End of an era: Birmingham car wash, a community staple for 31 years, closes its doors

This story is republished with permission from The Birmingham Times.

After being in business for more than three decades, a staple of the historic downtown Fourth Avenue business has closed.

Etheridge Senior Car Wash at 1600 3rd Ave N, closed October 25 leaving a void downtown and also in the hearts of longtime customers.

"After 31 wonderful years, we regret to announce that we will be closing our doors," wrote April Pritchett-White and Ashley Pritchett, Co-Owners/Operators of Etheridge Senior Car Wash earlier this month in a joint statement on their social business page. "The evolving economy and challenges in hiring have made it increasingly difficult for us to continue operating at the level of excellence you have come to expect."

"I'm thankful for all of our loyal customers who have supported our family and business throughout the years. It's been amazing to serve them and I will always cherish the memories and relationships that we've built," Ashley told The Birmingham Times. "I am sad. This has been in my family since I was young. ..."

"I will miss the customers," April said. "Serving the community, helping people who were just getting back on their feet. We've been going down there (to the car wash) since we were little. There's a lot of memories."

Last week, many longtime customers stopped by downtown business for one last car wash and detail.

"I've been coming to the car wash for about 10 years. I will miss the quality of work," said Daijah Bell, of Birmingham. "Every time I left ... my car looked brand new. There was consistent attention to detail. I will also miss the community. You never know who you'll meet while there. You could connect with different people from the Birmingham community and form many connections and relationships."

Anita Davis, of Birmingham, said she's not sure where she will take her car now. 'What are we going to do?" she asked. "They do such a good job. It's like you just bought your car off the showroom floor ... We come here all the time, my whole family."

Located in the historic Black business district which stretches along 15th to 18th streets North, and from Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard to Second Avenue North, the car wash first opened in 1993 by their grandfather Willie T. Etheridge, the patriarch of several family-owned businesses that have included five barbershops and beauty salons and a catering facility. Mr. Etheridge died in 2003.

His daughter Felecia Etheridge-Dovi took over the car wash business in 2002 until her passing in 2017 when April and Ashley became co-owners.

"My mom died on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2017, and we opened up this business the next day, and we have been going every day since non-stop...This is the first time in eight years since my mom died that we have decided to choose us. We want to enjoy our lives too," said Ashley.

With the cost of products increasing and a shortage of workers, the business took a toll, she said.

"We had to adjust our hours. We were Monday through Saturday. We lost some workers and then we changed to Tuesday to Saturday," she said. "We have been struggling for workers for a long time. Sometimes I can have 30 cars and I, with my hands, wash 25 of those 30 cars. That's how short we've been lately."

Just before the pandemic in 2020 the business had 14 employees. It was down to two just before the final closing, which meant the sisters often had to help wash and detail cars.

"My mom worked all the time," April said. "Growing up, we went on family vacations with my aunt. We never went on family vacations with our mom for real. She didn't take a lot of pictures with her. I'm looking forward to doing all the things that my mother didn't get to do."

"Committed To Working"

April, 43 and Ashley 40, remember the Car Wash being a part of their lives since they were little girls raised in the east side of town. Ashley graduated from Huffman High School and April from Ramsay. The Etheridge family owned a barbershop, beauty shop and the car wash which were all on the corner of 16th and 3rd Avenue North.

"We were like barbershop and beauty shop kids," Ashley said. "We didn't go over there (across the street to the car wash) often. We just used to watch from across the street at the beauty shop ... we weren't allowed to sit around [over there] because we were little."

Once she got to high school, April remembered driving a car owned by her grandfather while she had to do small tasks at the car wash. "Once I was committed to working, he gave me the car," April recalled of 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier. "On the weekend I would drive the car and do stuff for the car wash ... get his clothes out the cleaners, go the bank and get change."

April said she learned every aspect of the business after her grandfather passed. "When my mom took over the business, I had to help her with billing and ordering supplies and doing the customer database, doing the profit and loss statements, all the financials," she said. "When we were younger it was more fun than anything counting the change out of the drink machine ... [But it] prepared me for the business. When my mom passed away, I knew exactly what I needed to do, I knew exactly what to do to run the business."

Ashley said the sisters began discussing the future of the business in 2022 not long after the pandemic. "We lost a lot of employees ... everything just changed. We had 14 employees at one time in 2016-2020. After the pandemic, four came back. Now we have two loyal employees that I've had for five-plus years Jeffery Edmondson and Louis Dixon."

As for the future, Ashley, who works at UAB, said she has returned to pursuing nursing at Lawson State Community College and April has been at Blue Cross Blue Shield for 17 years.

Their uncles — part of the well-known Birmingham Etheridge Family — run the Etheridge Brothers Barber Shops on Graymont Avenue and Etheridge Beauty & Style Shop downtown which will stay open.

"Support Black Businesses"

As the sisters prepared to close the business last week, Jennifer Tiehen who lives in McCalla, Alabama, stopped by with her personal car. Tiehen said she found out about Etheridge Senior Car wash through a Google search while working at her job downtown. That was after she and co-workers had scheduled someone to wash cars at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center where they worked.

"[We] scheduled someone to come to us to detail the cars that we have there, and they didn't show up," Tiehen said. "I Googled and found Etheridge Senior Car Wash and since then we have brought almost seven vehicles back. "

The work was so good that Tiehen said she and co-workers brought back their personal cars.

Ralph Woodfin, of Birmingham, was also at the car wash last week and said he's been a return customer.

"I've had my vehicles washed here on several occasions and they have always done an excellent job. They were always thorough, and my car always left there sparkling from the inside to the outside," he said. "The community will miss this business because they did such an excellent job. I'm not happy to see this Black business leave but I do think we need to continue to support Black businesses in the area."