Updated 9:07 p.m., March 28th–
By Mike Hazlip— Kimberly Berg stands next to a row of high pressure hydraulic pumps with a Rosie the Riveter sign emblazoned with “we can do it” above her as she describes the car wash she owns as her “happy place.”
While Citrus Heights Car Wash has been in business since its construction in 1982, Berg says she purchased the business with her former husband in 2003. She has been running the business on her own since 2012, when she started implementing changes to improve the business.
The building was built by Dave Neal, then sold to John Altman in 1999. The business had brown paneling and gold letters when Berg bought it, she says. It was her vision to replace aging equipment with new items in the brand colors of blue and yellow.
Over the years, Berg has modernized the car wash property, bringing it into the 21st century with LED lighting, new signage, in-bay dryers and a credit card payment option.
“Even though the car wash is 40 years old, we’re really cutting edge,” she says. “We’re very advanced and people appreciate that.”
With all the changes, however, Berg says some things have stayed the same: “I want to work with the old, I don’t want to gut it and say out with the old, in with the new.”
The building’s footprint has not changed in four decades. Neither has the roof line, although Berg took advantage of a 2014 sign improvement program by the city to bring her signage in line with her branding.
“When my electrical bills started hovering around $500 a month back in 2014, I invested in LED lights,” Berg said. “It’s cut my bill in half.”
Behind closed doors in the pump room, the original work bench remains, as does a vice. A large post supporting a billboard above the car wash extends into the small room with signatures dating back several years.
Berg has covered the door of the pump room with reminders of things important to her. One sticker says “don’t worry, be happy,” while another says: “The meaning of life is to live it.” There’s also a “coexist” sign and reminders to embrace diversity, spread good vibes, and “wag more, bark less.”
“It’s truly my happy place,” she says, pointing to the door. “It gets emotional because it’s a positive way to give back to the community. To be kind to people, to be of service, to make people feel sane in this day and age when most people don’t feel safe.”
Berg says some of her customers have been coming to the car wash for years and she is starting to see second generations of families. She recalls one customer telling her: “You’re not just a car wash, you’re a landmark. There’s history.”
Retelling the story, she said the woman came in with her two young children and told Berg that her dad would bring her to the car wash on Sundays. Her father has since passed away, but the woman now brings her boys to the car wash.
“I teared up because it was just so simple, so sweet, so honest, so vulnerable,” Berg said. “It just really touched me, and that’s what this car wash has become.”
Noting two car washes in North Highlands now out of business, Berg says many more businesses in her industry are notoriously poorly maintained. She said absentee owners that don’t have their phone number posted are losing business.
“You may lose a customer over it,” Berg says as she describes some of the typical problems customers may encounter. “They have no way of getting back their money, they’re mad and they may never go back to that car wash ever again.”
Her recipe for success has three main ingredients: cleanliness, quality, and customer service. And she says its working well: “We’re doing better, more and more people are finding us. Our car wash is busier than ever.”
Much of Berg’s work to modernize the car wash has been done with the customer experience in mind. When she started having problems with vandalism of coin machines a few years ago, she decided to move to a token system.
During the change of equipment, she took the opportunity to make the wash control panels on the wall more user-friendly. Customers can now move through wash cycles clockwise rather than moving the switch back and forth. Another attention to detail is the instruction sign that is color-coded to the control panel.
“I think everything through,” she says. “I don’t want to say I over think things, but I look at everything from every angle, from the customer’s perspective. Does it make sense, can I simplify, how can I make it more efficient?”
So what’s in the future for Citrus Heights Car Wash? Berg says the next step is planning a vacation. With almost two decades running the business, she says she’d like to let family members handle the day-to-day operations while she takes some time off.
When asked about expanding to additional locations, she says one car wash is enough.
“This baby gets all my love. If you have one good business and you do it right, you don’t need another business.”
