gotta talk to Tom.’ I’m always up for something, but who knows right now?”
Jamie Nester of Flagstop Car Wash. (Courtesy of Flagstop Car Wash)
Jamie Nester has wasted little time in putting his newly larger war chest to work in his hometown.
His company, locally based Flagstop Car Wash, just closed its first deal after taking on a private equity backing with the purchase of local competitor Hogwash Express Car Wash and its lone location at 4205 W. Broad St.
Hogwash is another notch in Flagstop’s belt, providing a key location and adding to its 13 other outposts around Richmond. Nester said he’s been looking to expand along that stretch for a while.
“We’ve always wanted to be in that midtown area,” said Nester, Flagstop’s president and CEO. “As soon as we heard that their project was up for sale, that Hogwash was up for sale, we jumped on it.”
The deal closed Monday, Feb. 13, and Hogwash shut down the next day for rebranding. That Friday, it reopened as a Flagstop. Nester said the business owners had “run a pretty good shop,” so all that needed to be done was replacing the payment machines, changing the signage and adding Flagstop amenities.
This is Flagstop’s first acquisition since taking on an investment from private equity firm Garnett Station Partners in December 2022. Nester said he hopes this is the first of more deals to come.
“We already had a pot of funding set aside for acquisitions, so it was pretty easy,” Nester said. “We’ve already got funding ready to go to continue to acquire and to continue to build, so Garnett Station was pretty happy with this deal and how quickly we were able to turn it around.”
Financial specifics of the deal were not disclosed. With the sale, Flagstop assumed Hogwash’s lease on West Broad Street. Its landlord is Richmond-based Sauer Properties, which has owned the site for decades. The property had been home to a longtime Aunt Sarah’s restaurant before it was closed and razed to make way for Hogwash.
Hogwash owners Janet and Tom Hogg said they knew even when they opened the Broad Street location in 2021 with investment partner River City Corp. that they’d probably sell it eventually. They said they chose Flagstop as a buyer because it’s local and felt like a good fit for Hogwash customers, and it would give their employees more career opportunities with a larger company.
But they also said the car wash industry has changed since they first got into it with the Hogwash location at 6100 Nine Mile Road, which they sold shortly after opening the second one on Broad.
“We just saw this car wash industry getting really crowded. You had to have a lot of car washes in order to really be a player and to have an impact,” Tom Hogg said, adding that to really expand its customer base, a car wash has to spread all throughout an entire metro area.
“When we got in the car wash business six years ago, it was about getting a good location,” he said. “Today, it’s about having the right number of locations, plural.”
The Hoggs, who have worked in many different places, from airlines to real estate marketing to tech companies to car washes, said they don’t plan to stay on with Flagstop. Instead, it’s time to embark on their next project — whatever that may be.
“Everybody goes, ‘What’s your next adventure?’” Janet said. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, gotta talk to Tom.’ I’m always up for something, but who knows right now?”
I’m going to miss the pig 🙁
“felt like a good fit for Hogwash customers”
Really??…the cheapest wash at Hog was $5…as soon as Flagstop took over it jumped to $10.
Yeah I miss when Flagstop was $5.
Car Pool needs a location near Willow Lawn.
Car Pool has one; across from Target and next to Baskin Robbins. It is got to be one of their oldest locations too.
Been there since 1982!
It’s torn down
As of sometime VERY recently, that Carpool location is no more. Drove by today and it its been raised. It’s just a dirt lot now, nothing left but the old sign.
It’s been torn down.
Wow, did not notice. Moved to using Tommy’s when it opened on Southside and love the Boulevard location. Their unlimited membership is the best.
I’m guessing here, but during a recession, doesn’t the car wash business struggle? – meaning it is an extraneous cost to cut, like cutting out specialty coffees. Also, I am curious to understand how the car wash business is booming when I would think the millennial climate warriors would clutch pearls at the volume of water wasted on washing a car. Yeah, yeah, recycling the water – yadda, yadda. It is still a LOT of water being used. I’m seriously curious to hear the responses on why car washes are popping up everywhere.
We aren’t in a recession and a car wash is like a dishwasher—it’s significantly more efficient than hand washing. I’d imagine new car sales suffer and that car washes, like alcohol sales, are a constant year round, since even if you can’t buy something newer you can keep the car you have clean.
Car washes are popping up everywhere just like meal prep kits, because of venture capitalist firms investing in them. Eventually they won’t all make it.
“Car washes are popping up everywhere just like meal prep kits, because of venture capitalist firms investing in them.”
It certainly looks like a low interest rate phenomenon, and we are no longer in a low interest rate era.
We are on the cusp of a recession, don’t dismiss it out of hand
Pretty much in one already and have been. Big corporations and the corporate media are just hiding it to the newbies.
You must not have seen the terrible economy the last 3 years with the faker in office.
Interesting….both of you think that the demand is being created from the VC money. OK, I can see that.
Cars washes are almost recession proof (depending on how deep the recession goes). You can think of it as a hedge almost during bad times and a steady, nothing exciting, money maker during good times
Exactly, especially the ones that are self service. They work in a similar fashion to your laundry mats.
The climate whiners are a bunch of morons anyway. Frick them, they don’t really care about others around them. Only themselves.
Drive through any middle class or higher neighborhood on a beautiful 75 degree day and see how many people you see washing their own cars? It’s very few. It’s not a “necessity” per say but you do need to get your car cleaned periodically and for the most part people are too spoiled to do it themselves any more. Following the trends of cleaning your own house, doing your own nails, changing your own oil, cooking every night, etc. etc. etc.
Not sure about this particular private equity arrangement – however, I think a lot of times PE firms invest for 5-10 years and sell out. Garnett Station is based in Manhattan, so much of Flagstop’s profit moving forward likely will be flowing to New York.