January 27, 2023
Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com
A longtime business in the City of Howell changed hands this week and the man who built it said it’s been a pleasure serving the community.
Howell Soft Cloth Car Wash Owner Tom O’Connell has retired and sold the business to JAX Kar Wash. He’s a young 82 and has owned a number of car washes over the years but bought the Howell location around 1980. O’Connell noted that they’ve done the “we pump it for you at self-serve prices” from day one and customers have always appreciated it.
After roughly 43 years of serving the community, O’Connell is taking many fond memories with him - notably those of his employees and customers who are now considered good friends.
O’Connell said his longtime manager Tina has been with him from the beginning and started when she was around 16-years-old and has always been the face of the business. He said the venture was much easier having someone to rely on and to describe Tina as “loyal” would be a gross understatement – noting she’s been there every day to open up and has worked innumerable hours whether it was 90-degrees or 20-below outside. O’Connell said Tina will continue working for the new company as the manager of the Howell location.
As to why he decided to sell, O’Connell jokingly said he ended up in a hospital and nursing home for nine weeks and “suddenly realized he was 82-years-old”. He noted he had six or seven people lined up who wanted to buy the business but he chose Jax because the business has been around a long time, he’s known the family for a long time, and knows that they’ll “do things right and like nobody else could”.
O’Connell said talks were underway for around 8 or 9 months but everything is finalized and his last day of business was Wednesday. Jax officially took over Thursday.
O’Connell said customers will see some dramatic changes over the next 2-3 months. He said the company is investing around $1.5 (m) million but a lot of the changes won’t happen right away because they’re waiting on equipment to be delivered. O’Connell added that Jax has already spent a considerable amount of money putting in the new pay stations and gates with RFID technology and the hardware and software to accomplish that – which will speed things up considerably for customers and reduce long lines.
O’Connell more recently put a new 30-foot addition onto the building in order to lengthen their conveyor and put in additional equipment but it became very difficult to get it installed. O’Connell said he waited four years to get a conveyer installed that he had owned for four years – adding their industry is going through times like never before and a lot are rebuilding or building new and the people who install and service equipment are few and far between. When the new conveyor is installed, he says the current 90-foot tunnel will become 120-feet and have a lot of new equipment.
As for his retirement, O’Connell said he’s winding down and “lovin life” but the change is bittersweet. He said the first thing he did every morning was check all of the cameras to make sure everything was working and cars started to go through – which brought him a comfort factor but he also “got a big kick out of it”.
O’Connell likened a car wash to a factory because they take in cars that are filthy and put them out clean but the question is how to put them out cleaner and be more efficient.
Over the years, again crediting Tina, O’Connell said he’s had the finest crew he can remember. He said it has meant a lot to see kids come in who had never had a job before and learn how to do the job the right way before moving on to other careers.
O’Connell said their customers over the years have also become really good friends and he’ll miss them all, as well as doing all of the community fundraisers for various causes.
O’Connell told WHMI it is a big change and he never thought he’d get emotional about it but he is because he’s been doing it for so long and the people he’s worked with have been with him for so long. He added that if it wasn’t for his age and health diminishing a little bit, he would probably continue. O’Connell spends the winters in Florida but has no plans to leave Michigan and assures he’ll still be out and around the community.
The full interview with O’Connell can be heard on WHMI’s Viewpoint program this Sunday morning at 8:30.
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January 27, 2023 at 04:32PM
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Longtime Howell Soft Cloth Car Wash Owner Retires - WHMI
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